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…

With the emergence of "pay for success" programs, state and local governments have new opportunities to align services and demonstrate how service delivery investments in one system can improve outcomes in others and potentially save money. Integrated data systems that track individuals and families across different agencies are proving…

Western Michigan University is building an innovative program to make welcome those students who were raised in foster care and to help them earn their diplomas without having to shoplift or trespass over the holidays. Many of the students have comfortable apartments on the campus, and a hall was kept open over the holiday break for dorm residents…

For many youth who emancipate or age out of the foster care system when they turn 18, homelessness and incarceration, not higher education, are often the alternatives, say child welfare experts. This article describes how Dr. Ronald Carter, president of Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) in Charlotte, North Carolina, has made foster care a part of…

Current research demonstrates relationships between child abuse and neglect, homelessness and criminal activity. This report presents key findings from analysis of a data set linking three community-sector data collections: Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP), juvenile justice supervision, and child protection notifications and…

This study empirically examines the link between homelessness and discharges from other institutions. An administrative record match was undertaken to determine rates of discharge from institutional care for 9,247 unaccompanied adult shelter users in New York City. Cluster analysis and multinomial logistic regression analysis was then used to…

This study describes obstacles Massachusetts families face in accessing emergency shelters when the system is underfunded and the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) seeks to deflect families' entry into shelter. The study presents data, interviews, and observations recorded over 7 months at the Boston Family Housing Office. Results…

Examines subgroups of the homeless population and their needs for shelter. Argues that governments and charities should make distinctions among the highly diverse groups of the homeless and cease providing unlimited and unconditional aid to the able bodied, which tends to ensnare youth in the culture of dependency. (FMW)

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,…

These 11 reports focus on policy responses to the needs of very young children who are part of a homeless family, and older young people who are homeless but on their own. The following chapters are included: (1) J. M. Molnar's introduction to the relationship between chronic poverty and homelessness; (2) "Beyond the Numbers: Homeless…

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…

This report describes a pilot study to determine the needs of formerly homeless families in New York City and to help them make the transition from welfare hotels and shelters into new homes and to become stable and permanent residents of their communities. Three New York social services agencies assigned one or two caseworkers to nine homeless…

This report describes how Title IV-A of the Social Security Act is being used to aid homeless families with children. The report reviews the history of the Emergency Assistance program (EA) and the special needs component of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program (AFDC-Special Needs), discusses current policy and practice, examines…

The Center for Rural Pennsylvania analyzed data from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare concerning rural homelessness for fiscal years 1997 through 1999. Findings indicate that rural Pennsylvania has a homeless population and it is growing. In 1999, more than 21,700 clients received homeless assistance in rural areas, 44 percent of whom…

This report, based on a study by the Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations and Human Resources of the Committee on Government Operations examines the magnitude of the problem of homeless families. Its findings include the following: (1) causes of family homelessness include scarcity of low income housing, inadequate income or public…