CLAUDETTE, 69, HAS BEEN homeless for more than 10 years. Every day, she faces enormous challenges: finding enough food, getting to social services appointments, staying safe on the streets. But for the former schoolteacher from Washington, D.C., living without a home is even more difficult because she has type 2 diabetes.More than 3% million people in the United States are homeless, according to a 2007 study by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. Some live in shelters, like Claudette (who asked that her last name not be used), while others couch-surf, double- and triple-up temporarily with other people in houses or apartments, or live in cars or on the street. The rate of diabetes among people who are homeless is hard to track, but researchers and advocates estimate that it's higher than it is among the general population (25.8 million children and adults in the United States, or 8.3 percent of the population, live with diabetes).
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