Beautiful Homes, Gardens and . . . Homeless Kids

This map from the National Center on Family Homelessness (HCFH) ranks where the homeless fare the best and the worst. The HCFH's report ''America's Youngest Outcasts 2010'' is available at www.homelesschildrenamerica.org/reportcard.php

It's fun to look at the homes in this LASN Residential issue, admire the landscapes, the architecture, the amenities and perhaps even picture ourselves living in such fine surroundings.

Of course, there is the flip side: People who don't have homes, and, in fact, really have no permanent address.

In 2010, one in 45 children in the U.S. - 1.6 million children - were living ''on the street,'' i.e., in homeless shelters, motels or doubled up with other families, according to the National Center on Family Homelessness. A recent report on 60 Minutes, ''Hard Times Generation,'' focused on the children of families down to their last resort-living in vehicles.

The numbers from the National Center on Family Homelessness represent a 33 percent increase from 2007, when there were 1.2 million homeless children, according to a report the center released Dec. 13, 2011.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development reports slightly lower numbers: A 28 percent increase in homeless families, from 131,000 in 2007 to 168,000 in 2010.

The National Center on Family Homelessness finds homeless children ''fare the best'' (based on state's wages, poverty, foreclosure rates, cost of housing and programs for homeless families) in Vermont, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and Maine. Based on that same criteria, the ''worst states for homeless children'' are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Mississippi and Nevada.