The report estimates that on any one day, 20,000 people are homeless in the state, with more than half living on the street.
The totals are likely much higher because the study uses the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development definition of homeless, which excludes people who are living with family or friends, those living in motels and migrant workers in dilapidated, unfit housing.
State officials say they hope to use the data gathered by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs to appeal to lawmakers and private donors for funding for shelters and agencies that help homeless find jobs and places to live. The state's homeless shelters and other agencies don't have enough beds to put a roof over everyone's head, with 7,400 beds for individuals and 5,100 for families.
``This gives us the reality of where we are in this issue,'' Mike Beatty, commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs, said during a news conference at Genesis House shelter in Atlanta. ``It gives us the basis of where we're headed.''
The state plans to conduct the study every year, he said.
The estimates are from surveys and street counts done in 23 counties across the state last year and this year. Kennesaw State University researchers plugged the numbers into a formula designed with U.S. Census data that predicts how many homeless people are in each county.
The numbers are similar to what HUD has estimated for Georgia, Kennesaw State researcher Jennifer Priestley said.
Not all states do such studies, making it difficult to get a national picture or how the Georgia numbers rank. About 750,000 homeless are in the U.S., according to the most recent national estimate from HUD released in 2007.
The study found that the vast majority of the homeless in Georgia are under the age of 54 and hundreds of them are children. According to the Georgia Department of Education, more than 22,000 children in the state's public schools were homeless last school year. That number includes children living on relatives' couches and in motels.
The Georgia study also found that homelessness affects communities of all sizes across the state and not just major metropolitan areas.
``There are homeless people in rural areas of Georgia, it just may look different,'' said Lindsey Stillman, the lead author on the report. ``It's less likely you would see a homeless person on the corner in a rural area than in an urban area. They are living in cars or hidden in the woods.''
As for specific numbers, the study offers only a broad range, 100-500 in Gwinnett and Clarke, for instance, and 50-100 in Barrow.
Like Gwinnett, the last homeless estimate in Hall County put the number at 100-500.
The counties that were included ranged from sparsely-populated Mitchell in deep south Georgia to the state's most-populated, Fulton.
(AccessNorthGa.com's Ken Stanford contributed to this story.)
On the Net:
Georgia Department of Community Affairs: http://www.dca.state.ga.us/
(From Ga. Dept. of Community Affairs.)
http://accesswdun.com/article/2008/7/211612