No Room At The Inn—For Homeless Dads And Their Children

It’s true. When we think of homelessness, we think of either homeless single men in downtown, or homeless mothers with their children. Not a lot of attention is placed on single fathers who are homeless with their children.

And, sadly, there are not a lot of shelter beds or services for this population either. An article in the Tidings Online documents the predicament. “But who really knows anything about an almost invisible part of our U.S. homeless scene, even though it first came to light more than a decade ago and has continued to steadily increase - single homeless fathers?” Here's the article.

Some call this the “invisible homeless family.”

Many shelter programs don’t want to mix homeless families with mothers, and homeless families with fathers. Whether they are correct or not, they worry about safety and security.

Is it discrimination? Or is it simply playing it safe? Perhaps it is a little bit of both…