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Homeless Families With Children
Homelessness is a devastating experience for families. It disrupts virtually
every aspect of family life, damaging the physical and emotional health
of family mem interfering with children's education and development, and
frequently resulting in the separation of family memThe dimensions, causes,
and consequences of family homelessness are discussed below. An overview
of policy issues and a list of resources for further study are also provided.
DIMENSIONS
One of the fastest growing segments of the homeless population is families
with children. Families with children constitute approximately 40% of
people who become homeless (Shinn and Weitzman, 1996). A survey of 30
U.S. cities found that in 1998, children accounted for 25% of the homeless
population (U.S. Conference of Mayors, 1998). These proportions are likely
to be higher in rural areas; research indicates that families, single
mothers, and children make up the largest group of people who are homeless
in rural areas (Vissing, 1996).
Recent
evidence confirms that homelessness among families is increasing. Requests
for emergency shelter by families with children in 30 U.S. cities increased
by an average of 15% between 1997-1998 (U.S. Conference of Mayors, 1998).
The same study found that 32% of requests for shelter by homeless families
were denied in 1998 due to lack of resources. Moreover, 88% of the cities
surveyed expected an increase in the number of requests for emergency
shelter by families with children in 1999.
CAUSES
Poverty and the lack of affordable housing are the principal causes of
family homelessness. The number of poor people increased 41% between 1979
and 1990; families and children under 18 accounted for more than half
of that increase (U.S. House of Representatives, 1992). Today, 40% of
persons living in poverty are children; in fact, the 1997 poverty rate
of 19.9% for children is almost twice as high as the poverty rate for
any other age group (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1998).
Stagnating
wages and changes in welfare programs account for increasing poverty among
families. In the median state, a minimum-wage worker would have to work
87 hours each week to afford a two-bedroom apartment at 30% of his or
her income, which is the federal definition of affordable housing (National
Low Income Housing Coalition, 1998). Until its repeal in August 1996,
the largest cash assistance program for poor families with children was
the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. Between 1970
and 1994, the typical state's AFDC benefits for a family of three fell
47%, after adjusting for inflation (Greenberg and Baumohl, 1996). The
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996
(the federal welfare reform law) repealed the AFDC program and replaced
it with a block grant program called Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
(TANF). Current TANF benefits and Food Stamps combined are below the poverty
level in every state; in fact, the median TANF benefit for a family of
three is approximately one-third of the poverty level. Thus, contrary
to popular opinion, welfare does not provide relief from poverty.
Welfare
caseloads have dropped sharply since the passage and implementation of
welfare reform legislation. However, declining welfare rolls simply mean
that fewer people are receiving benefits -- not that they are employed
or doing better financially. Early findings suggest that although more
families are moving from welfare to work, many of them are faring poorly
due to low wages and inadequate work supports. Only a small fraction of
welfare recipients' new jobs pay above-poverty wages; most of the new
jobs pay far below the poverty line (Children's Defense Fund and the National
Coalition for the Homeless, 1998). Moreover, extreme poverty is growing
more common for children, especially those in female-headed and working
families. This increase can be traced directly to the declining number
of children lifted above one-half of the poverty line by government cash
assistance for the poor.
As
a result of loss of benefits, low wages, and unstable employment, many
families leaving welfare struggle to get medical care, food, and housing.
Many lose health insurance, despite continued Medicaid eligibility: a
recent study found that 675,000 people lost health insurance in 1997 as
a result of the federal welfare reform legislation, including 400,000
children (Families USA, 1999). In addition, housing is rarely affordable
for families leaving welfare for low wages, yet subsidized housing is
so limited that fewer than one in four TANF families nationwide lives
in public housing or receives a housing voucher to help them rent a private
unit. For most families leaving the rolls, housing subsidies are not an
option. In some communities, former welfare families appear to be experiencing
homelessness in increasing numbers (Children's Defense Fund and the National
Coalition for the Homeless, 1998).
The
shrinking supply of affordable housing is another factor underlying the
growth in family homelessness. The gap between the number of affordable
housing units and the number of people needing them is currently the largest
on record, estimated at 4.4 million units (Daskal, 1998). The affordable
housing crisis has had a particularly severe impact on poor families with
children. Families with children represent 40% of households with "worst
case housing needs" -- those renters with incomes below 50% of the
area median income who are involuntarily displaced, pay more than half
of their income for rent and utilities, or live in substandard housing
(U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1998). With less income
available for food and other necessities, these families are only an accident,
illness, or paycheck away from becoming homeless.
