Poverty in the City of Boston

The part of Boston that I took of interest is the street living population and the adults/families in shelters in the city of Boston.

Some statistics: Total population living on the street in 2008 according to http://www.cityofboston.gov/dnd/homeless/default.asp, 79% were male and 21% female. According to the winter in 2007, of the 184 street count 28 were women. In 2008 winter of the 219, 46 were women. An increase with women over the duration of 10 years. Now this is looking over a couple of years and we can see that there is a small yet large increase with women. Also noted on the website the 1998 Census states that in 1998 of the 180 people, 11% were women and now 21% in 12 years. That's a huge amount and it just about doubled. Another factor to consider is the weather. Many numbers increase with bad cold weather causing health issues and safety concerns. The warmer the weather the more homeless people would rather be outside according to the Boston Census. Also, Boston has housing effort programs that provide homes and also vouchers and supported services to those in need.

The adults in shelters has decreased 4% in 2008 Census and has a continuing trend for six years later. Although it is a slight decrease it still is a positive result especially for Boston. The highest percentage of people homeless are between the ages of 31-50. The adult males outnumbered the total adult homeless population. It was a close number but the white adult males had a few percentage more increase than African Americans. I found that interesting because if you read about other cities, you have the opposite with results. And according to what I have learned in some of my classes is that many of the issues and problems we discuss are with and about minorities. Not so much minorities being the cause but minorities struggling to be treated fairly.
http://www.cityofboston.gov/dnd/homeless/default.asp

2000 families and 2900 individuals are living in shelter in 2008. Average stay is 17 days. If there are no shelter space, the state puts them in hotels or motels. It is actually cheaper to put them in hotels and motels. The average stay in a shelter is 99 dollars and a hotel is 85. Being placed in shelters and hotels can interfere with children's education because you can be placed where ever they have room.
www.boston.com/new/local/articles/2008/homelessnesshitsrecordhigh?page1-2.