Dec 15, 2016 4 min read

With temperatures sliding into single digits throughout the region Thursday morning, and gloves, stocking caps and scarves being exhumed from the corners of closets, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

First, the high temperature in the Pittsburgh region on Christmas Eve last year was a balmy 65 degrees. And the year before that it was 60 degrees. Santa had to navigate through thunderstorms not too far from here in 2014. The weather in this area is, without a doubt, mercurial this time of year.

Second, Memorial Day is just five months away. We’ll be complaining about the humidity again before you know it.

A more serious thing to keep in mind as we briefly endure temperatures more akin to the northern tip of Norway than the southern part of Pennsylvania is the number of individuals around here and across the United States who do not have warm beds in which to snuggle up or homes to retreat to at all. Despite an economy that has been steadily improving since the depths of the Great Recession seven years ago, and job growth that has been the strongest since the tech-driven explosion of the 1990s, there are almost 550,000 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the United States in 2016, according to a report issued in November by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. That’s enough to fill Heinz Field more than eight times over.

On the bright side, more than two-thirds of that number were able to find temporary sanctuary in emergency shelters, safe havens or transitional housing programs of some sort. However, that leaves 32 percent who were left to drift through their days and nights, maybe sleeping in cars or curling up in doorways.

Some other facts about homelessness in 2016 revealed by the report:

• The first image that typically comes to mind when we think of homeless people are disheveled adults in the throes of addiction or enduring mental illnesses. But more than one-fifth of the homeless population in the United States are children. Nine percent are between the ages of 18 and 24. Families represent almost a third of the homeless population.

• At the start of 2016, more than 39,000 veterans were homeless.

• Women, who make up 40 percent of the homeless population, are more likely to be in emergency shelters or other forms of housing.

This is the grim news. Now, the better news, according to the HUD report:

• In almost a decade, homelessnness has declined by 15 percent. The states that experienced the greatest declines in homelessness were California, Texas, Florida and New Jersey.

• The number of homeless families declined by 6 percent from the year before.

It’s unlikely that homelessness will ever be eradicated entirely. Countries with much sturdier social safety nets than what we have in the United States still have to confront it. But there are public and private agencies around the country and in this region that work with energy and determination to aid homeless people. Washington County’s homeless services and housing assistance programs point people toward help; Washington City Mission provides food and shelter, along with treatment of those with substance abuse and mental health issues. The City Mission also operates the Avis Arbor Women’s Shelter; Family Promise of Southwestern Pennsylvania, which has offices in Washington and Pittsburgh, deploys local congregations to help homeless people; and Greene County Human Services, like its Washington County counterpart, offers assistance to individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of becoming so.

When the warmer weather does return, those without a place to call home should not be forgotten. They, and the people who assist them, should be remembered and encouraged every season of the year.