Number of homeless in Illinois falls 7 percent

CHICAGO — New numbers from the federal government show that the number of homeless people in Illinois has fallen 7 percent since 2007.

A report released Tuesday for Congress by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development details homelessness since 2007 in the United States. Its statistics show that about 0.1 percent of Illinoisans are homeless, or about one in every 1,000 residents.

The report found that the Illinois homeless population was 15,487 in 2007, falling to a low of 14,055 in 2009 before increasing to 14,395 in 2010. That's a difference of 1,092 fewer homeless residents since 2007 in Illinois.

Homelessness fell 53 percent in Michigan. It increased by 127 percent in Louisiana and 99 percent in Mississippi.