Some Facts about Poverty and Homelessness in Montgomery County
- This year, 2.5 million children in America will experience homelessness¹.
- Over 1/3 of homeless Americans are families with children.²
- On a single night in January 2017, almost 17,000 people in families were living somewhere not meant for human habitation, such as a car or the street.³
- According to the Self-Sufficiency Standard for Maryland 2012 (Maryland Community Action Partnership), in Montgomery County a family of three consisting of one adult, one pre-school child and one school age child would need to have an income of $77,933/year to be able to live in Montgomery County without financial assistance. (The families we see at the shelter usually have an income of less than $20,000/year and some have no income at all.)
- There are more students in Montgomery County Public Schools eligible for free and reduced meals than there are students in the entire D.C. public school system.
- In the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area, almost 2/3 of women-headed households with children paid a third or more of their income on housing, a level considered by the federal government to be unaffordable. For these same households, the cost of center-based infant care is 52% of their median income.
- The news isn’t all bad: According to the Point In Time survey, the number of families experiencing homelessness across America has been reduced by almost 20% between 2010 and 2016.
- Between 2010 and 2018, the US Interagency Coalition of Homeless was able to reduce overall homelessness throughout the country by 13%, including homelessness amongst veterans by 46%, families with children by 27%, and chronic homelessness amongst people with disabilities by 18%.
Looking for more information? Take a look at the National Alliance to End Homelessness or US Interagency Coalition for Homelessness websites.
