In general, cities like Chicago and LA have lower crime then they have in decades, have higher property values then they have in decades, and are contributing a great deal to the economy on a per capita basis. Cities in the US in general are doing quite well right now.

In the 1980's, people often argued that cities were "decaying" and all that; the opposite is true now, young people are moving back to cities in large numbers, probably because the high crime rate that drove people out of cities 30 years ago is now way down.

Well the most direct method is that some of the early programs were specifically for single mothers, and one tends to get more of what one subsidizes. The less direct effect is that freed from the practical need for a provider women were free to indulge their hypergamic impulses.

If it turns out that it is specifically families led by women that are having more trouble making ends meet

What do you mean by "having more trouble making ends meet"? Between welfare programs and the occasional affirmative action job the women are perfectly capable of providing enough food for their children. It's just that the children are growing up feral, for lack of a better word.