More
recently, the strong economy has caused rents to soar, putting housing
out of reach for the poorest Americans. Between 1995 and 1997, rents increased
faster than income for the 20% of American households with the lowest
incomes (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1999). As a
result, more families are in need of housing assistance. From 1996-1998,
the time families spent on waiting lists for HUD housing assistance grew
dramatically. For the largest public housing authorities, a family's average
time on a waiting list rose from 22 to 33 months from 1996 to 1998 - a
50% increase. The average waiting period for a Section 8 rental assistance
voucher rose from 26 months to 28 months between 1996 and 1998. Excessive
waiting lists for public housing mean that families must remain in shelters
or inadequate housing arrangements longer. Consequently, there is less
shelter space available for other homeless families, who must find shelter
elsewhere or live on the streets.
Domestic
violence also contributes to homelessness among families. When a woman
leaves an abusive relationship, she often has nowhere to go. This is particularly
true of women with few resources. Lack of affordable housing and long
waiting lists for assisted housing mean that many women are forced to
choose between abuse and the streets. In a study of 777 homeless parents
(the majority of whom were mothers) in ten U.S. cities, 22% said they
had left their last place of residence because of domestic violence (Homes
for the Homeless, 1998). In addition, 46% of cities surveyed by the U.S.
Conference of Mayors identified domestic violence as a primary cause of
homelessness (U.S. Conference of Mayors, 1998).
CONSEQUENCES
Homelessness severely impacts the health and well-being of all family
memCompared with housed poor children, homeless children experience worse
health; more developmental delays; more anxiety, depression and behavioral
problems; and lower educational achievement (Shinn and Weitzman, 1996).
A recent study of the health status of homeless children in New York City
found that 61% of homeless children had not received their proper immunizations
(compared to 23% of all New York City two-year-olds); 38% of homeless
children in the City's shelter system have asthma (an asthma rate four
times that for all New York City children and the highest prevalence rate
of any child population in the United States); and that homeless children
suffer from middle ear infections at a rate that is 50% greater than the
national average (Redlener and Johnson, 1999). These illnesses have potentially
devastating consequences if not treated early.
Deep
poverty and housing instability are especially harmful during the earliest
years of childhood; alarmingly, it is estimated that almost half of children
in shelter are under the age of five (Homes for the Homeless, 1998). School-age
homeless children face barriers to enrolling and attending school, including
transportation problems, residency requirements, inability to obtain previous
school records, and lack of clothing and school supplies.
Parents
also suffer the ill effects of homelessness and poverty. One study of
homeless and low-income housed families found that both groups experienced
higher rates of depressive disorders than the overall female population,
and that one-third of homeless mothers (compared to one-fourth of poor
housed mothers) had made at least one suicide attempt (Bassuk et al.,
1996). In both groups, over one-third of the sample had a chronic health
condition.
Homelessness
frequently breaks up families. Families may be separated as a result of
shelter policies which deny access to older boys or fathers. Separations
may also be caused by placement of children into foster care when their
parents become homeless. In addition, parents may leave their children
with relatives and friends in order to save them from the ordeal of homelessness
or to permit them to continue attending their regular school. The break-up
of families is a well-documented phenomenon: in New York City, 60% of
residents in shelters for single adults had children who were not with
them; in Maryland, only 43% of parents living in shelters had children
with them; and in Chicago, 54% of a combined street and shelter homeless
sample were parents, but 91% did not have children with them (Shinn and
Weitzman, 1996).
POLICY ISSUES
Policies to end homelessness must include jobs that pay livable wages.
In order to work, families with children need access to quality child
care that they can afford, and adequate transportation. Education and
training are also essential elements in preparing parents for better paying
jobs to support their families.
But
jobs, child care, and transportation are not enough. Without affordable,
decent housing, people cannot keep their jobs and they cannot remain healthy.
A recent longitudinal study of poor and homeless families in New York
City found that regardless of social disorders, 80% of formerly homeless
families who received subsidized housing stayed stably housed, i.e. lived
in their own residence for the previous 12 months (Shinn and Weitzman,
1998). In contrast, only 18% of the families who did not receive subsidized
housing were stable at the end of the study. As this study and others
demonstrate, affordable housing is a key component to resolving family
homelessness. Preventing poverty and homelessness also requires access
to affordable health care, so that illness and accidents no longer threaten
to throw individuals and families into the streets.
