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Poverty, homelessness remain significant in U.S.: report

Xinhua, June 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

Poverty rate remained high in the United States, and the basic right of survival for the U.S. people were threatened, according to the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2014 released on Friday.

Over 14.5 percent of Americans (about 45 million) lived below the poverty line in 2013, of whom 27.2 percent were African Americans (about 11 million), the report says, citing The Huffington Post.

The report was released by the Information Office of the State Council, China's cabinet.

According to USA Today, the high poverty rate left one in seven Americans relying on food pantries and meal service programs to feed themselves and their families, the report says.

Nearly one in five New Yorkers, 1.4 million people, relied on food pantries and soup kitchens across the city to eat. That represented an increase of 200,000 people in five years, it says, citing The New York Daily News.

On October 20, 2014, the Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation and Special Rapporteur on adequate housing of the United Nations voiced their concerns on the cutting-off of water supply for the families that could not pay the water bills in Detroit City, considering it a violation to the right of access to drinking water and other international basic human rights, according to the report.

The homeless population reached to over 610,000 in the U.S. in 2014, including high levels of child, youth and veteran homelessness, and the basic living conditions for homeless people deteriorated, the reports notes.

However, the number of cities that prohibit sleeping in vehicles jumped from 37 in 2011 to 81 in 2014. The number that prohibit sitting or lying in public spaces increased from 70 in 2011 to 100 in 2014, the report says, citing USA Today.

Also, 21 American cities have managed to pass legislation banning or restricting organizations from sharing food with homeless populations in public places since January 2013 alone, it cited a report by the National Coalition for the Homeless as saying. Endi