Bonita Wallace has lived in a homeless shelter three times in the past six years. Her path to the door is not uncommon for the roughly 21,300 Minnesotans who are homeless or in danger of becoming homeless on any given day.

One time Wallace couldn't find an apartment after completing a chemical dependency treatment program. Another time she wound up homeless after a mix-up with her landlord. Most recently, in July, she fled a violent neighborhood where she feared for her kids' safety.

"I'm a good person, but my life has been a struggle," said Wallace, a soft-spoken mother of four from Minneapolis.

Such complicated lives are common among a large portion of Minnesota's homeless families, according to a study released today by the Wilder Research Center in St. Paul, which provides a detailed profile of the face of homelessness in Minnesota every three years. The latest study is based on a one-day survey conducted last Oct. 26 at every Minnesota homeless shelter, as well as on the streets.

About 38 percent of the women surveyed had more than three major barriers to becoming financially self-sufficient -- such as chemical dependency problems or little education -- said Greg Owen, director of the study. For men, it was about 47 percent.

But the survey also found that even Minnesotans with no serious personal or health problems, people who were gainfully employed, increasingly are homeless. About 20 percent of the state's homeless people fall into that category: They're homeless solely because their incomes don't cover the cost of housing, Owen said.

"This isn't a study, per se, about affordable housing and its availability in Minnesota," he said. "But if we don't take some further action as it relates to affordable housing, we will have continued growth in the homelessness."

Indeed, the study, whose initial findings were released earlier this year, showed a steady increase in homelessness in Minnesota since 1991, when the first statewide survey was conducted by the Wilder Research Center, which does research on a variety of social issues.

In 1991, about 8,000 people were homeless or "precariously housed" on any given night, the survey found. In 2000, the figure was 21,300. About 7,100 of those people were living in homeless shelters or transitional housing; about 1,400 were on the streets, and the rest were doubled up with family members or friends, or in other such situations. The study was based on the one-day snapshot taken last October in which more than 500 interviewers surveyed 2,480 adults and youths at shelters, plus 468 homeless people staying under bridges, in cars and in other locations.

The survey found a steady increase in the percentage of homeless people working full-or part-time, from 18.5 percent in 1991 to 41 percent last year.

Other findings showed that, among the homeless, there are now: