ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned primarily with housing conditions. The Housing Act of 1949 enunciated the national housing goal: "a decent home in a suitable living environment for every American family." That is a useful framework for considering the housing and neighborhoods in which children live: housing—whether children live in decent homes, neighborhoods—whether children live in suitable living environments, and the homeless—the people who do not live in any home at all. The most useful is the American Housing Survey, which is conducted by the Census Bureau for Housing and Urban Development. It has come out biennially since 1981, and annually from 1973 to 1981. It is based on a longitudinal national sample of 45,000 households by housing unit. The Urban Institute data provide a benchmark for homelessness among low-income families and, for what it is worth, suggest that former welfare recipients are about as likely to be homeless during a year as other poor people.
