2019 JUST THE FACTS:
POVERTY AND HOMELESSNESS IN OUR COMMUNITY

POVERTY:

· The federal poverty line is $12,060 for an individual and $24,600 for a family of four.
· According to Talk Poverty, 21.2% of African Americans live in poverty (9 million people), 18.3% of Hispanics live in poverty (10.8 million people), 25.4% of Native Americans live in poverty (700,000 people), and 8.7% of Whites live in poverty (17 million people)· 18.3% or 231,823 people live in poverty in Cuyahoga County

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· According to US Census Data, 35.2% of Cleveland residents live in poverty. About 18% of Cleveland residents live in abject poverty. The Cleveland child poverty rate is at 48.7%.
· According to Cleveland Scene, there are about 12 evictions every day in Cleveland.
· In 2018, the minimum wage in Ohio was $8.30/hour. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a single individual would need to make $15.25/hour while working 40 hours a week to afford a two bedroom apartment. A single mother would need to work 73 hours a week under current minimum wage to afford a two bedroom apartment.

HOMELESSNESS:


· Based on Census Data and the Department of Education’s definition of homelessness, NEOCH estimates that there were about 23,000 people experiencing homelessness in 2018 in Cuyahoga County
· The Office of Homeless Services estimated that only 7,000 of these people entered a shelter for housing. 80% of these residents were people of color.
· Cleveland public schools recorded 2972 homeless students in 2018.
· Family homelessness has increased 35% to 2572 individuals.
· Below are graphs of the demographics of people experiencing homelessness in Cuyahoga County

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· Cleveland shelters have 906 beds for single individuals and 287 beds for families. The number of available beds have decreased by 444 units in the past decade.
· 618 people have reported staying in a dangerous place before entering the shelter system.
· NEOCH estimates that there are 77,000 people who need subsidized affordable housing
· 4,667 adults and 1,631 children were screened at the Coordinated Intake Center in 2018.
· There are only 710 units of permanent affordable housing in Cleveland.