A survey of the users of emergency shelters for the homeless estimated that 25 percent to 33 percent may have been hospitalized for psychiatric treatment at least once (Walsh, 1986, p. 50). The actual proportion of the homeless with mental disabilities is probably lower, because alcoholics, drug users, and the mentally disturbed tend to use the emergency shelters more than single women and family groups.
The most significant trends of the 1980s concerning the homeless have been the dramatic rise in the number of homeless persons, and the rapidly changing mix of who has become homeless. Never before in American history have so many women, children and families found themselves without housing.
Although there has always been some homeless people, changing economic conditions and public policies during the 1980s have been major factors in the recent trends. Other contributing factors appear to be demographic and social changes, such as the breaking up of families and t
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