Detroit has a long and complicated history with housing instability, and obtaining safe and stable housing is a significant challenge, particularly for low-income residents. For many renters, housing quality is poor, rents are high, and eviction is common. In 2017, 16% of households with children in Detroit reported being either evicted or forced…

Homelessness has long been a concern throughout the United States. In the Department of Housing and Urban Development's 2012 Point in Time Estimate of Homelessness, on a given night in 2012, there were 633,782 homeless people in the United States. During the 2011-2012 school year, the U.S. Department of Education (National Center for Homeless…

While both the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and he U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) base their services and eligibility criteria on the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (hereafter referred to as "The McKinney-Vento Act"), each agency uses a different definition of "homeless" due to differences…

In a given year, approximately 1.6 million children in the United States experience homelessness, and research shows that their living conditions generally place these children at risk for educational underperformance and failure at school (Hall, 2007; Love, 2009). Although lack of education or low levels of education on the part of a head of…

Children who accompany their parents or guardians during a period of homelessness make up 37% (more than one in three) of all people accessing the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) services. This paper describes an Australian qualitative study that explored the experiences of children who accompanied their families during periods…

Children who experience homelessness have an increased risk for negative outcomes in several developmental areas (Bucker, 2008). While there are numerous programs that hope to mediate these and other risks by offering services to families experiencing homelessness, there is a paucity of research that addresses how children's psychosocial needs are…

This report presents tabulations from Census 2000 data on people enumerated at emergency and transitional shelters. This includes shelters for people experiencing homelessness; shelters for children who are runaways, neglected, or without conventional housing; transitional shelters for people without conventional housing; and hotels and motels…

Data from a study of homeless families and children conducted in eight cities are presented with social worker observations and family vignettes. (PCB)

Following a review of approaches taken to generate accurate estimates of the scale of child and youth homelessness in America, this article documents the methods and results of a multipronged count of homeless children and youth in New Haven, Connecticut. The survey used in this count accessed demographics and service needs, and was administered…

Describes the experiences of several families who are homeless in New York City, looking at what it is like for the children in these families, how the parents cope with trying to find work and a place to live, and how these families are treated by the system as they wait for various kinds of assistance. (SM)

Because homeless children are often a hidden group, staying with friends or relatives for brief or long periods, and occasionally spilling into the roughly 150 private emergency shelters and domestic violence programs in Michigan, their numbers are difficult to define. This Kids Count! study interviewed 25 children of 25 homeless families residing…

An analysis of 8,251 homeless children in New York City found that 18% of them received child welfare services over the five-year period following their first shelter admission, and an additional 6% had a history of having received such services before their first shelter admission. Recurrent use of public shelters, exposure to domestic violence,…

In the 1980s, homelessness attracted considerable attention from the media, advocates, politicians, and the public. Virtually every sector of society and the government responded. Interest in the issue has waned considerably since then, but the problem continues growing, particularly in large urban areas. While public policies address the problem,…

Ten years after passage of the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, homelessness was studied in 11 urban, rural, and suburban communities and 4 states. The first section of the report examines the findings of detailed research on homelessness in these locations. The second section draws conclusions and outlines future directions for efforts to…

Study explores the psychosocial difficulties facing homeless mothers with young children. Variables include impulse control, emotional tonality, social relationships, morality, goal orientation, coping, psychopathology, social adjustment, and sense of fatalism or control. Addresses value of results for designing social intervention programs for…