Homeless families on the rise in RI

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) -- As Rhode Island families get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving, a new report suggests a growing number of families will be spending the holidays without a home to call their own.

Crossroads Rhode Island released its "Report on Family Homelessness" Tuesday.  According to the report, Crossroads has seen a 27-percent increase in the number of Rhode Island families seeking shelter so far this year.

As a result, Crossroads has had to adjust its Providence shelter designed for 15 families to make room for 40 families per night.

And not only are more families staying in homeless shelters, they are also staying there longer.  Crossroads reports that 73-percent of families moved out of the shelter within 30 days in 2011.   That number has dropped to 56-percent in 2012.

Crossroads reports that families make up 40-percent of the homeless population in Rhode Island, and that one in four homeless people in Rhode Island is a child.

According to the "Report on Homelessness," about 37,000 Rhode Island school children are living in poverty, and about 1,100 of them stayed in homeless shelters in 2011.

• Click here to read the Crossroads Rhode Island Report on Family Homelessness