In Nation’s Capital, Homelessness Increased 13 Percent In A Year
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on May 14th, 2014 11:08 pm by HL
In Nation’s Capital, Homelessness Increased 13 Percent In A Year
Homelessness is declining nationally, but it’s way up in Washington D.C.
The post In Nation’s Capital, Homelessness Increased 13 Percent In A Year appeared first on ThinkProgress.
A disabled army vet who is homeless asks passersby for help in a tony area of Washington D.C.
CREDIT: Shawn Davis
Even as the national rate of homelessness continues to decline, this past year alone it jumped 13 percent in Washington, D.C.
Figures released Wednesday from the annual homeless census found 7,748 homeless people living in D.C. on a single night in January, up from 6,685 in 2013. Since 2010, homelessness in D.C. has increased 18 percent, even as it has declined six percent nationally in the same time period.
The report found that more than a quarter of all homeless people in the nation’s capital are children, and half are people in families. Family homelessness is up a shocking 50 percent since 2010.
The census likely undercounts the true number of homeless people. That’s due to a number of factors, including the fact that it’s conducted on a single night, counting policies vary city to city, and it can be difficult to find where some homeless people live, whether it’s in a hidden spot or on a friend’s couch.
The Washington Post notes that a number of factors are driving the increase in D.C. homelessness, including a lack of affordable housing and stagnating wages. The two forces have combined into a toxic mixture where it currently takes working more than three minimum-wage jobs to afford the typical rent for a two-bedroom apartment. Cuts to Section 8 housing vouchers aren’t helping either.
There were a few bright spots in the findings. The number of unsheltered homeless people — who sleep in places like sidewalks, parks, and under bridges — was down 23 percent over the past year. In addition, though the number of chronically homeless people ticked up slightly since 2013, it’s still down 15 percent since 2010.
To learn more about how the count is conducted, read ThinkProgress’ firsthand report from this year’s homeless census.
The post In Nation’s Capital, Homelessness Increased 13 Percent In A Year appeared first on ThinkProgress.
College Students In Texas Fight For Women’s Right To Breastfeed In Public
Their ad campaign depicts young mothers being forced to feed their children in dirty bathroom stalls.
The post College Students In Texas Fight For Women’s Right To Breastfeed In Public appeared first on ThinkProgress.
In order to drum up support for a proposed bill in Texas that would protect women’s right to breastfeed in public, a pair of college students created an ad campaign illustrating what it looks like when women don’t have that right. “When Nature Calls,” a class project by University of North Texas students Kris Haro and Johnathan Wenske, depicts young mothers forced to feed their children in dirty public bathroom stalls:
CREDIT: When Nature Calls
CREDIT: When Nature Calls
CREDIT: When Nature Calls
“Would you eat here? By law, breastfeeding mothers are not protected from harassment and refusal of service in public, often forcing them to feed in secluded spaces such as public bathrooms,” the advertisement copy reads. “Contact your state and/or local representative to voice your support for breastfeeding mothers, because a baby should never be nurtured where nature calls.”
The ads are simply conceptual, and the students don’t actually have plans to print them and place them on the back of bathroom stalls. But they’ve gone somewhat viral online, featured on sites like the Huffington Post, Popsugar, and Cosmopolitan. Haro and Wenske say they’re glad for the exposure. “It means we did our jobs right as art directors in creating a campaign that is getting real responses, and as students, it’s been a wonderful feeling,” Wenske told The Huffington Post.
Doctors, researchers, and government health agencies all encourage mothers to breastfeed if they’re able. Nonetheless, the act remains contentious. The above ads are receiving some criticism for being “obscene.” And one of the women featured in the campaign wrote on Facebook that she often gets sexual comments while she’s breastfeeding, and “it’d be pretty great not to have any nasty comments made while I’m feeding my child.”
Women have been asked to stop breastfeeding in church, during jury duty, at the pool, at the mall, and on social media. Often, they’re specifically told to go to the bathroom. Sometimes, they have even less sanitary options available to them — one Pennsylvania woman sued her employer after being forced to pump breast milk in a dingy and sweltering locker room littered with dead bugs.
Obamacare took a step forward in this area by requiring all employers to provide their workers with “reasonable break time” to pump breast milk, as well as a private and clean space for that activity. Advocates praised the health law for “bringing breast feeding out of the bathroom.” But the state laws in this area still vary. Twenty two states — including Texas — don’t specifically exempt breastfeeding from public indecency laws. The legislation tied to this ad campaign would protect Texas mothers’ right to feed their babies in public, stipulating that “a mother’s authority to be in a location may not be revoked for the sole reason that she begins to breast-feed.”
The post College Students In Texas Fight For Women’s Right To Breastfeed In Public appeared first on ThinkProgress.
