NYT: Homeless population dropped 30% in two years

Don't know which is more surprising, the drop or the Times running with it:

The number of chronically homeless people living in the nation’s streets and shelters has dropped by about 30 percent — to 123,833 from 175,914 — between 2005 and 2007, Bush administration officials said Tuesday.

Housing officials say the statistics, which the Department of Housing and Urban Development collects each year from more than 3,800 cities and counties, may reflect better data collection and reporting and some variation in the number of communities reporting on an annual basis.

But the officials attribute much of the decline to the “housing first” strategy that has been promoted by the Bush administration and Congress and increasingly adopted across the country.

Of course, the Times finds some impartial "advocates" to bitch and whatever that other thing is they do--oh yeah, moan:

Advocates for the homeless criticized the Bush administration’s focus on the chronically homeless, saying that homeless families and those who live on the margins — in motels or doubled up with friends and family — are being left out.

“We should be focused on ending homelessness for everybody, not just a small segment of the homeless population,” said Michael Stoops, the acting director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, who argues that additional resources are needed to help homeless families. Mr. Stoops also said he and other advocates remained concerned that cities and states were undercounting the homeless.

(via Bros. Judd)