Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO testified on trends in the incidence of homelessness, factors which may be contributing to these trends, and programs and policies affecting the homeless. GAO found that, while there is disagreement on the exact number of homeless persons, there is a consensus among experts and government officials that homelessness has increased in the past several years. Further, while this group has many persons with serious alcohol and drug abuse problems and mental health disorders, its composition has changed so that today's homeless include more young people, minorities, women, and children. Multiple and interrelated factors appear to be contributing to the trend in increased homelessness, including the high unemployment rate from 1979 to 1983, the decline in the supply of low-income housing, the deinstitutionalization of mentally ill persons, increases in personal crises, and cuts in public assistance programs. There is also agreement that facilities and services are not sufficient to meet the needs of the homeless for shelter. Even if the most conservative estimate of the size of the homeless population is used, between 140,000 and 240,000 homeless persons do not have access to shelter on a given night. While there are federal resources for which the homeless should be eligible, there is no nationwide coordinated outreach effort to bring federal, state, local, and private resources to bear on the homeless problem.
