Number of Families in Shelters Rises

Katherine Taylor for The New York Times
Nick Griffith with his daughter, Ava, and son, Ethan, at Crossroads Rhode Island, a shelter in Providence where the family has lived since last month.

By MICHAEL LUO
Published: September 11, 2010

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — For a few hours at the mall here this month, Nick Griffith, his wife, Lacey Lennon, and their two young children got to feel like a regular family again.

Katherine Taylor for The New York Times

Ava Griffith, 3, has had a setback since moving with her family into a homeless shelter.
Never mind that they were just killing time away from the homeless shelter where they are staying, or that they had to take two city buses to get to the shopping center because they pawned one car earlier this year and had another repossessed, or that the debit card Ms. Lennon inserted into the A.T.M. was courtesy of the state’s welfare program.

They ate lunch at the food court, browsed for clothes and just strolled, blending in with everyone else out on a scorching hot summer day. “It’s exactly why we come here,â€