A new study estimates one third of all children have found themselves without permanent homes at some point.  What's surprising, many of the people now filling area homeless shelters are working and still can't make ends meet.

How do you picture the homeless?  A bum on the streets, a drug addict, or someone who's just lazy?  According to experts, it's time to re-think that image.

"The average family is a single mother with two children," said Staci Bell with Allentown's Sixth Street Shelter.

We met the new face of homelessness: a working mother with two children, who didn't want to give her name, who simply got buried in the rising cost of raising kids.

"Paying for day care for two kids and trying to come up with rent at an apartment and all the rest of the bills," the mother told us.

"We're seeing more families with a strong work history, with no history of relying on government services, no history of unemployment," added Bell.

They are the "working homeless," and their numbers are growing.  The University of Illinois School of Social Work studies 2,631 young children in 20 large American cities.  Researchers found 10 percent of them had experienced outright homelessness, while another 24 percent have "doubled-up," temporarily staying with relatives.

"It was getting to the point where I was doubling-up with family, staying with my mom, my grandparents," the mother said, "just wherever I could go for a little while."

The effects on kids can linger long after childhood.  The study found children with even brief episodes of homelessness were twice as likely to have emotional and behavior problems.. as those with stable housing.

There is hope, though.

This mother, now staying at the Sixth Street shelter, is getting resume help and learning about child care assistance.  She hopes to go back to school and get a nursing degree.

"I didn't think I could accomplish as much as I did in the two weeks that I've been here," she said.

Facilities like Allentown's Sixth Street Shelter have a waiting list, so if you can get in, you are one of the lucky ones.

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