poverty and homelessness social issue essay

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Why it’s so hard to end homelessness in america.

City of Boston workers clear encampments in the area known as Mass and Cass.

Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Alvin Powell

Harvard Staff Writer

Experts cite complexity of problem, which is rooted in poverty, lack of affordable housing but includes medical, psychiatric, substance-use issues

It took seven years for Abigail Judge to see what success looked like for one Boston homeless woman.

The woman had been sex trafficked since she was young, was a drug user, and had been abused, neglected, or exploited in just about every relationship she’d had. If Judge was going to help her, trust had to come first. Everything else — recovery, healing, employment, rejoining society’s mainstream — might be impossible without it. That meant patience despite the daily urgency of the woman’s situation.

“It’s nonlinear. She gets better, stops, gets re-engaged with the trafficker and pulled back into the lifestyle. She does time because she was literally holding the bag of fentanyl for these guys,” said Judge, a psychology instructor at Harvard Medical School whose outreach program, Boston Human Exploitation and Sex Trafficking (HEAT), is supported by Massachusetts General Hospital and the Boston Police Department. “This is someone who’d been initially trafficked as a kid and when I met her was 23 or 24. She turned 30 last year, and now she’s housed, she’s abstinent, she’s on suboxone. And she’s super involved in her community.”

It’s a success story, but one that illustrates some of the difficulties of finding solutions to the nation’s homeless problem. And it’s not a small problem. A  December 2023 report  by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said 653,104 Americans experienced homelessness, tallied on a single night in January last year. That figure was the highest since HUD began reporting on the issue to Congress in 2007 .

Abigail Judge of the Medical School (from left) and Sandra Andrade of Massachusetts General Hospital run the outreach program Boston HEAT (Human Exploitation and Sex Trafficking).

Niles Singer/Harvard Staff Photographer

Scholars, healthcare workers, and homeless advocates agree that two major contributing factors are poverty and a lack of affordable housing, both stubbornly intractable societal challenges. But they add that hard-to-treat psychiatric issues and substance-use disorders also often underlie chronic homelessness. All of which explains why those who work with the unhoused refer to what they do as “the long game,” “the long walk,” or “the five-year-plan” as they seek to address the traumas underlying life on the street.

“As a society, we’re looking for a quick fix, but there’s no quick fix for this,” said Stephen Wood, a visiting fellow at Harvard Law School’s Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics and a nurse practitioner in the emergency room at Carney Hospital in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. “It takes a lot of time to fix this. There will be relapses; there’ll be problems. It requires an interdisciplinary effort for success.”

A recent study of 60,000 homeless people in Boston found the average age of death was decades earlier than the nation’s 2017 life expectancy of 78.8 years.

Illustration by Liz Zonarich/Harvard Staff

Katherine Koh, an assistant professor of psychiatry at HMS and psychiatrist at MGH on the street team for Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, traced the rise of homelessness in recent decades to a combination of factors, including funding cuts for community-based care, affordable housing, and social services in the 1980s as well as deinstitutionalization of mental hospitals.

“Though we have grown anesthetized to seeing people living on the street in the U.S., homelessness is not inevitable,” said Koh, who sees patients where they feel most comfortable — on the street, in church basements, public libraries. “For most of U.S. history, it has not been nearly as visible as it is now. There are a number of countries with more robust social services but similar prevalence of mental illness, for example, where homelessness rates are significantly lower. We do not have to accept current rates of homelessness as the way it has to be.”

“As a society, we’re looking for a quick fix, but there’s no quick fix for this.” Stephen Wood, visiting fellow, Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics

Success stories exist and illustrate that strong leadership, multidisciplinary collaboration, and adequate resources can significantly reduce the problem. Prevention, meanwhile, in the form of interventions focused on transition periods like military discharge, aging out of foster care, and release from prison, has the potential to vastly reduce the numbers of the newly homeless.

