Introduction
NSHAPC was designed to include interviews with all users of homeless assistance programs, including those who are not homeless. Information about nonhomeless clients helps in understanding who else is using these programs, and what experiences they may have with homelessness. In looking at results presented in this chapter that compare these groups, readers should be aware of some important limitations of NSHAPC data that limit simple inferences of causality. Formerly homeless clients and other service users in the NSHAPC sample are a random and representative sample of formerly and never homeless users of NSHAPC homeless assistance programs, but are not a representative sample of all formerly and never homeless clients in the United States.2 As will be seen, many similarities exist between currently and formerly homeless clients of NSHAPC homeless assistance programs (see chapter 1 for how these groups are defined). These similarities suggest two things, at least. First, some proportion of clients classified as formerly homeless by NSHAPC are essentially the same as currently homeless clients with a history of episodic homelessness, and the survey caught some in a homeless phase and others in a housed phase. Second, however, it is clear that some proportion of formerly homeless clients have been helped to leave homelessness through the auspices of public benefits and/or permanent housing programs. Because eligibility for these programs usually requires some level of disability (especially for programs that are federally funded), the inclusion of permanent housing program residents raises the level of reported health and other problems of NSHAPC's formerly homeless group. Other users of homeless assistance programs are also of interest to service providers and policymakers. Although housed, their poverty is sufficient to bring them to homeless assistance programs for help, usually with food (75 percent were found in food programs, including soup kitchens, food pantries, and mobile food programs).
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