Unemployed boosts homeless in Austin

AUSTIN (KXAN) - A new study released Wednesday showed homelessness is not just a problem for the chronically unemployed.

Seeds for Change Consulting released the results of its more-than-four-month study at the National Symposium on Homelessness at St. Edward's University .

The study found the majority of homeless people have been out of work for less than two years and that those living on the streets do not have a criminal record.

Almost every homeless person in Austin relies on local agencies for the food, clothing and shelter they need to survive.

The president and CEO of local relief agency Mobile Loaves and Fishes said Austin needs a new approach to end homlessness.

"The ways of mitigating this problem and getting out of this situation, we need to expand our horizon and add new tools into the toolbox," said Alan Graham, with Mobile Loaves and Fishes. "We believe that a housing-first, community-first model is one of the very powerful tools we can put into the toolbox."