On an average night in Detroit, more than 9,500 individuals and families are homeless. However, only 1,995 emergency shelter beds exist to serve this population. (Wayne State University, Research Group on Homelessness and Poverty, Dr. Paul Toro, 2002)

COTS’ Emergency Shelter operates at or near capacity consistently throughout the year, providing approximately 50,000 shelter nights each year to about 2,000 homeless individuals.

Two trends are largely responsible for the rise in homelessness over the past 15-20 years: a growing shortage of affordable rental housing and a simultaneous increase in poverty.

Contributing to the increase in poverty is the lack of gainful employment opportunities for large segments of the population and the decrease in availability and value of public assistance.

In Detroit, a worker earning the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour would have to work 112 hours per week in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment at the area’s Fair Market rent of $751.(National Low Income Housing Coalition).

Poor people are frequently unable to pay for housing, food, child care, health care and education. Difficult choices must be made when limited resources cover only some of these necessities. Often it is housing, which absorbs a high proportion of income, that is lost. Being poor means being one paycheck away from living on the streets or, if there is a bed available, in a shelter. (National Coalition for the Homeless).

An increasing number of people who are homeless are the working poor, people whose low-wage jobs do not enable them to maintain themselves and their families in permanent housing. Eighty two percent of our shelter guests who are able to work do so while residing at COTS. Nationally, 1 in 5 homeless persons is employed (National Coalition for the Homeless).

Current TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) benefits and Food Stamps combined are below the poverty level in every state. While welfare caseloads have dropped, declining welfare rolls mean only that fewer people are receiving benefits – not that they are employed or doing better financially. With welfare reform has come a rapid shift in the face of homelessness from that of a single adult male to that of a nine year old child.

The largest growing population of the homeless is homeless families. At COTS, 23% of our shelter guests are children who enter the shelter with their families.

To learn more about homelessness, its causes and solutions, please go to the links below:

National Coalition for the Homeless

National Alliance to End Homelessness

National Law Center On Homelessness and Poverty

Corporation for Supportive Housing

National Low Income Housing Coalition

Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness

Research Group on Homelessness and Poverty

City of Detroit