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Homeless families are a rising proportion of the contemporary homeless population. However, no data have heretofore documented a profile of sheltered homeless families over time. Data collected in St. Louis from 1983 to 1988 indicate that homeless families are likely to be young, minimally educated, female-headed minority families with one or two preschool children. The emergence of these women and children as the dominant population of homeless families is discussed in the context of the increasing loss of affordable housing in St. Louis, Missouri, and the inability of mothers who receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children to pay market-rate rents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]