Recognition is also growing — at Harvard and elsewhere — that homelessness is not merely a byproduct of other issues, like drug use or high housing costs, but is itself one of the most difficult problems facing the nation’s cities. Experts say that means interventions have to be multidisciplinary yet focused on the problem; funding for research has to rise; and education of the next generation of leaders on the issue must improve.

“This is an extremely complex problem that is really the physical and most visible embodiment of a lot of the public health challenges that have been happening in this country,” said Carmel Shachar, faculty director of Harvard Law School’s Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation. “The public health infrastructure has always been the poor Cinderella, compared to the healthcare system, in terms of funding. We need increased investment in public health services, in the public health workforce, such that, for people who are unhoused, are unsheltered, who are struggling with substance use, we have a meaningful answer for them.”

“You can either be admitted to a hospital with a substance-use disorder, or you can be admitted with a psychiatric disorder, but very, very rarely will you be admitted to what’s called a dual-diagnosis bed,” said Wood, a nurse practitioner in the emergency room at Carney Hospital.

Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

Experts say that the nation’s unhoused population not only experiences poverty and exposure to the elements, but also suffers from a lack of basic health care, and so tend to get hit earlier and harder than the general population by various ills — from the flu to opioid dependency to COVID-19.

A recent study of 60,000 homeless people in Boston recorded 7,130 deaths over the 14-year study period. The average age of death was 53.7, decades earlier than the nation’s 2017 life expectancy of 78.8 years. The leading cause of death was drug overdose, which increased 9.35 percent annually, reflecting the track of the nation’s opioid epidemic, though rising more quickly than in the general population.

A closer look at the data shows that impacts vary depending on age, sex, race, and ethnicity. All-cause mortality was highest among white men, age 65 to 79, while suicide was a particular problem among the young. HIV infection and homicide, meanwhile, disproportionately affected Black and Latinx individuals. Together, those results highlight the importance of tailoring interventions to background and circumstances, according to Danielle Fine, instructor in medicine at HMS and MGH and an author of two analyses of the study’s data.

“The takeaway is that the mortality gap between the homeless population and the general population is widening over time,” Fine said. “And this is likely driven in part by a disproportionate number of drug-related overdose deaths in the homeless population compared to the general population.”

Inadequate supplies of housing

Though homelessness has roots in poverty and a lack of affordable housing, it also can be traced to early life issues, Koh said. The journey to the streets often starts in childhood, when neglect and abuse leave their marks, interfering with education, acquisition of work skills, and the ability to maintain healthy relationships.

“A major unaddressed pathway to homelessness, from my vantage point, is childhood trauma. It can ravage people’s lives and minds, until old age,” Koh said. “For example, some of my patients in their 70s still talk about the trauma that their parents inflicted on them. The lack of affordable housing is a key factor, though there are other drivers of homelessness we must also tackle.”

The number was the highest since the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development began reporting on the issue to Congress in 2007 .

Most advocates embrace a “housing first” approach, prioritizing it as a first step to obtaining other vital services. But they say the type of housing also matters. Temporary shelters are a key part of the response, but many of the unhoused avoid them because of fears of theft, assault, and sexual assault. Instead, long-term beds, including those designated for people struggling with substance use and mental health issues, are needed.

“You can either be admitted to a hospital with a substance-use disorder, or you can be admitted with a psychiatric disorder, but very, very rarely will you be admitted to what’s called a dual-diagnosis bed,” said Petrie-Flom’s Wood. “The data is pretty solid on this issue: If you have a substance-use disorder there’s likely some underlying, severe trauma. Yet, when we go to treat them, we address one but not the other. You’re never going to find success in the system that we currently have if you don’t recognize that dual diagnosis.”

Services offered to those in housing should avoid what Koh describes as a “one-size-fits-none” approach. Some might need monthly visits from a caseworker to ensure they’re getting the support they need, she said. But others struggle once off the streets. They need weekly — even daily — support from counselors, caseworkers, and other service providers.

“I have seen, sadly, people who get housed and move very quickly back out on the streets or, even more tragically, lose their life from an unwitnessed overdose in housing,” Koh said. “There’s a community that’s formed on the street so if you overdose, somebody can give you Narcan or call 911. If you don’t have the safety of peers around, people can die. We had a patient who literally died just a few days after being housed, from an overdose. We really cannot just house people and expect their problems to be solved. We need to continue to provide the best care we can to help people succeed once in housing.”

“We really cannot just house people and expect their problems to be solved.”  Katherine Koh, Mass. General psychiatrist

Koh works on the street team for Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program.

Photo by Dylan Goodman

The nation’s failure to address the causes of homelessness has led to the rise of informal encampments from Portland, Maine, to the large cities of the West Coast. In Boston, an informal settlement of tents and tarps near the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard was a point of controversy before it was cleared in November.

In the aftermath, more than 100 former “Mass and Cass” residents have been moved into housing, according to media reports. But experts were cautious in their assessment of the city’s plans. They gave positive marks for features such as a guaranteed place to sleep, “low threshold” shelters that don’t require sobriety, and increased outreach to connect people with services. But they also said it’s clear that unintended consequences have arisen. and the city’s homelessness problem is far from solved.

Examples abound. Judge, who leads Boston HEAT in collaboration with Sandra Andrade of MGH, said that a woman she’d been working with for two years, who had been making positive strides despite fragile health, ongoing sexual exploitation, and severe substance use disorder, disappeared after Mass and Cass was cleared.

Mike Jellison, a peer counselor who works on Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program’s street team, said dismantling the encampment dispersed people around the city and set his team scrambling to find and reconnect people who had been receiving medical care with providers. It’s also clear, he said, that Boston Police are taking a hard line to prevent new encampments from popping up in other neighborhoods, quickly clearing tents and other structures.

“We were out there Wednesday morning on our usual route in Charlesgate,” Jellison said in early December. “And there was a really young couple who had all their stuff packed. And [the police] just told them, ‘You’ve got to leave, you can’t stay here.’ She was crying, ‘Where am I going to go?’ This was a couple who works; they’re employed and work out of a tent. It was like 20 degrees out there. It was heartbreaking.”

Prevention as cure?

Successes in reducing homelessness in the U.S. are scarce, but not unknown. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, for example, has reduced veteran homelessness nationally by more than 50 percent since 2010.

Experts point out, however, that the agency has advantages in dealing with the problem. It is a single, nationwide, administrative entity so medical records follow patients when they move, offering continuity of care often absent for those without insurance or dealing with multiple private providers. Another advantage is that the VA’s push, begun during the Obama administration, benefited from both political will on the part of the White House and Congress and received support and resources from other federal agencies.

The city of Houston is another example. In 2011, Houston had the nation’s fifth-largest homeless population. Then-Mayor Annise Parker began a program that coordinated 100 regional nonprofits to provide needed services and boost the construction of low-cost housing in the relatively inexpensive Houston market.

Neither the VA nor Houston was able to eliminate homelessness, however.

To Koh, that highlights the importance of prevention. In 2022, she published research in which she and a team used an artificial-intelligence-driven model to identify those who could benefit from early intervention before they wound up on the streets. The researchers examined a group of U.S. service members and found that self-reported histories of depression, trauma due to a loved one’s murder, and post-traumatic stress disorder were the three strongest predictors of homelessness after discharge.

In April 2023, Koh, with co-author Benjamin Land Gorman, suggested in the Journal of the American Medical Association that using “Critical Time Intervention,” where help is focused on key transitions, such as military discharge or release from prison or the hospital, has the potential to head off homelessness.

“So much of the clinical research and policy focus is on housing those who are already homeless,” Koh said. “But even if we were to house everybody who’s homeless today, there are many more people coming down the line. We need sustainable policies that address these upstream determinants of homelessness, in order to truly solve this problem.”

The education imperative

Despite the obvious presence of people living and sleeping on city sidewalks, the topic of homelessness has been largely absent from the nation’s colleges and universities. Howard Koh, former Massachusetts commissioner of public health and former U.S. assistant secretary for Health and Human Services, is working to change that.

