The fastest growing segment of the homeless population is families.
There are 897 homeless family members (over 375 families) in Wake
County. Family homelessness is growing at a rate of 11% per year in Wake
County. In Wake County, land, new home, and apartment rental prices have
risen faster (57%) than have incomes (34%) over the past eight years.
Over 11,000 households both earn below 50% of Area Median Income (AMI) and either pay over
50% of income for rent, or are "doubled-up" without legal tenure. There
is a gap of 3,998 affordable rental units for households earning between
31% & 50% of AMI, which constitute 11% of the population. But households
making less than 30% of AMI, which constitute another 12% of the
population, suffer a gap of 2,670 additional housing units.
Facts about the Homeless
- The average age of a homeless family
member is 4.
- Families are the fastest growing
segment of the homeless population.
- Nationally, an estimated 1.2 million
children are homeless.
- Domestic violence is the leading
cause of homelessness in North Carolina.
- A poor child in the United States is
more likely to live in a working family than to be on government
assistance, and more likely to live in a rural or suburban area than
an inner city.
- Today, a worker making minimum wage
cannot afford fair market rent anywhere in the United States.
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