One of the most alarming trends of this historic economic downturn is the rapidly increasing number of families, largely mothers with children, experiencing homelessness.

This crisis encompasses Sacramento and a growing number of communities across the nation. According to Sacramento County's most recent homeless street count, the number of homeless families has risen more than 12 percent since 2009. At St. John's Shelter Program for Women and Children, the county's largest shelter focused exclusively on mothers and their children, as many as 320 women and children are now being turned away each day – up from 150 per day last year.

Regardless of how one may feel about the causes of the current economic conditions, or how society should respond, we can all agree that turning mothers with children out into the cold is not the best answer.

When our community fails to respond to the plight of homeless women and children, we know these families will spiral downward toward poor mental and physical health.

Finding and keeping a job will become even more challenging, and their children and communities will suffer even more. Is our community prepared to accept all of this as an outcome of our new economic reality?

Two important changes must take place if we are to address this social phenomenon with any expectation of success.

First, as a community, we must demand that adequate public support is available to providers that have proven themselves capable of addressing this alarming trend. Second, and perhaps most important, is that our definition of success for these providers needs to move beyond "housed, fed and clothed" to include employment and social reintegration.

Why is economic and social reintegration so important?

Sacramento County's official statistics show that nearly one-third of county residents are relying on some form of the county's public assistance. However, that number actually is much higher when factoring in other aid such as unemployment insurance or food stamps. The Sacramento community is facing a "dependence" epidemic of seismic proportions.

This may be unavoidable in the short term as the economy and our community struggle toward recovery and as services that help stabilize families are needed. However, stabilization alone does not prepare families to move beyond the perils of dependence that homelessness can engender. Our community needs to focus its scarce resources on programs that fully reintegrate these families into our community.

During the last four years, more than 2,200 mothers and 4,000 children have been served by St. John's. Of these mothers, only a relative few are incapable of sustaining their families because of pervasive physical or mental disabilities. However, fewer than 75 of these 2,200 mothers are now working and sustaining their families independently – meaning that more than nine out of 10 rely on public assistance.

As our community and our nation engages in an indirect debate on the goals and expectations of our long-standing, unwritten social contract, we should be debating our commitment to help homeless mothers sustain their families in the long term. One key feature of this debate, and a corresponding policy shift, should be public support for employment programs that reward those who are prepared to go to work, as well as for the providers that know how to make this happen.

In the past 16 months, St. John's has developed a continuum of services that begins with temporary shelter and continues through the development of foundational skills and employment training. This approach has allowed a mother of five, who arrived at the shelter in early 2010, to become the lead cashier at a well-known cafe and the main provider for her family. She is but one example of many mothers who are gaining their independence, in addition to a sense of self-worth and pride, through employment. St. John's is not alone in this work – other providers are launching programs that promote independence and are also poised to achieve positive results.

Some would question the feasibility of pursuing such an agenda in the midst of a downturn. We would argue that while few things are certain in these challenging times, our morals and our concern for our future require that our community reprioritize to make this happen.

Gov. Jerry Brown has recently proposed cutting health and human services by $100 million. This will perpetuate the cycle of economic and social despair for mothers and children in this generation and ones to follow. We strongly recommend that the governor, the Legislature and our county officials fight for funding to support programs that encourage mothers and their children to thrive independently.

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Michele Steeb is CEO of St. John's Shelter for Women and Children. Chet Hewitt is president and CEO of Sierra Health Foundation.