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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 20, 2008
Statement by Press Secretary Dana Perino
Today, the Interagency Council on Homelessness conducted its final meeting under this Administration. President Bush appreciates the work of Council Director Philip Mangano and the members of his Cabinet who invested the time and energy to make its work a success.
Back in 2002, the Bush Administration revitalized the battle against chronic homelessness by regularly bringing together Cabinet Secretaries and other top officials from 20 Federal agencies in a position to help Americans living on the streets. This effort increased Federal resources by 60 percent, created national partnerships with mayors, county executives, governors, and the private sector, and encouraged results-oriented solutions.
And results are what we got.
Thanks to comprehensive new data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, we know that over the latest three years the number of chronically homeless individuals in the U.S. tumbled 30 percent -- from 175,914 to 123,833. And the number of homeless persons of all sorts fell from 763,010 to 671,888.
U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness executive director Philip Mangano notes that this is "the largest documented decrease in homelessness in our nation's history." All Americans want to see the numbers of chronically homeless continue to decline, and the policies we have implemented should help in that regard for many years.
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