ABSTRACT
More Americans were homeless in 1984 winter than at any time since the Great Depression. The Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that only 250,000 to 350,000 are homeless nationwide. Whatever the number is, everyone agrees it is growing. There are no reliable national data on the homeless, even though they have always been numerous in American cities. At a time when the accepted solution to the homelessness problem is to establish more shelters, this finding has disturbing implications. The statement that a majority of the homeless are mentally ill does not in itself explain why their number is growing or why a particular individual joins their ranks. Chronic mental illness, even when it is severe enough to impair the ability to function in society, does not by itself cause homelessness, any more than unemployment does. The public debate on homelessness would undoubtedly be enlightened by more rigorous research into the causes of the problem.
