Top Research Papers on Homelessness

> > Abstract_ There has been a relative paucity of European research on women’s homelessness since the European Observatory on Homelessness promoted the first overall study on the subject in 2001. This chapter provides a critical review of the research undertaken since then, focusing on the continuities and consistencies found regarding the previous findings and exploring the developments brought about by the new research produced. Given the almost total absence of comparative European research on women’s homelessness, the literature review is based on available national studies on the theme. ...

ABSTRACT Using in-depth face-to-face interviews, this study explored 34 homeless shelter workers’ perceptions of homelessness and working with the homeless. We asked the following questions: 1) What were the barriers that homeless shelter residents faced in combating homelessness, from the perspective of the homeless shelter workers? 2) What were the challenges that homeless shelter workers encountered in working with this at-risk population? Our findings shared the realities that the homeless population faced from the lens of shelter workers with different job responsibilities (ranging from c...

"This is the book on the law relating to homelessness."The Law Society Gazette* "An indispensable commentary on and guide to a complex and fast-moving area of the law: a must-have for academics, specialist practitioners and busy local government officers alike."Solicitors Journal* For over 40 years,Homelessness and Allocationshas been providing advice on the rights of the homeless and the duties of local government. The 13th edition includes updates on: - More than 50 new cases – includingR (Imam) v Croydon LBC;R (Jaberi) v Westminster CC;Zaman v Waltham Forest LBC;Uduezue v Bexley LBC; and...

ABSTRACT This article contributes to the growing body of work exploring governmentality theory in housing and homelessness law by engaging, for the first time, a Foucauldian neoliberal, governmentality and risk framework to the recently enacted Homelessness Reduction Act 2017. This article locates the place of governmental activity to be scrutinized as the homeless population and contends that the Homelessness Reduction 2017 (‘HRA 17ʹ) can be interpreted as operating according to three intersecting modes of problematization of the homeless: (1) biopolitical problematization; (2) governmental p...

Defining homelessness clearly without reducing the problem's complexity helps governments frame effective and conscious policies. There is a growing need for a theoretical framework that explores the common ground and generative structure among broad narratives about homelessness. In this article, we propose that Bakhtin’s (1981) concept of chronotope has excellent potential to achieve this goal. Chronotopes help us understand how time, space, and body configurations are represented in language and discourse for recognizing various situations and personas. Chronotope also enables us to reveal ...

Abstract People of color or mixed race account for more than half of all people experiencing homelessness, despite comprising less than a quarter of the total population in the United States. What are the primary drivers of this severe racial concentration of homelessness? Through a literature review of historical and contemporary research, this article highlights the extensive history of homelessness among Black, Latinx, and Native American communities and finds evidence for racialized pathways into homelessness. The literature points to three primary systems of stratification that drive raci...

How HUG takes a multi-pronged approach to address the variety of policies and practices that target homeless people, particularly people of color, recognizing that systems change requires a multifaceted approach that adapts to dynamic social and political contexts.

This study measures the impact of rapidly placing single adults experiencing homelessness in housing programs on future homelessness, crime, and health. Using a caseworker placement tendencies design and a novel dataset constructed by linking administrative records from multiple public agencies in Los Angeles County, I estimate that rapidly placing individuals in housing programs significantly reduces the likelihood of future return to the homeless support system, crime, and reliance on emergency cash assistance, yet it does not have a detectable effect on health services utilization. These fi...

The number of K–12 students experiencing homelessness is increasing across the country. Schools may serve as sources of support and stability for homeless children, but little is known about the types of schools that homeless students attend or about the communities in which they live. We investigate the context of student homelessness in Los Angeles by analyzing student-level administrative data from the Los Angeles Unified School District and publicly available data on neighborhoods and schools from school years 2008–2009 to 2016–2017. Our findings suggest that homeless students tend to be c...

In this article, I shed some light on Meinong’s motivations for the theory of objects. I argue that one of its basic principles, the principle of indifference, is driven by an intuition common to many Austrian philosophers, which is that something must first be somehow pre-given in order to simply address the issue of its being or non-being. Meinong’s way of spelling out this intuition, I suggest, is to show that there are homeless objects, that is, objects that are not dealt with by any of the existing sciences. Therefore, the indispensability of the theory of objects lies in the plausibilit...

