Carts for the Homeless

The Silent Epidemic Los Angeles is the homeless capital of the nation; there are over 80,000+ that sleep on the streets of LA nightly. (That�s more then most cities of the world!) At least 10,000 homeless youth sleep on the streets of L.A. 79% go unsheltered at night. 19% have been homeless for less than two months. 31% have been homeless for between two months and one year. 50% have been homeless for more than one year. Chronic Homelessness When a person has been homeless for atleast one year, or has had three episodes of homelessness in the past three years, then they are considered chronically homeless. Thirty-three percent�of the homeless population is chronically homeless! there are approximately 150,000 to 200,000 chronically homeless individuals nationwide. The System is Broken! Chronically homeless individuals are inefficiently served by the systems they interact with, including emergency shelters, emergency rooms, hospitals, and police departments.� �Shelter network programs and services are a rainbow in the clouds for homeless children and adults.� Maya Angelou Shelters take away homeless persons freedoms. They are over crowded, understaffed, and under funded. Because of this, an overwhelming majority (80 percent) of single adult shelter users enter the homeless system only once or twice, stay just over a month, and do not return! Instead they sleep on our streets, and use stolen shopping carts to transport all of their belongings. They sleep on the ground and have inadequate shelter.� Shopping Carts Suck! Homeless people are inadequately served by shopping carts.�Their little wheels get clogged and squeaky; their mesh baskets don�t keep things dry, and the volume of space is so limited because of the bottom rack! We hate to shop in them for an hour! Imagine having to use one as your chief mode of transportation.