ABSTRACT
Research into the causes of homelessness suggests complex interactions between structural and individual factors, both of which are often present long before the onset of first homelessness [1,2]. The childhoods of homeless adults are disproportionately characterized by persistent poverty, residential mobility, school problems, and other stressful and/or traumatic experiences [3-5] particularly among homeless individuals with mental illness [2]. In fact, the childhoods of homeless people with mental illness
have been described as a “double dose” of disadvantage in the form of poverty as well as violence and family instability [2].