In 2019, Koh, who is also the Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership, founded the Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health’s pilot Initiative on Health and Homelessness. The program seeks to educate tomorrow’s leaders about homelessness and support research and interdisciplinary collaboration to create new knowledge on the topic. The Chan School’s course “Homelessness and Health: Lessons from Health Care, Public Health, and Research” is one of just a handful focused on homelessness offered by schools of public health nationwide.

“The topic remains an orphan,” said Koh. The national public health leader (who also happens to be Katherine’s father) traced his interest in the topic to a bitter winter while he was Massachusetts public health commissioner when 13 homeless people froze to death on Boston’s streets. “I’ve been haunted by this issue for several decades as a public health professional. We now want to motivate courageous and compassionate young leaders to step up and address the crisis, educate students, motivate researchers, and better inform policymakers about evidence-based studies. We want every student who walks through Harvard Yard and sees vulnerable people lying in Harvard Square to not accept their suffering as normal.”

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Poverty & Homelessness in the United States

In the land of opportunity, the contrasting realities of wealth and poverty present an unresolved paradox. America, with its staggering economic might, is still marred by the twin issues of poverty and homelessness, an often neglected narrative that paints a stark picture of the country’s socio-economic fabric.

Amidst dazzling wealth and economic prowess, the shadows of poverty and homelessness stretch across the country, an overlooked testament to persistent social inequality. The narrative of “Poverty and Homelessness in America: Statistics, Resources” plunges into this dichotomy, shedding light on an often disregarded segment of the population.

Poverty & Homelessness in the United States: Key Statistics & Facts

The landscape of poverty and homelessness in the United States is defined by stark statistics that underscore the scale and complexity of these issues:

• The top 3 causes of family homelessness include a lack of affordable housing , unemployment , and the omnipresent specter of poverty .
• Annually, 2.5 million children, or 1 in 30 experience homelessness in America, with 1 in 19 children experiencing homelessness before even reaching the first grade.
• In 2020, around 172,000 people in families with children were homeless.
• During the 2018-2019 school year, more than 1.3 million students encountered homelessness.
• Nearly 6% of children under age six, approximately 1.3 million , were homeless in 2018-2019.
• More than half of homeless children are under age 6 , and thus not of school age, hence not counted in official figures.
• Students experiencing homelessness are 87% more likely to drop out of school compared to their housed counterparts.
• Families with children constitute 30% of the nation’s homeless population, often living out of sight in shelters, cars, campgrounds, or overcrowded apartments.
• In the U.S., 37.2 million people live below the poverty line.
• Close to 11 million children in the U.S. live in poverty, with 16.1% of people under age 18 living in poverty in 2020.
• The official poverty line for a family of four with two children is $26,200 per year .
• The federal minimum wage has remained stagnant at $7.25/hour since 2009.
• A 2-bedroom rental in the U.S. requires a renter to earn $24.90/hour , which is significantly above the federal minimum wage.
• In 218 counties out of over 3,000 nationwide, a worker earning the federal minimum wage can afford a Fair Market Rent one-bedroom apartment. There is no state, metropolitan area, or county in the U.S. where a worker earning the federal, state, or local minimum wage can afford a modest two-bedroom rental home at fair market rent.
• Despite median renter income rising only 5% (when adjusted for inflation) between 1960 to 2016, the median rent in the U.S. soared by 61% .
• More than 10.4 million households spend over 50% of their income on rent and utilities, with 72.5% of these severely cost-burdened households being extremely low-income renters.
• A staggering 75% of those eligible for federal housing assistance do not receive help due to lack of funding.
• The U.S. currently faces a shortage of 6.8 million rental homes affordable and available to extremely low-income renters, with only 37 affordable rentals available for every 100 extremely low-income households.
• In 2020, 10.5% of households were food-insecure, with 6.1 million children living in food-insecure households where both children and adults lacked consistent access to sufficient food for an active, healthy life.
• Men are more likely to experience homelessness as individuals, but families with children, typically headed by single women, make up a significant portion of the homeless population.
• Women are particularly vulnerable to certain forms of homelessness, such as “hidden homelessness” or staying in abusive situations due to a lack of housing options.
• The poverty rate for women is slightly higher than for men, and single mothers are particularly likely to live in poverty.

