Hunger and homelessness are on the rise in the United States according to a report released Feb. 15 by the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness.

While Sacramento State has a fair amount of homeless traffic, Sgt. Kelly Clark, the public information officer for the University Police, could not make a judgment on whether the number of homeless on campus is increasing because it is hard to measure.

“We typically don’t have problems with transients, although we have transients,” Clark said.

He said that the police officers know most of the homeless by sight. When they see a new one, they run a criminal background check and “make a public safety assessment.”

“Being homeless in itself is not a crime,” Clark said.

Clark said if the transients are causing problems, then officers deal with that.

He also said that officers advise the homeless of available resources.

There have been some concerns about whether the homeless on campus pose a threat to students.

One concern in particular is about a man who picks food out of the trash and heats it in the University Union microwaves.

Richard Kim, who is not a student but frequents the campus, said he is “concerned for the physical and health safety” of students.

He said the man has been heating trash in the microwave for three years and should be permanently banned on account of the health risk.

Patrick Felipe, a senior majoring in accounting, said he does not agree with any efforts to keep transients off campus if they aren’t hurting anyone. He does not notice large amounts of homeless, but if the number were to significantly increase, he said there might be a problem then.

Ian Johnson, a junior majoring in criminal justice, has also seen the man heating trash in the microwave and agrees that it is possibly a health concern. He does not think the homeless on campus pose a threat to students.

Jennifer Asercion, a junior majoring in child development, agrees that the homeless are “not a problem as long as they’re not hurting anyone.”

The health risk posed to students is minimal. Mark Barcellos, supervising specialist with the Sacramento County Environmental Health Organization, said that bacteria can be transmitted by any food, not just food pulled out of the trash.

The reason the risk is minimal is because food is usually wrapped or in a container and does not come into contact with the microwave. Also, the heat in the microwave has a good chance of killing the bacteria.

Barcellos said, “the Union should be cleaning the microwaves on a regular basis.”

If students are still concerned, he suggested that they put a clean barrier such as a container or a paper towel in between their food and the microwave.

The Union microwaves are cleaned on a regular basis. Donald Tucker, the assistant director of operations for the Union, said there is a regular cleaning schedule that is posted in the Hornet’s Nest.

Athough the health risk may be minimal, Tucker said that the problem is a concern of the overall atmosphere and how students feel about it.

“If we see him, we go straight to him and tell him to leave immediately,” Tucker said.

According to the Feb. 15 report, after studying 900 emergency food and shelter providers in 32 states, it was found that 74 percent of agencies reported an increase in requests for food assistance over the past year and that the average increase in requests was 28 percent.

Requests for shelter were up as well. Sixty-five percent of agencies reported an increase with the average increase in requests being 27 percent.

The report also found that the number of people requesting assistance is greater than what the communities can support.

One local resource for the homeless is Loaves and Fishes, located at 1321 N. C St. in Sacramento. It serves hot meals to about 700 people every day.

Tim Brown, the executive director of Sacramento Loaves and Fishes, said that the number of people seeking shelter is up but the number of people seeking food is slightly down over the past year.

Brown said that the end of the month is when they see increases in the number of people seeking food, an increasing number of which are not homeless. He attributes this partly to rising housing costs in Sacramento.

“I go to (soup) kitchens once in a while. It’s all you can eat, even on the weekends,” said Mark Davis, a homeless man who passes through campus every day to shave when he gets off work at 5 a.m.

Davis had not heard of the man who heats trash in the microwave. He does not eat on campus or feel that Sac State owes him anything. He said he has never asked for any services from the school.