The Female-Based Household in Public Housing: A Case Study in Puerto Rico

The increasing number of families with a female head in the United States is becoming a matter of growing concern, not only to practitioners dealing with low-income groups but also to social scientists interested in family structure and social change. The total number of households with a female head increased from 3,679,000 in 1950 to 4,609,000 in 1961. This represents an increase of 25.3 percent compared to an overall increase in the number of families during the same period of 15.6 percent.1