Claims that homeownership is beneficial to both owners and society have not been examined empirically. This article explores evidence from the General Social Survey and the National Survey of Families and Households, supplemented by data from the American National Election Studies and several small but highly relevant researches, to determine whether owners and renters differ in a variety of ways.Strong differences in demographics were found. Small differences were found in some respects: Owners tended to be higher in life satisfaction and selfesteem and more likely to be members of community improvement groups. On a wide variety of social issues-from political partisanship to ethnocentric views-owners and renters were essentially alike. Thus, it appears that the claims for some social and individual benefits from homeownership are supported, but only weakly. Recognizing that the exploratory analyses presented are not definitive, several strategies for more definitive future research are recommended.

Data are presented on the entitlement status of nearly 30,000 homeless persons who have received care through the national Health Care for the Homeless program in 16 project cities. Overall, about half of all clients are enrolled in at least one benefit program; program participation is slightly higher among homeless women than among homeless men and increases sharply with age. City-to-city variation in theproportion ofparticipat ing clients is found to be determined primarily by state-level differences in the leniency of eligibility criteria; in contrast, the effects of direct project efforts are modest. The "entitle ment problem "faced by the urban homeless is not that they fail to participate in programs for which they are otherwise eligible, but rather that in many states they are not eligible to participate in many programs, regardless of their rather obvious needs.

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Louis. Juan Conde Carvajal provided excellent research assistance. All errors are our own. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.