Results of the count showed 2,576 homeless people in the state, up from last year’s total of 2,438. Of the 2,576 people, 1,243 were sheltered — down 9 percent from 2012 — and 442 were unsheltered, representing a 17 percent increase over 2012. In Cheshire County, the count revealed 63 sheltered people, down from last year’s total of 72. The number of unsheltered people remained the same at 25.
Donald R. Primrose, co-founder and chairman of the board of directors for the Hundred Nights warming shelter in Keene, said a decline in the total number of sheltered people isn’t due to a decrease in demand. At Hundred Nights, “after the first month and a half, we’re up a solid 20 percent across the board,” Primrose said. The shelter is open from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. during the 100 coldest nights of the year, beginning in late December.
In the past, some homeless people have chosen not to stay in a shelter, opting instead to stay in the woods, and this year is no different, Primrose said. “There are more people in the woods this year than there have been in the past,” he said. “There are people in the woods every night this year, including when it’s below zero, by choice. We talked to them and they want to stay where they are.”
While the Point In Time count doesn’t provide a demographic breakdown of the homeless population, Primrose said he’s noticed some changes this year. “The ages have gotten older, and I think it’s getting harder for people to find jobs,” he said. “More people would rather hire a 20-something or 30-something-year-old than a 50-year-old. And there’s been a lot more mothers with younger kids out there this year, too.”
While the Point In Time count doesn’t provide a demographic breakdown of the homeless population, Primrose said he’s noticed some changes this year. “The ages have gotten older, and I think it’s getting harder for people to find jobs,” he said. “More people would rather hire a 20-something or 30-something-year-old than a 50-year-old. And there’s been a lot more mothers with younger kids out there this year, too.”
More volunteers are dedicating more hours than they have at any point in Hundred Nights’ four-year history, he said.Southwestern Community Services in Keene operates three homeless shelters in the city, but officials could not be reached for comment on the report. Of New Hampshire’s 10 counties, Cheshire ranked third behind only Hillsborough (312) and Merrimack (86) in the total number of homeless people. “It is troubling to see the rise in the number of people who do not have a place to call home,” N.H. Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Nicholas Toumpas said in a statement. He stressed that this year’s increase “underscores the need for us to continue to work together to find solutions to end homelessness, especially in a time of limited resources, as there are far too many individuals and families that do not have a permanent place to live.”
The number of NH lives wronged and destroyed by NH's judicial branch is growing statewide. In 2013, NH statistics is now reporting increasing numbers of "more homeless mothers with younger kids out there this year" than there has ever been in the past. These statistics can no longer be ignored along with one of the main causes. NH's Judicial Branch has unnecessarily continued to leave a very long dusty trail of broken families and individuals out in the cold for years. All because NH's Judicial Branch is a government branch that is their own entity who makes up their own "rules governing", and those "rules so promulgated shall have the force and effect of law." Now freely capable to ignore any and all other federal and state legislative laws on the books to date.
Many people have never been able to recover from the unnecessary bankruptcy inflicted on their lives for years by NH's Family Courts. Majority of NH divorce and child custody cases take an average of 2 to several years, along with multiple costs and hearings, all before NH's Family courts will close a case. They have made up delusional false definitions of the laws or issues that don't even exist. This is nothing but inhumane torture towards both children and adults to endure. With numerous laws to follow and direct the courts, this should not occur. When a murder has occurred, NH Criminal Courts will follow the rules and the laws. The courts will resolve the matter in one trial with a fair Jury. Maybe NH Family Court needs to go before a Jury of spouses, fathers and mothers, because clear cut evidence, in multiple court cases, are proving NH family court judges are incapable of following the rules or the laws.
There is also one very important statistic that NH has never given to the public each year. And that is the actual number of homeless who have died each year in those woods! All because our government clearly states that once you no longer have a physical address you are no longer actively part of today's society. In other words, you are already dead, and simply written off, unaccounted for, no longer existing on the map. Therefore help is non negotiable for the walking dead in NH. A good majority of those people were simply placed in that position, by a NH Family Court ruling, and not by the economy or choice. This is just a glance of what is to come in 2014. Not a very promising future for NH now is it?