Government agencies use varying criteria in defining homelessness. While scholars debate over and use different definitions of homelessness, little research has explored the impacts the definition has on perceived problem severity and the types of communities receiving aid. I first explore four definitions of child and youth homelessness used by United States’ federal agencies. I then use panel data for school districts, which report homelessness by subgroup, to analyze how the definition of homelessness changes its prevalence and leads to disparate impacts. I find the definition of homelessne...

This article explores existing evidence concerning the causes and experience of homelessness among lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people. A total of 88 sources, published after 2000, were included in the review. This represents the most comprehensive evidence review to date on the issue, mapping out what is known about LGBT homelessness and identifying gaps in knowledge for future research. With a few notable exceptions, the experiences of homeless LGBT people have been neglected in UK housing and homelessness literature. Despite this caveat, we found clear evidence that LGBT people a...

OBJECTIVE Homelessness is a serious and increasing public health concern. Childhood maltreatment and psychiatric problems have been associated with homelessness as risk factors; however, reliance on cross-sectional studies introduces ambiguity into interpreting previous findings. This study seeks to understand whether psychiatric symptoms in part explain the relationship between childhood maltreatment and homelessness. METHODS The authors used data from a prospective cohort design study in which individuals with documented histories of childhood maltreatment (ages 0-11 years) and a demograph...

Many women become homeless each year, both women who are alone and women with children. Both groups face substantial risks to their physical and mental health, as do the children of homeless mothers. Little is known about the similarities and differences between these two groups in terms of their demographic characteristics, their circumstances on presentation to specialist homelessness services, and the factors that have contributed to their homelessness. The current study analysed data from 163 single mothers with children and 126 lone women who presented to a specialist homelessness service...

There is currently a little observational work exploring homeless peoples’ digital networking behaviors, with previous research relying on limited self-report data. This study fills this gap through a qualitative thematic analysis of the public subreddit r/homeless. We analyzed the 30 most commented posts on the subreddit from each month of 2019, examining a total of 360 posts. We find that r/homeless contributions primarily center around (a) commentary on social issues, (b) communication of needs and concerns, (c) offering of care and support, and (d) online community management and engagemen...

Contrary to popular perceptions of homelessness as a static, enduring condition, we emphasize its dynamic nature. The updated macro-micro framework that we develop capitalizes on the increasing availability of over-time data, which makes it easier to examine changes in homelessness and the factors responsible for them. Our framework integrates structural forces—such as income inequality, an affordable housing shortage, social exclusion, and inadequate safety net programs—with the personal circumstances and challenges that shape individuals’ homeless trajectories. The macro-micro perspective al...

Advocating a strategic approach, this book shows how to form a plan, secure funding and support, and create effective programs for adults, children, and youth who are experiencing homelessness. You'll find guidance for creating partnerships, training staff, and advocating. Taking a holistic approach that will help you to better understand the experience of homelessness within the context of your library community, this book offers new strategies and tools for addressing the challenge of meeting the needs of the entire community, including those who are unstably housed. With basic facts, stati...

Presents the views of nine children ages seven to eleven on homelessness and how it impacts their lives. All nine children resided in shelters, reported violent and disruptive events in their past, and did not consider themselves homeless citing the shelter as their home. The author hopes her disse

Homeless Voices: Stigma, Space, and Social Media argues that the best sources for how to address issues of homelessness are people experiencing homelessness themselves, particularly as they express their experiences through personal blogs and memoirs. Mary L. Schuster discusses how space and land have been historically denied to marginalized communities who still feel the effects to this day, along with examining the conditions and limitations of common spaces often assigned to those experiencing homelessness, culminating in an analysis of how the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted home...

The last thirty years have witnessed an urban renaissance in America. Major cities have managed to drive down the murder rate, improve the schools, restore the built environment, and revitalize their economies. Middle class families are putting down roots in neighborhoods once given up for dead. But solutions to homelessness have eluded even the most successful cities. While the South Bronx was once synonymous across the globe for “slum,” now, San Francisco and Los Angeles are just as internationally notorious for their homelessness crises. Indeed, the same cities with the worst homelessness c...

This article explores the nuanced connections between homelessness and incarceration as told through life stories of homeless men in Trenton, New Jersey. A recurrent theme in the stories was the experience of incarceration. This cycle of male homelessness and incarceration has its origins in the structural conditions of poverty, discrimination, and unemployment in Trenton. It is self-replicating because of a cultural process in which people learn and repeat how to engage with the world. Men copy other men; this is how they learn gender. If fathers or other positive male role models are absent,...

