Homelessness across the US up 18% amid cost of living crisis

ST. CLAIRE SHORES, Mich. (FOX 2) - Everyone should have a place to call home, but the country is seeing a dramatic increase in un-housed people and families.

Delivering a warm meal for a family experiencing homelessness and living in a motel is just one of the many families and individuals the Motor City Mitten Mission is helping every day.

"Every day this is seven days a week we don't have a day off. We are out there," said Brooke Rosso from Motor City Mitten Mission. "We are going on over 2,000 days straight in a row of outreach."

Back at the Mitten Mission's kitchen in Saint Clair Shores, Rosso oversees the making of the meals.

"I wouldn't serve anything out of this kitchen that I wouldn't eat myself," she said. "We try and give a balanced meal—they're going to get a protein, they're going to get a starch, they're going to get a vegetable, a fruit."

Gail Marlow is the founder of Motor City Mitten Mission. For the past seven years, they've been helping the homeless with everything from food to clothing to shelter.

"We outfit each van to basically carry everything that you would need to survive in the elements," she said.

She says the problem is only getting worse instead of better.

"Affordable housing, mental health, substance abuse," she said.

Marlow says affordable housing, mental health, substance abuse are the main reasons the problem is getting worse. The United States saw an 18% increase in homelessness, with nearly 800,000 people un-housed.

"We have several people and families that are sleeping in cars, that are sleeping in storage units, that are sleeping in abandoned buildings," she said.

Marlow says until we make affordable housing and access to mental healthcare serious priorities, we won't solve the problem. But Motor City Mitten Mission will still be here to help.

"Especially in our society today, we all gotta help each other out, and we need to realize that we're all in this together, and homelessness does affect all of us," she said.

Like their motto says, it's easy to be kind, and together we can make a difference. Learn more at motorcitymittenmission.org/