• One in 50 children in the United States experience homelessness.
• Two million children are expected to become homeless as homes continue to be foreclosed on.
• Homeowners are not the only ones affected by foreclosures, renters are losing their homes as well.
• More safe and affordable housing would help alleviate homelessness.

One in every 50 American children experience homelessness, according to a report by the National Center on Family Homelessness.

Although children in Wisconsin are better off than those in other states, more than 12,047 children in Wisconsin don't have permanent homes, according to the report. Wisconsin is ranked seventh best compared to other states in the report.

With the current foreclosure trend, more children are expected to become homeless. Two million children throughout the country and 22,600 children in Wisconsin are expected to be impacted by the foreclosure crisis, according to a report by First Focus, a bipartisan advocacy organization to make families a priority in the federal policy and budget.

The Milwaukee Public School system has noticed a 20 percent increase in the number of homeless students being helped through the MPS homeless program due to the economic situation, said Janis Shogren, an MPS homeless coordinator.

Last school year, 2,378 students participated in the Homeless Education Program while 2,289 students have been helped during the current school year, Shogren said.

The McKinney-Vento Act mandates all public schools helping homeless children have the same opportunities for success as other children, according to the MPS Web site. The costs of the program include transportation for the children, waiving fees, after school programming, school supplies and free meals, Shogren said.

With an increase in calls for help, The Salvation Army Emergency Lodge, 1730 N. 7th St., is not able to help all the homeless families seeking help, said Nancy Szudzik, the shelter's director.

"The shelter remains full so the homeless needs have not been met," she said.

Foreclosures are not only affecting homeowners, they're affecting renters, too.

Landlords' properties are being foreclosed, leaving low-income families without housing, said Jessica Shriver, staff person for Milwaukee's Continuum of Care. Ultimately, the people renting and living in those properties are the ones affected, she said.

A family will be paying rent while the homeowner loses the home, Szudzik said.

"It can touch anybody, anytime," she said. "The lack of safe and affordable housing is always the number one cause of homelessness."

The biggest way to help families is to have more safe and affordable housing with rent based on income, Shriver said.

"It would stabilize folks," she said.

One rent assistance program is the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 8 rental voucher program. Section 8 is a housing subsidy that assumes everyone can use one-third of their income to pay rent, said Ellen Bassuk, president of the National Center on Family Homelessness.

"It's a way of getting into housing and being able to afford it," she said.

Section 8 housing is difficult to obtain but remains the hope for most families, Bassuk said.

More funding is needed for this program as waiting lists are very long, said Eric Tars, human rights and children and youth staff attorney at the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. He said the program is a good way of addressing the housing issue because it allows families to find housing conveniently located for them.

Bassuk said 400,000 additional housing vouchers are needed.

These subsidies aren't meant to keep families supported forever, but it is supposed to give them time to become educated and self-sufficient, Bassuk said. Parents want the best lives for their children – to be a functioning family that is not subsidized, she said.

There is no one way to fight homelessness, Szudzik said. More safe and affordable housing, jobs that pay a living wage, education and training, a way to address mental health issues and health care are ways in which this can be achieved, she said.

Although no one knows what the future holds, predictions are bleak when it comes to foreclosures and homelessness.

"I don't think we've seen the full range of what's happening yet," Szudzik said.

Homeless families are the fastest growing homeless group, she said.

Many families have already become homeless due to the economic situation and the prediction is it will be worse, Bassuk said.