Criminal trespassing (CT) is an understudied misdemeanor offense often enforced to maintain control over contested spaces and, in practice, often disproportionately used against disenfranchised populations such as the homeless and mentally ill. This study uses the CT case files of a county criminal district attorney’s office to investigate how cases involving defendants experiencing homelessness are handled compared with other defendants. Results show that homeless defendants make up a substantial portion of all CT cases, are more likely to be repeat CT defendants, and account for most jail se...

Doctors should tackle the problems of the homeless together with non-medics to break a downward spiral and develop an integrated approach to substance abuse, debt and deviant behaviour.

Purpose Social enterprise has the potential to serve as a mechanism of social and economic opportunity for persons experiencing homelessness. This paper aims to identify potential outcomes of work integration social enterprises (WISEs) for people who are homeless, at risk of homelessness, or transitioning out of homelessness. Design/methodology/approach Searches of 14 databases were completed using keywords and subject headings pertaining to homelessness, social enterprise and employment, respectively. These searches were then combined to identify literature concerning WISEs with homeless p...

A high proportion of injuries involved the extremities and pose significant barriers to functional recovery in this vulnerable population and strategies to prevent these injuries are paramount.

ICD-9-CM / ICD-10-CM codes for lack of housing / homelessness demonstrated linear reliability over time (ie, for years 2006-2017) with increased usage, and measures ought to be enacted to reduce Medicaid churn.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe research into attachment styles of rough sleepers and considersthe implications for practice. Design/methodology/approach The research was structured interviews with a cohort of rough sleepers analysed through evidence-based techniques, and the implications were drawn out with reference to current best practice. Findings The rough sleepers in the cohort had a very different pattern of attachment styles to the housed population, with 100% insecure vs c35%, and 50% insecure disorganised vs >15%. Research limitations/implications The limitat...

An overview of recently published articles that may be of interest to non-medical prescribers is provided.

This paper presents a comprehensive exploration of the complex phenomenon of homelessness in California, with a specific focus on the state’s three largest cities—Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego. Against the backdrop of a high cost of living and a housing market strained by insufficient affordable options, the multifaceted nature of social diversity further complicates the landscape, leading to a widespread presence of homelessness that spans both major urban centers and rural regions. Through an in-depth examination of the distinct challenges confronting each city, ranging from hous...

Cities throughout the country respond to homelessness with laws that persecute people for surviving in public space, even when unsheltered people lack a reasonable alternative. This widespread practice—the criminalization of homelessness—processes vulnerable people through the criminal justice system with damaging results. But recently, from the epicenter of the homelessness crisis along the West Coast, the Ninth Circuit extended the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment to cities prosecuting unsheltered people for sleeping or camping in public space in Martin v. ...

Since first becoming a major social issue in the 1980s, homelessness has been a racialized problem in the United States. Its disproportionate impact on Black Americans is primarily driven by structural racism and the limited housing and employment opportunities for Black Americans. The first major federal legislation to address the needs of the United States’ homeless population—the Stewart B. McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 omitted the root causes of Black housing instability, thereby proving ineffective at mitigating Black homelessness. As a result, Black Americans remain disp...

There was a substantially greater decrease in homelessness among veterans than in the general population after the federal Ending Veteran Homelessness initiative, suggesting an important role for health systems in addressing complex social determinants of health.

Providing medical outreach services, additional resources for social services, implementation of homeless-friendly policies, and a progressive supply of public and transitional housing would help enhance the well-being of the homeless population in Hong Kong.

Rates of past-year suicide attempts and past- year homelessness were strongly associated, suggesting that homelessness and suicidality strongly co-occur, but among adults with recent homelessness and a suicide attempt history, suicidal behavior began decades ago and likely preceded homelessness.

What does the persistent construction of ‘the homeless’ and the revitalised term ‘our homeless’ include, imply, and exclude in Swedish political debate? And how is it politically and morally related to other houseless groups in the country? These questions are approached through an analysis of minutes from the Swedish Parliament 2015–2019. Inspired by Simmel’s (1908/1965) definition of ‘the poor’ as those who get (or would get) public assistance as poor, I claim that in Swedish political discourse, ‘(our) homeless’ comprise only those to whom the society acknowledges a responsibility to give s...

