Summary: Fifty federal programs run by eight agencies provide services to the homeless. Of the 50 programs, 16 are targeted, or reserved for, the homeless, and 34 are nontargeted, or available to low-income persons generally. Although all of the nontargeted programs GAO identified may serve homeless people, the extent to which they do so is generally unknown because the primary purpose of these programs is to serve poor -- not homeless -- people and, therefore, most of the programs do not track the number of homeless people served. Both targeted and nontargeted programs provide an array of services, such as housing, health care, job training, and transportation. In some cases, programs operated by more than one agency offer the same type of service. For example, 23 programs run by four agencies offer housing, such as emergency shelter, transitional housing, and other housing assistance. Twenty-six programs run by six agencies offer food and nutrition services, including food stamps, school lunch subsidies, and supplements for food banks. In fiscal year 1997, more than $1.2 billion in obligations was reported for programs targeted to the homeless. Federal efforts to help the homeless are being coordinated in several ways, and many agencies have established performance measures for their efforts, as required by the Government Performance and Results Act.
