Hard Times: Hardest on the Homeless : Job growth remains the best answer to rising total of adults and children on the streets

Nearly 11,000 children are without a home on any given night in Los Angeles. As more families are forced into homelessness, more women and children compete for shelter. Tonight, how many will do without?

Between 43,000 and 77,000 homeless people are on the streets on any night over the course of a year. The huge range in the numbers indicates the difficulty in establishing accurate statistics on the homeless.

Since last year the total of homeless men, women and children has risen in the county by perhaps even more than 10%, according to an annual survey by Shelter Partnership Inc., a support agency for homeless programs.

Those numbers are expected to worsen as services are slashed to compensate for deep budget cuts in Sacramento. Any reductions to health and other social services could contribute to greater homelessness.

Consider that general relief, the welfare check of last resort for single men and women who receive no other form of assistance, has already been reduced from $341 to $293. Thousands of poor people would be forced into the streets if that pittance disappears.

Answers? Obviously, the best one is jobs. Perhaps more than anything else, the homeless need regular paychecks. President Clinton and Mayor Richard Riordan have promised to create more jobs.

Another obvious solution is more housing. Affordable apartments, which by current definition rent for less than $500 (rooms, no more than $250), are scarce. Fortunately the Clinton Administration supports the permanent extension of the low-income housing tax credit, which generates investments for the construction or renovation of low-rent housing. Congress should make that tax break permanent.

Homelessness is a symptom of poverty, unemployment, illness, drug abuse and alcoholism. Whatever the cause, the cure appears increasingly out of reach for a growing number of homeless adults and children. Despite the bad times, government must do all it can--as everyone hopes for an end to the recession and the beginning of new job growth.