d more frequently, the ranks of the homeless consist of women and their minor, dependent children, or about 35 percent of all homeless people. The problem, though not limited to urban areas, is complicated by the fact that the current social welfare financial assistance program, Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF), has limited eligibility criteria, leaving many women and their children without the funds to maintain a home (Nunez & Caruso, 2003). Additionally, while government at all levels has provided for an increased number of beds in shelters, the demand for such beds and facilities tends to outpace supply (Nunez & Caruso, 2003). For these reasons, developing more effective policies for serving the homeless is needed. The balance of this report will examine the cause and effects of homelessness, and offer policy recommendations for addressing the problem more effectively.
Burt (2003) stated that there are two types of factors that are generally acknowledged as causing homelessness in the sense that they create the conditions under which people are more or less likely to find themselves homeless. Factors of the first type are structural: they represent larger societal trends and changes that impact upon broad segments of the population. Among these factors are changes in the housing markets and land use, employment opportunities or deficits, the quality and relevance of public education, institutional supports for individuals with disabilities, and discriminatory policies of several types. Structural factors, says Burt (2003), determine why the level of homelessness will rise or fall in a specific place at a specific time.
Conversely, Burt (20030 argued that the second set of factors are individual, consisting of the conditions and/or circumstances that make particular people vulnerable to homelessness. This set of factors includes disabilities (e.g., mental illness, developmental disabilities, and physical disabil...