Homeless Americans Plan Protest Vote

"My situation is going to make me want to vote even more," Mary White, who used to work as a sales clerk until the bank foreclosed on the home she rented, told Reuters on Wednesday, July 23.

Tossed out on the street with her six boys, the single mother has lost her deposit and her job.

White, 42, is now revved up to vote in the November white House race.

"I want to say that this should not be happening to people in America, and I am very angry and upset about it."

The government estimates that more than 400,000 people around the country sleep in homeless shelters each night, with many more on the streets, under bridges and in parked cars.

Advocacy groups say that some 3.5 million Americans will find themselves homeless at some point in a year.

As home foreclosures passed the 2 million mark last year, organizations offering emergency accommodation say they are fielding more calls from families facing homelessness as they struggle to keep up with mortgages, rent and bills.

A deepening US housing crisis and shaky economy are forming a grim backdrop to the November election.

Protest Vote

Though no specific figures are available, advocacy groups say many people who have lost their homes are particularly motivated to votes this time around, because they feel they have more at stake.

"Low income and homeless people are more energized than I have ever seen before," said Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition of the Homeless.

"There's a lot of interest in voting because of what's happening in this country."

People without a home, more than a third of them families with children, depend on the government and nonprofits.

For them much is riding on the outcome of the presidential election.

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