Browse Authors

[Return to list of authors]

Homelessness has now been on the American policy agenda for close to two decades. In 1989, when the Urban Institute published America's Homeless, by Martha R. Burt and Barbara Cohen, policymakers and the public may have hoped that we could end the crisis relatively quickly. The arrival of the new millenium has not fulfilled that expectation. In this new volume, Helping America's Homeless, Martha Burt and coauthors returns to the problem with the most in-depth analysis of homelessness that has ever been published. Drawing on data from the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients (NSHAPC), and extending their pioneering work, the authors examine every aspect of the issue, from how many homeless people there are, where they are, why they became homeless, to how long their homelessness lasts. They explore the programs that provide assistance to the homeless, and how they are configured within communities of different sizes. Finally, the authors look at how policymakers have approached this problem, and our prospects for solving the crisis in the new millenium.

Society must plan now for the requirements of the next century's elderly population. The authors use microsimulation to project the number of elderly, as well as their future incomes, living arrangements, and social service needs. They then show that the increase in demand for support services will grow drastically, even with optimistic assumptions regarding disability rates.

The nation's major welfare program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, distributes more than half its payments to women who were teenagers when their first child was born. Private Crisis, Public Cost investigates the policy opportunities for reducing welfare costs in this substantial sector of the dependent population.

[Return to list of authors]