By Ethnicity/Race:

• People of color are disproportionately represented among individuals experiencing homelessness. In particular, African Americans, who constitute around 13% of the general population, represent more than 40% of the homeless population.
• Native Americans also face high rates of homelessness compared to their share of the population.
• Hispanic individuals represent a slightly larger share of the homeless population compared to their percentage of the total U.S. population.
• Similar to homelessness, poverty also disproportionately affects people of color. The poverty rate for Black and Hispanic individuals is significantly higher than for non-Hispanic white individuals.
• Youth aged 18-24 are at higher risk for homelessness, especially those who age out of foster care, identify as LGBTQ+, or are pregnant or parenting.
• Older adults ( over 50 ) are a growing segment of the homeless population, often facing unique health challenges associated with aging.
• Children are more likely to live in poverty than adults. In 2019, the poverty rate was 14.4% for individuals under 18, compared to 9.4% for adults aged 18-64.
• Homelessness is a nationwide issue, but the problem is particularly acute in some states. California , New York , and Florida have some of the highest numbers of individuals experiencing homelessness.
• States with high housing costs, such as California and New York , also have higher rates of homelessness.
• Some states have more significant challenges with “unsheltered” homelessness (people living on the streets, in cars, or in other places not meant for human habitation), including California , Oregon , and Nevada .
• Poverty rates also vary by state, with some of the highest rates in southern states like Mississippi , Louisiana , and New Mexico .

Factors Contributing to Poverty

The perpetuation of poverty in the United States is a complex issue, deeply rooted in a multitude of contributing factors:

• Income Inequality: The widening gap between the wealthy and the poor, especially with stagnating wages for lower-income workers, exacerbates poverty.
• Unemployment: Joblessness, underemployment, or inconsistent employment significantly contribute to poverty, with people unable to earn a living wage being more likely to fall into poverty.
• Education: Lower levels of education are often linked to higher poverty rates due to reduced access to well-paying jobs and limited economic opportunities.
• Healthcare Costs: High healthcare costs can drain resources, especially for those without insurance, leading to medical debt and potentially pushing families into poverty.
• Affordable Housing Crisis: The rising costs of housing and the lack of affordable housing options can force families to allocate a disproportionate amount of their income towards rent, leading to housing insecurity and potential homelessness.
• Limited Social Safety Nets: Insufficient funding and limited access to social services can make it difficult for individuals and families to escape poverty.
• Intergenerational Poverty: Children born into poverty are more likely to remain in poverty as adults due to limited resources, creating a cycle that can be difficult to break.
• Systemic Discrimination: Racial, ethnic, gender-based, and other forms of discrimination can limit access to education, jobs, housing, and other opportunities, contributing to higher rates of poverty among marginalized groups.
• Economic Recession: Economic downturns can lead to job losses, wage reductions, and increased poverty levels.
• Cost of Living: In areas with high costs of living, even individuals and families with income above the poverty line can struggle to afford basic necessities like food, housing, healthcare, and transportation.
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Issues: These problems can lead to job loss, reduced productivity, and increased healthcare costs, which can contribute to poverty.

Underlying Causes of Homelessness

The struggle of homelessness is not simply a singular problem but rather a web of interconnected issues each contributing to the overarching dilemma. From economic conditions and housing affordability to health issues and social circumstances, a multitude of factors plays into the escalation of homelessness.

In understanding the problem holistically, it becomes apparent that addressing homelessness requires comprehensive solutions aimed at its diverse root causes. Let’s delve into each of these core issues to gain a deeper understanding.

Housing Affordability and Availability

A primary contributor to homelessness is the rising cost of housing coupled with a distinct lack of affordable options. The gap between wages and rent continues to widen, placing a disproportionate financial burden on low-income households.

