Approximately 3.5 million people— 1.35 million of them children—are likely to experience homelessness in a given year. Two trends are largely responsible for the rise in homelessness over the past 20-25 years: a growing shortage of affordable rental housing and a simultaneous increase in poverty. An estimated 1.35 million children are likely to experience homelessness over the course of one year. In a 2005 survey of 25 American cities, families comprised 33% of the homeless population. Nationally, approximately half of all women and children experiencing homelessness are fleeing domestic violence. Approximately 20-25% of the single adult homeless population suffers from some form of severe and persistent mental illness.		Like 45 million other Americans, individuals who are homeless typically do not have health insurance; 73% of HCH clients nationally have no health care resources. The federal Medicaid program has provided coverage for many women and children who are homeless in addition to some disabled men, but Medicaid policy changes are causing loss of health coverage for many people without homes. Research indicates that 40% of men who are homeless have served in the armed forces. In 1995 there were 4.4 million fewer affordable units than low-income households that needed them.
Sources National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. Homelessness in the United States    and the Human Right to Housing (January, 2004) National Coalition for the Homeless. NCH Fact Sheet #1: Why are People Homeless    (June, 2006). Institute for Children and Poverty. Miles To Go: The Flip Side of the McKinney-Vento    Homeless Assistance Act, 2003. U.S. Conference of Mayors. A Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness in America’s    Cities: 2005. Zorza, J. Woman Battering: A Major Cause of Homelessness, Clearinghouse Review,    25(4) (1991). National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, The Importance of Financial Literacy, (October, 2001) National Resource and Training Center on Homelessness and Mental Illness, Get the    Facts, 2003. National Health Care for the Homeless Coalition Rosenheck et al., Homeless Veterans, in Homelessness in America, Oryx Press, 1996. National Alliance to End Homelessness, Fact Sheet on Homelessness.