Madison County doesn't have a huge homeless population, but it does have a different type of homeless population, according to county officials.

"We typically don't have your single-man-pushing-a-shopping-cart here," said Madison County Transitional Housing Manager David Harrison. "We do have single individuals, but in last year's homeless count, 40 percent were kids. We have lots of single women with children as well as families with children. It's pretty disturbing, especially when you see the kids in emergency shelters running around."

Harrison said that in 2011, Madison County officially tallied 549 homeless individuals; 347 were adults and 202 were children. He said a lot of people aren't aware that so many families are homeless because many of them are staying in unstable or temporary conditions that fall apart.

"For a lot of these families, they're double-bunking with relatives or neighbors," Harrison said. "That puts that family into a precarious situation. You have one argument with a person whose name is on the lease and you're on the street, in a car, at a hotel or at the mercy of another friend of relative."

Many of those families end up in one of four homeless shelters in the county: The Good Samaritan House and Phoenix Crisis Center, both in Granite City; and the Oasis Women's Center and the Salvation Army Booth House, both in Alton. Harrison said that the Salvation Army Booth House is the only shelter that accepts single men.

Harrison said that the program that he oversees works with those families and individuals to help them create a more stable housing situation. The 11-year-old Madison County Transitional Housing program provides prepaid housing for a two-year period for 17 families and three individuals. Harrison said the housing is spread out across the county and is secured in locations where there is a need.

"We rent from private landlords and are able to take families primarily out of homeless shelters and put them up in a place and pay their way for a maximum of 24 months," Harrison said. "In that 24 months, we have caseworkers execute a plan to help these people get back on their feet and off of public programs."

Harrison said the Transitional Housing program costs about $400,000 a year. It is funded by a $1.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Contact reporter Ramona C. Sanders at 618-344-0264, ext. 136