DETROIT, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Unemployment and foreclosures are likely to blame for a rise in the number of first-time homeless individuals in parts of Michigan, experts said.
Advocates for homeless people said as much as 40 percent of individuals seeking homeless shelter services in Michigan's Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties are individuals who previously had homes and jobs, The Detroit Free Press said Monday.
We are seeing a lot of folks who, in a better economy, would not be homeless," Homeless Action Network of Detroit president Joseph Tardella said.
The number of homeless individuals in Michigan increased from 79,940 in 2007 to 86,189 in 2008, an increase of about 9 percent.
Jason Weller of the Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness said with Michigan and rest of the nation facing an economic downturn, the realization is growing that almost anyone could find themselves among the ranks of the homeless.
"I think people are starting to realize that the homeless could be your brother, your neighbor, your co-worker," Weller told the Free Press.
