Number of homeless families is on rise

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NEW YORK, March 5 (UPI) -- One in 100 New York City children spend their nights sleeping in homeless shelters, disturbing new housing statistics show.

Combine that with data nationwide that suggests the percentage of entire families comprising cities' homeless population is increasing at double-digit rates and experts say there is a troubling increase in U.S. homelessness.

For the first time city officials said the number of people sleeping in New York's homeless shelters topped 50,000 in January, The Wall Street Journal said Tuesday. In Boston, there were an estimated 1,166 homeless families in December, a 7.8 percent increase. In Washington, the number of homeless families grew by 18 percent from 2011 to 2012, the Department of Housing and Urban Development said.

And back in New York, the percentage of homeless families has increased 73 percent in the last decade.

Some advocates said an end to federal rent subsidies for those previously living in shelters is partially to blame for the increase. The subsidies ended in 2011, leaving some families literally out in the cold.