The contemporary focus on homelessness began some 15 years ago. Throughout the 1980's, this expanding and highly visible social problem received increasing attention, with growing numbers of task forces, conferences, legislation, research studies, and services devoted to homeless people and their problems. The first response of well-meaning government, private, and voluntary agencies was to treat homelessness as a short-term crisis. Emergency shelters and nutrition programs sprang up across the Nation, but they did not stem the tide of homeless people, especially for those with serious mental illnesses. In 1987, the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act provided the first significant Federal funding directed specifically to the needs of homeless people. As with other types of assistance, the McKinney Act initially funded primarily short-term help designed to tide people over until they could get back into the mainstream. McKinney funding provided important new resources to local programs for shelter, food, medical care, case management, and other services. But the number of people with serious mental illnesses entering or re-entering homelessness continued to eclipse those being helped into housing and stability. (Authors)