A critical analysis of 40 research papers identified through a systematic literature review in ML homelessness service provision research found that the values of novelty, performance, and identifying limitations were uplifted in these papers, whereas (in)efficiency, (low/high) cost, fast, privacy, and (homeless condition) reproducibility valuescollapse.

The article looks at the key causes of the rise in homelessness as well as Social Work intervention strategies in helping homeless people in Freetown. In many nations, homelessness has been a long-standing social issue. How to help homeless individuals live independently is a dilemma encountered by those who work and volunteer in homeless shelters. The study looked at problems with homelessness among children, teens, adults, the elderly, women, and veterans over the previous years in this brief study. According to the findings, family circumstances, housing, unemployment, and mental illness ar...

New policies are urgently needed to reduce homelessness and save lives

This cross-sectional study reports the prevalence and odds of physical and/or sexual violence among unhoused adults in California.

This Viewpoint enumerates the public health risks of involuntary displacement and offers 4 strategies that public health agencies can take to minimize the harms caused by dismantling homeless encampments.

Although the influence of local urban elites on urban planning is well established in urban studies and geography, the ways in which business and property owners take part in the management of homelessness has received far less attention. This article focuses on Portland (OR) in the United States as a means of understanding the motivations that underlie the role of the private sector and its impact on public policies. To this end, I focus on the support by Portland's downtown Business Improvement District of homeless outreach programs, and on the funding of two homeless shelters by business el...

Purpose This study explores homeless-support workers’ perceptions of homeless welfare recipients and their experiences of navigating new conditions placed upon them by UK welfare reform. It examines support workers’ views of the most punitive feature of the welfare system, sanctions, on those recipients. In 2012, the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition Government introduced the largest and most radical overhaul of the UK benefit system, significantly increasing the level of conditionality and sanctions for non-compliance, part of a shift in welfare, suggesting that rights must be balan...

Abstract Problem, research strategy, and findings Shelter is a necessity, yet approximately 17 out of every 10,000 people in the United States are unhoused. Public attention to homelessness has centered on individuals sitting and sleeping in public spaces. However, as many as 50% of the unsheltered live in vehicles. For people sleeping in vehicles, finding a safe place to park is an ongoing challenge, further complicated by the growing number of ordinances restricting vehicular dwelling. We drew on point-in-time count data from the Los Angeles (CA) Homeless Services Authority to examine spatia...

Considering the problems elucidated by various homeless providers, certain governmental policies and provisions native to Tippecanoe County and Indiana could be beneficial to export elsewhere in the event of another public health crisis of this scope.

Pneumococcal nasopharyngeal carriage, which is a precursor for pneumococcal disease in at-risk individuals, is frequent among French homeless people and should be systematically considered for sheltered homeless people in France.

Objective: Literature on the influence of homelessness on crime is lacking, particularly at the neighborhood level. This study seeks to understand how homelessness affects crime levels in a large city in the United States. Data/Methods: Crime data, homeless count data, and neighborhood characteristics are obtained from three government public data sources. OLS Regression and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) are utilized to determine the relationship between homelessness and crime on a global and local level. Results: The analyses revealed that homelessness is significantly, positively ...

Homelessness is a public health problem. From rising housing costs to discriminatory lending and leasing, natural disasters, and mental illness, homelessness has many different causes and many similar effects: serious adverse consequences for physical and mental health across the life course. This chapter makes the case for homelessness as a public health problem, with chronic homelessness as scope of focus for this book. This chapter then introduces the main question of the book: If municipalities are the site of the U.S. homeless epidemic, what are municipal governments doing to address home...

Although little has been found in the literature, a substantial improvement in the quality of life and reduction in depressive symptoms was demonstrated when therapeutic interventions were performed among homeless people.

This case represents the twofold challenge of managing a difficult condition, onychotillomania, in the setting of the severe socio-personal stressor of homelessness.

The contradictory term “homeless chic” was initially employed in the spring of 2000, when designer John Galliano introduced his “boho-meets-hobo chic” spring-summer haute couture collection for the House of Dior in Paris. Dior models wore newspapers, straightjackets, tin cups, and whiskey bottles. The denigration of homelessness implied by these images caused quite a stir, especially from homeless advocates. By placing abject images of extreme poverty within the context of the privileged world of couture, Galliano‟s “art” essentially reinforced an already present separation between rich and po...