Only
concerted efforts to meet all of these needs will end the tragedy of homelessness
for America's families and children.
REFERENCES
Bassuk et al. "The Characteristics and Needs of Sheltered Homeless
and Low-Income Housed Mothers," in Journal of the American Medical
Association 276 (August 28, 1996) 8:640-646. Available from Dr. Ellen
Bassuk, The Better Homes Fund, 181 Wells Ave., 3rd Floor, Newton, MA 02159-3320,
617/964-3834.
Children's
Defense Fund and National Coalition for the Homeless. Welfare to What:
Early Findings on Family Hardship and Well-being, 1998. Available for
$11.50 from the National Coalition for the Homeless, 1012 14th Street,
NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20005; 202/737-6444.
Daskal,
Jennifer. In Search of Shelter: The Growing Shortage of Affordable Rental
Housing , 1998. Available from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,
820 First Street, NE, Suite 510, Washington, DC 20002; 202/408-1080, center@center.cbpp.org.
Families
USA. Losing Health Insurance: The Unintended Consequences of Welfare Reform,
1999. Available from Families USA, 1334 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005;
202/628-3030.
Greenberg, Mark, and Jim Baumohl. "Income Maintenance: Little Help
Now, Less on the Way," in Homelessness in America, 1996, Oryx Press.
Available for $43.50 from the National Coalition for the Homeless, 1012
14th Street, NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20005; 202/737-6444.
Homes
for the Homeless. Ten Cities 1997-1998: A Snapshot of Family Homelessness
Across America. Available from Homes for the Homeless & the Institute
for Children and Poverty, 36 Cooper Square, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10003;
212/529-5252.
National
Low Income Housing Coalition. Out of Reach: Rental Housing at What Cost?,
1998. Available from the National Low Income Housing Coalition at 1012
14th Street, Suite 610, Washington, DC 20005; 202/662-1530.
Redlener,
Irwin, MD and Dennis Johnson. Still in Crisis: The Health Status of New
YorkÕs Homeless Children, 1999. Available from The Children's Health
Fund, 317 East 64th Street, New York, NY 10021; 212/535-9400.
Shinn,
Marybeth and Beth Weitzman. "Homeless Families Are Different,"
in Homelessness in America, 1996. Available for $43.50 from the National
Coalition for the Homeless, 1012 14th Street, NW, Suite 600, Washington,
DC 20005; 202/737-6444; email: nch@ari.net.
Shinn,
Marybeth and Beth Weitzman. "Predictors of Homelessness Among Families
in New York City: From Shelter Request to Housing Stability" in American
Journal of Public Health, 1998;88: 1651-1657. Available from Beth Weitzman,
Ph.D., Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University,
40 W 4th St., New York, NY 10003, email: weitzman@is2.nyu.edu
U.S.
Bureau of the Census. Poverty in the United States: 1997. Current Population
Reports, Series P60-201, 1998. Available, free, from U.S. Bureau of the
Census, Income Statistics Branch, Washington, DC, 20233-0001; 301/763-8576,
or at http://www.census.gov/hhes/ww w/poverty.html.
U.S.
Conference of Mayors. A Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness in America's
Cities: 1998. Available for $15.00 from the U.S. Conference of Mayors,
1620 Eye St., NW, 4th Floor, Washington, DC, 20006-4005, 202/293-7330.
U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development
and Research. Rental Housing Assistance -- The Crisis Continues: 1997
Report to Congress on Worst Case Housing Needs, 1998. Available for $5.00
from HUD User, P.O. Box 6091, Rockville, MD, 20850, 800/245-2691.
U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development
and Research. Waiting In Vain: An Update On America's Housing Crisis,
1999. Available for $5.00 from HUD User, P.O. Box 6091, Rockville, MD
20849-6091, 800/245-2691, or free from the HUD User web site at www.huduser.org
U.S.
House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means. Overview of Entitlement
Programs: 1992 Green Book. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Out of Print.
Vissing,
Yvonne. Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Homeless Children and Families in Small
Town America, 1996. Available for $16.95 (paperback) from The University
Press of Kentucky, 663 S. Limestone St., Lexington, KY 40508-4008, 800/839-6855.
Last
updated - June 1999 - National Coalition for the Homeless
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