Family homelessness: state or trait?

Journal of Social Issues, 1990

This article uses survey data to identify three pathways followed by homeless families in the period before they requested emergency shelter. The analysis groups 482 New York City families who were new entrants to homelessness into those whose longest residence in the year prior to the shelter request was as primary tenunts in their own living quarters (43% of the sample), those who lived with others last year but who had once been primary tenunts for a year or more (13%), and those who had never had a stable place of their own (44%). The demographic, social, and housing characteristics of these three groups vary significantly, indicating that homeless families are not a monolithic and homogeneous population. Consequently policies must be made specific to the needs of these families.

Departmental Papers (SPP), 2005

American Journal of Public Health, 1998

Journal of Social Issues, 1990

Homelessness is analyzed systemically in terms of the "low-income housing ratio"-the number of households living below the poverty line divided by the number of affordzble housing units available. When there is a shortage of affordable low-cost housing units, some low-income households pay more than they can afford for housing and others double up with friends or family. However, once those households that can pay more or double up have done so, if there are still more low-income households than there are low-cost housing units, homelessness will inevitably result. This will be true regardless of the characteristics of the households that become homeless. Thus, mental health approaches that treat the individual without changing the overall low-income housing ratio will be ineffective in reducing homelessness, as will programs providing only emergency shelter or transitional housing. Only those programs that reduce poverty or increase the supply of affordable housing will be effective in decreasing the total number of homeless families in the United States. In the 1980s, for the first time since the Great Depression, a significant number of families are living in shelters or on the streets in the United States. Families-mothers and children, couples and children-make up at least a third of the total number of homeless, and are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population, according to a U.S. Conference of Mayors survey of 29 cities (Waxman & Reyes, 1987). Why are significant numbers of families homeless now? In answering that question, this paper argues that families are homeless for structural rather than individual reasons. It then discusses the implications of the structural argument for three policy approaches to family homelessness currently in widespread use. Correspondence regarding this article should be addressed to Kay Young McChesney, Department of Sociology, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 8001 Natural Bridge Road, St. Louis, MO 63121-4499.

Housing Policy Debate, 2007

This study tests a typology of family homelessness based on patterns of public shelter utilization and examines whether family characteristics are associated with those patterns. The results indicate that a substantial majority of homeless families stay in public shelters for relatively brief periods, exit, and do not return. Approximately 20 percent stay for long periods. A small but noteworthy proportion cycles in and out of shelters repeatedly. In general, families with long stays are no more likely than families with short stays to have intensive behavioral health treatment histories, to be disabled, or to be unemployed. Families with repeat stays have the highest rates of intensive behavioral health treatment, placement of children in foster care, disability, and unemployment.

American Journal of Public Health, 2013

American Journal of Public Health, 2013

Journal of Community Psychology, 1999

s Housing patterns of homeless families after shelter exit were explored in order to study the role of subsidized housing in the achievement of residential stability. Families (n ϭ 233), interviewed prior to their first entry into emergency shelter, were reinterviewed five years later. At follow-up, 80% were in their own apartments and only 3% were still in shelter. Of 114 families who obtained subsidized housing after their first shelter exit, 83 were still there an average of 3.3 years later. Nearly half (51) of the 119 families who left shelter without a subsidized apartment returned to shelter, but a majority obtained subsidized apartments and achieved stability after a subsequent shelter stay.

Journal of Community Psychology, 1999

s Over the past 15 years, the general public, media, scholars, and policy makers have all become concerned about homelessness as a widespread social problem. The amount of money the federal government spends on housing and the number of scholarly publications on homelessness have grown dramatically during this period. The general public is not only well informed about homelessness but has indicated a willingness to pay higher taxes to help homeless people obtain housing. Three discernible groups active in the debate-politicians, housing advocates, and social scientists-often use different study methods, adhere to different estimates on the prevalence of homelessness, and hold divergent beliefs about the causes of homelessness. While the debate about numbers and prospective solutions continues, the duration of the problem defies emergency relief measures. Short-term measures are likely to be counterproductive if they are funded at the expense of longterm solutions. Attention to the wide array of housing problems and cooperation among state and local governments and community groups is essential if efforts to end homelessness are to succeed.

Homelessness is a critical public issue that affects communities as well as individuals. In cities across the country, America’s 2 to 3 million homeless people are increasingly visible (Triplett, 2004). However, according to the State of Homelessness in America Report (2016) trends show that from 2014 to 2015, homelessness decreased overall and amongst every subpopulation: unsheltered homelessness, families, chronically homelessness individuals, and veterans. Of all these categories, while the chronically homeless account for 10 to 20 percent of the homeless, they are faced with many challenges; Chronic homelessness is a subcategory of homelessness, and it is defined as “an unaccompanied homeless individual usually with a disabling condition or an adult member of a homeless family who has a disabling condition or an adult member of a homeless family who has a disabling condition who has either been continuously homeless for a year or more, or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years” (Byrne, Fargo,Montgomery, Munley, and Culhane, 2014, 235). Literature suggests that the more units there are of PSH show steeper declines in chronic homelessness over time (Byrne, Fargo, Montgomery, Munley, and Culhane, 2014, 251). Presently, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (2016) plans to end chronic homelessness by 2017 by increasing the availability of Permanent Supportive Housing, and helping communities engage and more rapidly connect individuals experiencing chronic homelessness to available units.