TROUBLING FAMILIES - FAMILY HOMELESSNESS IN AMERICA

Reviewing empirical studies of homeless families and the shelters provided for them, this article summarizes the social and demographic characteristics of the families and the organizational features of the shelters. Homeless families are composed largely of young female single parents and their minor children and are drawn heavily from among Blacks and other minorities. The rise in the number of homeless families in the 1980s is attributed to the decline in the real dollar value of transfer payments against a background of a decline in traditional two-parent families, in turn driven by the decline in employment opportunities for minorities. Shelters provided mainly by private charities tend to accentuate the social and demographic features of the homeless family population by their admission practices and rules of residence. A set of public policies is proposed to ameliorate family homelessness, including the restoration of adequate welfare payments, the expansion of housing subsidies, and the enlargement of employment opportunities for minority young people.