Meanwhile, Back in the States...

...things aren't going so well here, either.

Study: 744,000 are Homeless in the U.S.

WASHINGTON - There were 744,000 homeless people in the United States in 2005, according to the first national estimate in a decade. A little more than half were living in shelters, and nearly a quarter were chronically homeless, according to the report Wednesday by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, an advocacy group.

A majority of the homeless were single adults, but about 41 percent were in families, the report said.

The group compiled data collected by theDepartment of Housing and Urban Development from service providers throughout the country. It is the first national study on the number of homeless people since 1996. That study came up with a wide range for America's homeless population: between 444,000 and 842,000.

Just to put this in a bit of perspective, here are a few more population counts:

Alaska - 663,661
Delaware - 843,524
D.C. - 550,521
Montana- 935,670
North Dakota - 636,677
South Dakota - 775,933
Vermont - 623,050
Wyoming - 509,294

In the richest country in the world, we have a population of homeless that is greater than the amount of people living in the Capital.

Some cities and states have done their own counts of the homeless, providing a mix of trends, said Nan Roman, president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. For example, New York City and San Francisco have seen decreases, while the number of homeless in Washington, D.C., has increased, Roman said.

[...]

California was the state with most homeless people in 2005, about 170,000, followed by New York, Florida, Texas and Georgia, according to the report.

Nevada had the highest share of its population homeless, about 0.68 percent. It was followed by Rhode Island, Colorado, California and Hawaii.

"The driver in homelessness is the affordable housing crisis," Roman said. "If we don't do something to address the crisis in affordable housing we are not going to solve homelessness."

I don't know if your city is like mine, but Chicago has been exploding with new construction condos. New construction definitely picked up once it seemed that all the worthwhile vintage buildings had been gutted for condos; then it was time to build new buildings!

As all of this has been going on, more and more buildings going up, I keep thinking, who's going to live in these things? Because as they keep going up, there is one thing in common. They are all "luxury" condos. Meaning the tiniest studios start out at least at $250K. That's with no upgrades. And usually, with no parking... a space will set you back another $30K or so.

But for something really nice, maybe with a river or lake view, you can expect to start at about $1.5 million. Right around our home, they're building 20 or more multimillion dollar single-family homes; half a city block long and five stories high. They start at around $3.5 million.

The average price of a condo in Chicago seems to be around $450K and up. Now, the husband and I did recently purchase a home of our own (not paying nearly that, thank Jebus), and one thing that has really bothered me is that our building is a couple blocks away from the Cabrini Green housing project. What's left of it, that is. They're being torn down, building by building, and the awful thing is, I'm seeing no low income or "affordable" housing going up to compensate for the loss. If there is anything being built, I have no idea where it is. But it's definitely not near any of the new construction.

I wonder how much the homeless population in Chicago has jumped?

I wonder if any television news programs will report this number?

I wonder if any of them do report on the number, how many of them will have people on to discuss the problem of homelessness, rather than just mention the number in passing with grim faces?

I wonder how many of these programs will have Homeless Alliance members, Social Workers, Homeless Advocates, or hell, a homeless person on their shows to discuss the problem, rather than some pundit in a suit that's never missed a meal?

Well, I know one thing. In a country where a car company decides to sell their product with "wacky" commercials featuring a comedian living out of his car for a week, "because he can," I'm not holding my breath.

The campaign is intended to appeal to younger consumers “who live what we call the morning-to-morning lifestyle,” Mr. Schwartz said. They “get up, go to the gym, go to work, go out, and your car becomes your paradise.”

“That gave birth to the idea, ‘Hey, what if we had the guy live his life in this car?’ ” he added.

The guy is Mr. Horowitz, described by Mr. Schwartz as “a true product of our age,” who, in his off hours, “is a creator of content, including a blog, video and T-shirts,” and displayed the “curiosity and skepticism” common to his generation.

“He said, ‘I don’t know if I want to sell out,’ and we said: ‘Dude, this isn’t selling out. It’s a product demonstration,’ ” Mr. Schwartz recalled, adding that the agency found Mr. Horowitz in a casting book.

Of course, after the marketing campaign, Horowitz was able to go to his home, after his "seven straight days in his Sentra."

Of course, many of the 744,000 people mentioned above, some who live in their car every day of their lives, don't get that luxury.

But, hey, it's all in good fun, right?

Thought I’d answer a few of the questions people have been asking since I finished the 7 days.

Q: Was living in your car fun?
A: Yes and no. No, because people look at you like you’re a freak. Yes, because people look at you like you’re a freak.

Ha, ha.