SURVEY: HOMELESSNESS INCREASES AGAIN IN VA.

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 18, 1993                   TAG: 9301180082
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short
SURVEY: HOMELESSNESS INCREASES AGAIN IN VA.
Homelessness increased in 1991 for the sixth consecutive year in Virginia, according to a survey of 78 organizations across the state.
There is a prominent reason for the consistent increases, said Sue M. Capers, coordinator of the Virginia Coalition for the Homeless.
"We're not meeting system causes," she said.
The coalition's research showed 36 percent of people who sought shelter held jobs but still couldn't afford permanent housing.
"The common denominator among all homeless people is poverty," Capers said. "We need to connect incomes to cost of living."
The study also showed half of Virginia's homeless people in 1991 were families and 36 percent of the state's homeless were children. Capers said half the state's homeless children were younger than 6.
The shelters that took part in the survey recorded 92,431 people seeking places to stay. Of those, 56,899 found shelter, while 35,532 were turned away, primarily for lack of space.
The turn-away figure was 33 percent more than the previous year's rate - an increase that happened despite an increase in shelter beds available, Capers said.
Emergency Shelter Inc., a Richmond facility that was one of the 78 organizations the coalition surveyed for the report, served about 1,300 people and turned away 2,767 in 1991. The agency had no increase in beds from 1990.
"We have to turn away more people than ever before," shelter executive director Patricia Couto said.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB