The New York Times reports this morning that the number of people who were found homeless and outside during NYC’s One Night Count in January rose by 34% over 2009. Officials blame the harsh and tenacious recession.

Other cities around the country are yet to report their One Night Count results — excepting Seattle/King County, which saw a reduction this year of about 75 people. Locally, there’s been a lot of effort to create…

The Times profiles two families and their encounters with scarce food and limited budgets during United Way’s Hunger Action Week. The piece does a great job conveying what it’s like for a family for whom a food stamps-budget is a constant reality.

…on this gray day after reading in the Times how community volunteers are cheering up the supportive house sites run by DESC, a United Way grantee. With the help of the volunteers and a local artist, once-drab walls are now sporting bright hues, making the atmosphere less institutional and more welcoming for the once-homeless people now living at the Union Hotel.

…of Dolores Gancher, a homeless woman taken under the wing of Seattle Times staff members. It’s a good reminder that in solving homelessness, both individual kindness and systemic efforts play their part. By Nicole Brodeur.

…and soars overall. Here’s a sobering piece from Bob Herbert, the NY Times columnist, describing how 5.2 million Americans have joined the ranks of the poor (200% or less of the poverty line) in the last 8 years. Half of these newly poor are in the suburbs, not — as might be supposed — the inner cities or struggling rural areas. Altogether, more than 90 million Americans live in poverty now — a third of the country’s population. Wow.