Family Homelessness (James Jean-Marie)

 The recent national economic downturn has highlighted the growing vulnerability of low-income households to the effects of home instability. It's really hard for them to find stability because our system wasn't made to put homeless people in a better position in life so there is about 1.6 million children in the United States that will be homeless. Families that become homeless and live in unstable short-term accommodations or public shelters are physically and emotionally separated from their basic institutional supports: their neighborhood, community, and school. The tremendous disruption caused by homicide puts parents' and children's mental and physical health, fundamental social supports, and educational and occupational progress in jeopardy. 

When a lack of affordable housing is combined with poverty and a lack of social support, families become homeless. Domestic violence, a history of children being placed in foster care, parental alcohol or drug use, parental mental illness, and a racial or ethnic minority background are all risk factors for family homelessness.