Family Promise of Gwinnett| Homeless Facts

On any given night, an estimated 842,000 people are homeless in the United States. Over the course of a year, 3.5 million people experience homelessness; 1.35 million of them are children (NCH, June 2006).
The average age of a homeless person in the United States is 9.
Families are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population, representing about 40% of all homeless people (NCH, June 2006).
Requests for emergency shelter by families increased in 63% of cities in 2005. US cities saw an average increase of 5% in shelter requests by families (US Conference of Mayors, 2005).
The study also found that 32% of the requests for shelter by homeless families were denied in 2005 due to a lack of resources.

There are no shelters for homeless families in Gwinnett.
The Gwinnett County School System accommodated over 3,000 homeless students during the 2005-2006 school year.
In 2006 there were 20,485 evictions and 6,130 foreclosures in Gwinnett County. At the average family size of 2.5 that equals approximately 66,537 family members that lost housing in 2006.
It is estimated that 60% of the homeless family population in Gwinnett County are children and 50% of the children are under the age of six.