Staggering Suicides Rates in Nunavut, Homelessness Emergency in City of ‘Angels’

Nunavut suicide rate 10 times that of Canada’s national average

The suicide rate in Nunavut, newest, and least populous territory of Canada, is 10 times that of the national average. In the case of Inuit boys 15 to 19, the suicide rate is 40 times higher than those of their peers in the rest of Canada, said a report.

“Since the territory was created in 1999, some 479 Inuit have killed themselves. The collateral damage that suicide inflicts means every one of the territory’s 36,000 residents has been devastated by the trauma.”

Nunavut’s chief coroner has pleaded for help from the territory’s minister of health and senior bureaucrats, asking them to declare a state of emergency, said the report.

“We have reached a breaking point and our community is under crisis,” Suramala wrote in an  email, addressed to the officials. “I leave it in your best hands to make the decision of calling [a] state of emergency.”

However, her pleas for help were ignored. Read more…

Los Angeles declares a State of Emergency as 60,000 homeless miss their dreams

The largest concentration of homeless people in the country are located just six blocks away from City Hall, Councilman Jose Huizar, who co-chairs the City Council’s homelessness and poverty committee told reporters.

“There are about 4,000 of them living in skid row,” he said. “Unfortunately, that is just a small percentage of the city’s homeless population.”

“[About] 85 percent of the city’s homeless population lives outside of Skid Row, throughout the city.” Councilman Mike Bonin told LATimes. “It’s time to get real, because this is literally a matter of life and death.”

“Many people here have compromised immune systems in these unsanitary conditions, and it can be deadly,” said the Rev. Andy Bales, an advocate for the homeless on Los Angeles’ skid row, where they often are the victims of violence, patient dumping and illness. [LATimes]

[Note: L.A. County puts the number of homeless in the city of Los Angeles at about 26,000, an increase of 12% in two years, though the actual figure is widely believed to be about 60,000.]

• In the U.S., more than 3.5 million people experience homelessness each year. 35% of the homeless population are families with children, which is the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. 23% are U.S. military veterans.

• On a single night in January 2013, there were 610,042 people experiencing
  homelessness in the United States, including 394,698 people who were homeless in
  sheltered locations and 215,344 people who were living in unsheltered locations

• On a single night in January 2014, 578,424 people were experiencing homelessness — meaning they were sleeping outside or in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program.

• Nearly one-quarter of all homeless people were children under the age of 18 (23 percent or 135,701). Ten percent (or 58,601) were between the ages of 18 and 24, and 66 percent
  (or 384,122) were 25 years or older.

• There were 216,261 homeless people in families on a single night in January 2014, accounting for 37 percent of all homeless people.

• There were 45,205 unaccompanied homeless children and youth on a single night in 2014. Most (86 percent or 38,931) were youth between the ages of 18 and 24, and 14 percent (or 6,274) were children under the age of 18.

• In January 2014, 84,291 individuals and 15,143 people in families were chronically homeless.  https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2014-AHAR-Part1.pdf