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Population: Families with Children
Many hard-working people are living on the edge of homelessness. One illness, layoff, disaster, or loss of childcare provider can put a family over the edge. As well, rapid economic growth can put affordable housing out of the range of many working families. Typically, however, poverty and a lack of affordable housing are the main causes of family homelessness. Although more families are moving from welfare to work, many cannot thrive due to low wages and inadequate work supports. Extreme poverty is growing more common for children, especially those in female-headed and working poor families.

Some families, particularly those that are not working, are forced to reside in emergency shelters. One is seven users of shelters in Canada is a child. Children that live in this setting develop problems with self-esteem, well being, behaviour, school achievement and social skills. The primary needs of homeless families when leaving a shelter are finances and affordable ...housing. Additionally, they require counseling in life skills, childcare and training and employment skills. The number of homeless families continues to rise due to a dwindling number of low-cost rental units, the withdrawal of federal and provincial support for housing and the rise in poverty.

AUTHOR: Power, Asetha (2008) Homeless Hub. [Show More][Show Less]


Acknowledgements
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A Canadian Homelessness Research Network (CHRN) initiative. The CHRN has received financial support from the Government of Canada’s Homelessness Partnering Strategy and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada

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