Officials Count Record Number Of Boston Homeless

Local, state and federal officials are reporting record numbers of homeless people, especially families and youths, on the streets of Boston.

The Boston Globe reports that in late 2012, city officials counted 6,992 homeless men, women, and children in Boston, 5 percent more than the year before and 17 percent more than in 2001.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported last January that the state's homeless population had risen 14 percent since 2010 to nearly 20,000 people.

The number of homeless students, preschool through 12th grade, is at a record high and has doubled in less than a decade in Massachusetts. The number has nearly tripled since the 2004-2005 school year, to 935 living without their parents or legal guardians in the last academic year.