The number of homeless families with children has increased in recent years due to the lack of the affordable housing, and compounded by the current economic recession. This November 2009 report from the National Center on Children and Poverty explores the causes and consequences of the epidemic of homelessness and children and youth.

The Homelessness Resource Center, hosted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, is an interactive online community of service providers; policymakers; researchers; and public agencies at federal, state, and local levels. The Center shares state-of-the art knowledge, evidence-based practices and practical resources to prevent and end homelessness through providing publications and materials, and online learning and networking opportunities.

This HUD report, released in June 2011, provides the latest counts of homelessness nationwide, including counts of individuals, persons in families, and special population groups, such as veterans and chronically homeless people. The report also covers the types of locations where people use emergency shelter and transitional housing; where people were just before they entered a residential program; how much time they spend in shelters over the course of a year; and the size and use of the U.S inventory of residential programs for homeless people.
Download The 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (June 2010)
Download The Third Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (July 2008)
Download The Second Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (March 2008)
Download The Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (February 2007)

The National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to mobilize the nonprofit, public, and private sectors of society in an alliance to end homelessness. Their website includes links to numerous resources about the issue of homelessness in America, including statistics, policy and legislation, best practices, and fact sheets for kids.

The National Center on Family Homelessness (NCFH) is the nation's definitive authority on family homelessness. NCFH is a leader in research and evaluation, program design, service delivery, systems integration, and advocacy to help homeless children and their families.
Download NCFH's America's Youngest Outcasts 2010 report.

The mission of the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) is to end homelessness. Toward this end, NCH engages in public education, policy advocacy, and grassroots organizing. NCH focuses its work on the areas of housing justice, economic justice, health care justice, and civil rights.

The National Survey of Programs and Services for Homeless Families, hosted by the Institute for Children and Poverty, is an online resource for service providers, advocates, researchers, and public policy makers working in the field of family homelessness. It provides a state-by-state snapshot of the interconnections between governmental, nonprofit, and voluntary sector work to end family homelessness. It also provides nationwide and local demographics of family homeless populations and information about the funding sources available to them.

This report, released by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness in July 2010, examines the issue of homelessness in America and proposes a plan to prevent and end homelessness in our country. The plan outlines an interagency collaboration that aligns mainstream housing, health, education, and human services to prevent homelessness and proposes a set of strategies that call upon the federal government to work in partnership with the private sector, philanthropy, and state and local governments to employ cost effective, comprehensive solutions to end homelessness.
Download the plan implementation newsletter.

This report, released by the National Alliance to End Homelessness in May 2006, examines public perception of family homelessness and strategies creating positive outcomes in cities and counties across the country. The report asserts that despite perceptions, homelessness is different and imminently more solvable than many Americans believe.

This sourcebook, compiled by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, is an evolving compendium of information to assist communities moving forward on plans to end family homelessness. Each section provides a unique contribution to the overall goal of ending family homelessness, including a fact sheet on family homelessness, a review of research on the intersection of child welfare and homelessness, a selection of best practices, and a selected bibliography of research on family homelessness.

This webpage provides information about homelessness in America, as well as HHS homeless assistance programs, publications, research results, and many other resources related to homelessness.

U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) pulls together representatives from various federal agencies to address the issue of homelessness in the United States. Visit USICH's website to learn more about how different branches of the government are working together to prevent and end homelessness.
Download USICH's Inventory of Federal Programs That May Assist Homeless Families with Children
View USICH's September 2010 newsletter, Preventing and Ending Family Homelessness