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Food, housing, health, education, and income are basic human needs, but many Americans live without them.

Exactly how many Americans face challenges in these five domains—what we call societal distress—is not regularly monitored.

The goal of the Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Human Needs is to gather data on the prevalence of societal distress and to foster research on its implications.

The Project on Societal Distress
A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR The VCU Center on Human Needs was chartered in 2007 to provide the public and policymakers with information about the prevalence of societal distress in the United States. The Center examines societal distress in five domains—food security, housing, health, education, and income. Its mission is to document how many Americans confront hunger, precarious housing or homelessness, inadequate health and health care, inferior education, and inadequate income/poverty. The Center makes data available online and in publications and provides policy service to decision-makers and researchers. The Center is not an advocacy organization; its work is nonpartisan and is focused on rigorous research. More on the VCU Center on Human Needs