The mothers in the study are approximately 27 years old and have two children. Two-thirds of the women gave birth to their first child at about age 20. The homeless children are approximately 4 years old compared to their housed counterparts who are about 6 years of age. Income assistance and housing subsidies protect poor women and children against family homelessness. The data suggest that cutbacks in these benefits may place many families at great risk of homelessness.
Residential instability is common in both homeless and housed low-income families.
Homeless families have moved nearly four times in the past two years compared to their housed counterparts who had moved almost twice in the same period. Eighty-nine percent of the homeless moved in with family or friends in the past two years. Homeless and housed low-income mothers are socially isolated. Erosion of the economic and social safety net and the fabric of many communities leaves many low-income women without the robust relationships that previously buttressed them against disaster. Most of the mothers in this study have few relationships they can count on for financial and emotional support and have little or no help raising their children.