Family Homelessness: A Deepening Crisis in Urban Communities

The recent national economic recession has exposed the increasing vulnerability of families living in poverty to the effects of housing instability. Mental health clinicians once considered homelessness to be the unfortunate domain of the severely and persistently mentally ill single adult. We must now recognize this social condition's burgeoning impact on families and children. This year, approximately 1.6 million children in the United States will experience homelessness, and families currently comprise more than one third of the total homeless population.