Nonprofit agencies offer the vast majority (85 percent) of homeless assistance programs (figure 4.5). Secular nonprofits offer 51 percent of all programs, while religious nonprofits offer 34 percent. Government agencies operate 14 percent of all programs, and for-profit firms account for a mere 1 percent.

Figure 4.6

Different types of programs are operated by quite different types of agencies (figure 4.6). Secular nonprofit agencies dominate in the housing category, offering 60 percent of all programs, while religious nonprofits dominate in the food category, offering 55 percent of these programs. Health programs are about evenly split between government and nongovernment agencies, with secular nonprofits dominating among the nongovernment agencies that offer health programs for homeless clients.

Government agencies are least likely to operate food programs (5 percent of those programs) and most likely to offer health programs (51 percent of health programs). Secular nonprofits are the most prominent type of agency among other programs offering homeless assistance, which include outreach programs, drop-in centers, housing and financial assistance programs, and other programs. For-profit organizations play almost no role in operating homeless assistance programs (1 percent in housing, health, and other programs, and nothing in food programs).

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