NSHAPC offers the first opportunity since 1987 to examine homeless assistance programs and their clients across the nation. This landmark survey provides nationally representative data about the providers of homeless assistance and the characteristics of currently homeless and other persons who use services, information that is vital to national discussions about homelessness. The study reveals that the level and type of homeless assistance programs across America are as diverse as homeless people themselves. The homeless people these programs serve have very limited income and other resources, and a complex array of needs. And homeless people are present in rural areas as well as urban and suburban locations. The study also allows valuable comparisons between 1987 and 1996 of the characteristics of homeless people using shelters and soup kitchens in central cities. It shows that the already high percentages of racial and ethnic minorities using these services in 1987 became even higher by 1996. Although educational levels, income, and receipt of a variety of means-tested government benefits were higher in 1996 than in 1987, extreme poverty remained a central fact of life for homeless clients, whose income was generally half or less of the federal poverty level. Since 1996, there have been major changes to the national, state, and local social welfare systems that are reportedly having significant impacts on America's low-income people. The impacts on homeless persons, both positive and negative, need to be identified. Comparing the findings of the 1987 and 1996 studies would provide important guidance for needed changes to homeless programs and mainstream social welfare programs. In a similar manner, communities around the nation will need to conduct their own studies to guide local homeless and mainstream policy decisions. The methodology used in this study provides procedures and questionnaires that are readily adaptable for local surveys. Such surveys would offer local policymakers the twin advantages of having their own data and being able to see how local programs and service users compare to those in the nation as a whole. Finally, future studies might consider specific objectives—such as the effectiveness of homeless assistance programs or estimates of the number of homeless people—that this survey was not designed to address.
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