Homeless Families with Children: Programmatic Responses of Five Communities.Volume 1. Cross-Site Comparisons and Findings

摘要

The report describes the efforts of Atlanta, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Boston, andOakland to provide services for homeless families with children. Site visits focusing on the coordination and comprehensiveness of services provided by these cities showed that (1) at the public agency level, there is very little coordination among agencies in dealing with the problems of homeless families; (2) at the service provider level, every city had one or more coordinating mechanisms such as a coalition or task force; (3) coordinated and comprehensive services planning, such as case management, is a major gap in the service system for homeless families; (4) these cities did not provide a full range of housing services that included emergency shelter, transitional housing, and services-enriched permanent housing; and (5) factors affecting the comprehensiveness of services included the lack of capacity to include homeless children in Head Start and other preschool programs; insufficient funding to provide employment and training programs to this population; and the inability to meet the demand for aid for substance abusers and victims of domestic violence. Recommendations include (1) developing a system of services that includes subsidized child care, Head Start, developmental services, prenatal care, and substance-abuse treatment; (2) incorporating case management; and (3) giving one entity responsibility for follow-up, so that the effectiveness of the service systems can be determined.