"but from what I understand the average long term homeless person is a middle aged disabled man with either a mental illness or some form of substance dependenc

"but from what I understand the average long term homeless person is a middle aged disabled man with either a mental illness or some form of substance dependency." That's stereotypical homeless.. what we imagine when we think of homeless people. The average homeless person is 9 years old. Children represent 1/3rd of the homeless population (1.35m out of 3.5m). These were the first results from Google: http://www.opendoormission.org/about/fast-facts http://www.opendoormission.org/about/fast-facts http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/pages/basic-facts http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/pages/basic-facts