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Shelter Inquiries
After consulting information hotlines, online directories, and shelter lists published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as well as various advocacy groups and coalitions, ICP created a comprehensive list of family homeless shelters in each profiled area. To determine whether they met guidelines for being included in the National Survey of Programs and Services for Homeless Families, ICP contacted each shelter for basic information. Guidelines for inclusion are that the shelters: 1) must be emergency or transitional shelters (by self-classification), and not permanent supportive housing or scattered site transitional housing programs; 2) will serve homeless families comprised of two parents with children, women with children, men with children, and pregnant women; 3) are not designed to serve populations with special needs, including victims of domestic violence. These guidelines narrow the list of surveyed shelters to those that provide centralized services and housing to all families with children.
ICP established contacts and sent printed questionnaires to each family shelter. The questionnaires asked shelter providers to explain: the specific services provided by the shelter; the funding sources and dollars dedicated to each program or referral; details about the demographics of the homeless population served; and subjective observations about the challenges faced by homeless children and their parents in the area.
Some of the shelters did not ultimately fit within the guidelines for inclusion, and others chose not to participate. The directors and administrators of the organizations themselves have provided the information displayed on this site. Although the information was not independently verified, ICP staff did follow up with shelter representatives to discuss and revise any information that was unclear.
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