Like in many other metro areas in the country, homelessness and poverty are spreading to the suburbs in Denver. And like in other suburban areas, homelessness hides better in the suburbs, so services can be scant for a problem that is large.
Yesenia Robles examines the homelessness hiding in the Denver metro area's suburbs. "Overall, there were 11,167 homeless men, women and children counted in the 2013 point-in-time survey conducted by the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI) across the seven-county Denver metro area," writes Robles.
Moreover, much of the homeless population is made up of families. The distressing statistics: "A county-by-county breakdown of MDHI's 2013 survey shows that families make up the largest percentage of homeless in the suburbs. In Broomfield County, the rate of families among the homeless is 85 percent; in Adams County, 80 percent; 78 percent in Douglas County; and 73 percent in Jefferson County. In Denver, just 50 percent are families with children."
The article details more characteristics of the Denver-area homeless experience as well as some of the programs at work on the problem.
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