Indy Week

By Bruce Lesley

Thanks for covering homelessness (“Fewer North Carolinians homeless in 2014, says U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,” Nov. 3). But the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s data is misleading.

More than a million children will sleep tonight with a roof over their heads, but it’s not their roof. They endure the same horrors facing homeless adults. A 17-year-old Michigan boy was raped by the person he stayed with. A 13-year-old Ohio girl was sexually trafficked by the man who promised her housing. But HUD’s definition of “homeless” excludes them. HUD’s counts largely ignore them too, focusing instead on shelters, bus stations, parks, and other places homeless youth and families are less likely to go…

Read more