This report presents data from 1999 surveys of people living in Chicago shelters and warming centers for families with children. The surveys asked about the impacts of welfare reform on respondents' lives. Researchers also surveyed housing and food assistance agencies, shelters, and other social service agencies. Of 481 families surveyed, 44 percent had cash assistance benefits stopped or reduced, and 85 percent of those families experienced those cuts since welfare reform implementation in Illinois. About 37 percent believed they became homeless because of welfare reform, and 34 percent gave becoming employed as the main reason for losing benefits (though 82 percent of those who had become employed no longer worked). About 33 percent had no source of income, and of those, 43 percent had no Food Stamps or Medicaid, 60 percent had been cut off of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), 35 percent had been turned down for TANF, and 17 percent had been turned down for Food Stamps. Results suggest that a work first philosophy of pushing people immediately into employment will not transition people off welfare permanently. Instead, it is causing increased homelessness and creating additional barriers to transitioning from welfare to work. (SM)