#WeAreINSAN
Hunger and Homelessness is a complex issue. At INSAN, we make it our mission to reach out to the hungry and homeless population in our local communities and beyond; to further our success we aim to partner with other coinciding organizations in this endeavor.
Hunger
When we think of hunger, we think of countries with large poor populations/famine and images of children and adults with skeleton bodies come to our minds; sadly hunger exists even in the land of plenty — America.
Hunger is a nationwide issue that is far from being solved. In the United States, 1 in 7 people suffer from hunger, which equates to 49.1 million people.(1) With the United States being the largest consumer of goods and food supplies, it is unfortunate that we face such a problem.
As a nation, home to different age and ethnic groups, we acknowledge that different groups of the population face different challenges. In 2013, there were approximately 4.2 million people over the age of 65 years living in poverty.(2) Other groups, such as Hispanics, tend to have high rates of poverty. About 24% of Latino households have food insecurity compared to about 14% white, non-Hispanics.(3) Typically, groups that fall into these categories are minorities. Below is just a hint of hunger and homelessness in the United States:
percent or 5.3 million Americans over 60 were food insecure in 2012 (4)
percent of family households were food insecure in 2013 (5)
million kids struggled with hunger in 2013 (6)
states saw an increase in the number of people in poverty as of 2015 (2)
Homelessness
Streets are made to be travelled on, not lived on. Regrettably for many, these are their homes.
In the United States there are over hundreds of thousands of people who are living on the streets. There are various aspects that constitute homelessness. This issue is also associated with high cost of living, and lower income. In the US, 9.3 million homeowners and 10.1 million renters were stricken with high cost burdens which includes 66.4% of the households that earn under $15,000 annually.(7) The gap between wages and house prices is continuing to grow, and combined with other financial burdens, people are starting to live on the streets rather than travel on them. Here are just a glimpse of the challenges that arise with homelessness:
states saw an increase in homelessness in 2015 (2)
out of every 30, or 2.5 million, children were homeless in 2013 (8)
the estimated population of elderly homeless by 2050 (9)
percent of the nations homeless segment is made up of families the fastest growing homeless population in our nation (1)
INSAN recognizes the problems of hunger and homelessness and offers a helping hand regardless of gender, race, age, or religion. Hunger and homelessness is a growing issue; at INSAN we aim to do our best in solving these serious predicaments from various services.
Sources:
- http://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/impact-of-hunger/hunger-and-poverty/?_ga=1.61787756.1982686337.1434488335
- https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/data/incpovhlth/2013/table3.pdf
- http://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/impact-of-hunger/latino-hunger/latino-hunger-fact-sheet.html
- Ziliak, J.P. & Gundersen, C. (2014). The State of Senior Hunger in America 2012: An Annual Report. Prepared for the National Foundation to End Senior Hunger (NFESH)
- http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/key-statistics-graphics.aspx
- http://blogs.usda.gov/tag/child-hunger/
- http://www.familyhomelessness.org/media/306.pdf
- http://new.homelesschildrenamerica.org/mediadocs/275.pdf
- http://www.nhchc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/infocus_september2013.pdf