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-- more than half of all homeless mothers do not have a high school diploma;
-- 29% of adults in homeless families are working; (and the homeless)
-- have much higher rates of family separation than other low-income families."
Mothers are especially vulnerable, many the victims of domestic violence compounded by homelessness on their own. Over 92% experienced "severe physical and/or sexual abuse during their lifetime," two-thirds of the time by "an intimate partner." They also struggle with mental health issues, half having experienced depression while homeless. They have three time the PTSD rate and double the drug and alcohol abuse incidence. They're often in poor health, have four times the rate of ulcers as other women, and among industrialized nations, America has the largest women and children homeless population.
Background on Federal Housing Policy
During the Great Depression, it began with the 1934 National Housing Act, creating the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to underwrite and insure mortgages and provide security to lenders in case of default. It also established the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation, abolished because of insolvency in 1989 by the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act, returning deposit insurance responsibility to the FDIC, now itself approaching bankruptcy.
The 1937 Wagner-Steagall Housing Act provided subsidies to local agencies (LHAs) to construct low-cost housing for poor families.
The 1934 and 1937 acts began a dual federal housing policy - public rental housing and subsidies for the poor (mostly inner city) and subsidized credit for middle-income family homeownership (much of it suburban).
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