Things to Know About Homeless Shelters

Sometimes people fall on hard times and they have nowhere left to go. When this happens, many people turn to homeless shelters so that they have a place to live temporarily. People can stay at these homeless shelters for a short amount of time so that they can get their life back on track and still have a safe place to sleep. Many homeless people take advantage of homeless shelters, not only do homeless shelters provide a safe place to sleep, they also have numerous other services such as job training and soup kitchens to help those who stay there get back on their feet.

Many homeless shelters are non-profit organizations and are often times associated with churches or government. The amount of homeless shelters in the country is growing and the Department of Housing and Urban Development has shown in recent studies that about 5 million Americans qualify to take advantage of these shelters each year. With the growing poverty rate, you can expect these numbers to continue to rise.

Supporting Organizations

The Salvation Army is a social service organization that also functions as a religious group as well. Founded by William Booth over 130 years ago, it is dedicated to fighting against sin and despair. The programs in the Salvation army are designed to assist children, women, elderly men, families and those who are battling or who have battled addiction.

Citygate Network help people in need, including homeless people. The services offered are not discriminated on race, age, religion, color, origin or any other determination.

Department of Veterans Affairs offers many special programs that are designed to help homeless veterans specifically. Even though the programs are limited to veterans and the ones who depend on them, their programs constitute the largest network of homeless treatment and help services in the country.

Feeding America is the biggest domestic hunger relief charity in the country. It provides food assistance to more than 25 million low-income people in the United States. This is also including over 9 million children and almost 3 million seniors.

Government Assistance Programs

There are many different Federal programs that help those with disabilities. Some of the better ones are the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSD) and Social Security Supplemental Income (SSI) programs. Both of the listed programs are administered by the Social Security Administration. These programs filter applicants and only those that qualify through their medical criteria may qualify for the benefits of either of the programs. The difference in the programs are that Social Security Disability Insurance (SSD) gives benefits to you and your family members if you have "insurance" (as in you have paid Social Security taxes). With Social Security Supplemental Income (SSI), it pays you based on financial need and has no bearing on whether you have a disability or not.