More Than 1,500 Likely Homeless In DuPage County

By Anna Deem in News on Feb 28, 2010 6:45PM

According to new report, about 1,500 DuPage County residents were reported as homeless last year, including 368 under the age of 18 and 169 under the age of 5. Carol Simler, of the DuPage County Homeless Continuum of Care, told the County Board that the figures likely are too low, as the numbers only included those who had spent time in a shelter and didn't reflect people who had doubled up with other families or found other accommodations.

Simler also noted that many of the homeless were employed, but their income fell short of the $19 per hour that she estimated was necessary for a two-bedroom apartment in DuPage County. "They are a somewhat invisible population," she said to the Chicago Sun-Times. The new study is the first formal report to the county on homelessness.