Beyond the major causes of homelessness, which effect men and women equally as far as occurrence, (not meaning homeless because of mental illness, drug addiction, etc, but as just instances of frequency within the general population) there are many reasons why men, usually single men, are by far the largest segment of the chronic and temporary homeless population. To date, the focus of private organizations and government funding has been on protecting children first, and rightfully so. However, given the numerous custody laws and de facto court customs that bias custody towards the mothers, coupled with the hundreds of battered women's shelters around the country, females have many more options when they are faced with the terrible reality of becoming homeless.
Since women are by default given custody of children in most separation or divorce cases, they are also given the lion's share of benefits granted by state and federal funding put in place to house "families with dependents." One of the biggest of these programs, but not the only one, is known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families(TANF). While TANF does house a fair number of two parent families, and some single/separated men with dependents, the vast majority of this grant is given to single/separated women with dependants. Indeed, state and local government funding also buffers much of coverage towards 'families with dependants' where federal funding falls short. Another of these programs is the US Department of Health and Human Services' Family Violence Prevention & Services Grant (fact sheet), which often works closely with NGO's, many of whom are overwhelming geared towards the support of women in need. Medicaid grants and the popular Head Start program ared also targeted towards helping women who are pregnant, new mothers and women with small children. While these are all fantastic programs, none of them really address the massive amount of homeless men that end up on the streets every night.
Another issue which lends to the disproportionate number of homeless men is the battered women's shelters, which many single women can temporarily stay, many times even if domestic violence is not a factor (or proven factor). The majority of battered shelters do not, by policy, house single men, though many do offer hotel vouchers and counseling. Indeed, most of the men who do come to shelters seeking assistance due to a domestic violence situations, are by in large those who are in a homosexual relationship. Of course, this does not mean that homosexual relationships are somehow more prone to DV, but rather, its the multitude of complex reasons that heterosexual men have a difficult time in admitting to being the victim of DV. Pride, stigma, worry over counter charges by the female perpetrator, feelings of somehow being less of a "man" all play a part in this rather baffling problem.
Furthermore, given the disposability mentally towards men that society has begun to embrace, men aren't generally seen as people who can be in need, and may require assistance from time to time. Men, especially men in need, are inivisible. Moreover, women are often seen as the default victims of several issues, such as domestic violence, rather than culprits, as men are often viewed. This is sadly true, even though men are on the receiving end of domestic violence, by many reports, up to 50% of the time. This is not to say that women should be just as homeless as men, but rather, as a society, we need to really examine why single men are left out in the cold at such disproportionate numbers. How can we get more care for mental illness, disabilities and drug addiction, as well as the basics such as food and shelter, to homeless men without taking away from the aid that is given to house and feed children and families? Well, perhaps we can begin to start seeing homeless men as actual human beings who suffer, rather than a nuisance, or simply the victims of their own making.
References and Further Reading
http://www.nchv.org/background.cfm
http://www.usich.gov/funding_programs/programs/medicaid/
http://www.thenovetleftbehind.org/stats.html
http://www.hhs.gov/homeless/grants/index.html
http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mas2/ID45-PR45.pdf
http://www.fact.on.ca/Info/dom/kelly03.pdf
http://www.mediaradar.org/docs/RADARreport-50-DV-Myths.pdf
http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mas2/ID41E2.pdf
http://www.safe4all.org/essays/vtbreak.pdf
http://www.beyondshelter.org/aaa_programs/housing_first.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporary_Assistance_for_Needy_Families
