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Causes of Homelessness:
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The declining value and availability of public assistance is another source of increasing poverty and homelessness. Until it was repealed in 1996, the largest cash assistance program for poor families with children was the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program. That program, was replaced by a block grant program called Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. Unfortunately, the benefits provided by this program along with Food Stamps are below the poverty level in every state.
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 not doing well because of low wages and inadequate work supports. Most welfare recipients' new jobs pay far below the poverty level. In addition, extreme poverty is growing more common for children, especially those in female-headed and working families. This increase is resulting from the declining number of children benefiting from 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 families leaving welfare for low wages lose health insurance and are unable to afford housing.
In addition to the reduction in the value and availability of welfare benefits for families, recent policy changes have reduced or eliminated public assistance for poor single individuals.
Disabled people also have struggled to obtain and maintain stable housing. In 1998, on a national average, a person receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits had to spend 69% of his or her SSI monthly income to rent a one-bedroom apartment at fair market Rent. In more than 125 housing market areas, the cost of a one-bedroom apartment at fair market rent was more than a person's total monthly SSI income.
Sources
Causes of Homelessness in America. (n.d.) National Law Center on
Homelessness and Poverty. Retrieved August 8, 2001, from
http://www.nlchp.org/causes.htm
Why Are People Homeless? (June 1999) National Coalition for the
Homeless. Retrieved on August 9, 2001, from http://nationalhomeless.org/facts.html