With the federal minimum wage remaining stagnant since 2009 while housing costs have seen significant increases, securing stable, affordable housing has become an escalating challenge.

Moreover, the severe shortage of affordable housing units and limited federal housing assistance exacerbate this problem, particularly for extremely low-income households. With only 37 affordable rental homes available for every 100 extremely low-income households, the demand far outweighs the supply.

Mental Health and Substance Abuse

Mental health disorders and substance abuse are other significant factors that contribute to homelessness. Individuals grappling with these issues often struggle to maintain stable employment and housing. Furthermore, the lack of accessible and affordable mental health care and substance abuse treatment services compounds the issue.

Without proper support and treatment, these individuals face a higher risk of chronic homelessness, as their conditions can often create barriers to securing and retaining stable housing.

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence plays a critical role in homelessness, particularly among women and children. Victims of domestic violence frequently must flee their homes to escape abusive environments, often without sufficient resources or a safe alternative place to go.

This sudden displacement can lead to an unexpected plunge into homelessness, trapping individuals in a perilous situation between enduring violence and facing the uncertainty of homelessness.

Unemployment and Inadequate Social Safety Nets

Other socio-economic factors, such as unemployment and insufficient social safety nets, also contribute significantly to the issue of homelessness. Job loss or inconsistent employment can lead to a sudden loss of income, making it impossible to meet housing costs. Social safety nets intended to buffer individuals from falling into homelessness often fall short, leaving vulnerable individuals and families without the support they need.

Poverty and Homelessness in America: The Intersect

Understanding the link between poverty and homelessness is fundamental to comprehending the broader societal issue of housing instability. Poverty and homelessness frequently operate in tandem, reinforcing one another in a continuous and complex cycle.

Statistical data indeed supports a robust correlation between poverty rates and rates of homelessness . This strong link suggests an intricate interplay between these two phenomena. In an economy where affordable housing is increasingly scarce and the cost of living steadily rises, those living in poverty are particularly vulnerable to losing their homes. A single financial emergency—an unexpected medical bill, a significant car repair, or sudden job loss—can quickly push an individual or family over the edge into homelessness.

Yet, once an individual or family slips into homelessness, the challenges associated with poverty can escalate significantly. Finding consistent, gainful employment becomes markedly more difficult without a fixed address, while managing to meet basic daily needs such as food, clothing, and transportation presents ongoing challenges. Moreover, homelessness can have significant adverse effects on physical and mental health, further straining already limited resources.

Children who experience homelessness or housing instability face additional obstacles, often grappling with disruption to their education and adverse effects on their physical, social, and emotional development. This early exposure to hardship can set the stage for the perpetuation of the poverty cycle into adulthood.

Poverty precipitates homelessness, and homelessness, in turn, exacerbates poverty. Once ensnared in this downward spiral, breaking free is a monumental task. Systemic issues, including lack of affordable housing, inadequate living wages, and limited social support systems, often perpetuate this cycle.

To mitigate this interconnected issue of poverty and homelessness, comprehensive solutions addressing the root causes are essential. These include but are not limited to:

• Efforts to increase affordable housing
• Enhance wage standards
• Improve access to education and employment opportunities
• Strengthen social support services

By understanding and addressing the intersection between poverty and homelessness, society can make strides towards breaking this relentless cycle.

Impact of COVID-19 on Poverty and Homelessness

The COVID-19 pandemic has indelibly marked every facet of our society, intensifying existing inequalities, including poverty and homelessness. As businesses shuttered and jobs evaporated in the face of lockdowns and social distancing mandates, many individuals and families found themselves in increasingly precarious economic situations. The virus’s devastating economic fallout resulted in an uptick in both poverty and homelessness rates across the nation.

Job losses were most pronounced in low-wage sectors such as retail, hospitality, and food services, sectors that already struggled with providing a living wage. Individuals and families living paycheck to paycheck found themselves suddenly without income and unable to meet their basic needs, including housing costs. The threat of eviction loomed large for millions of renters, pushing them to the brink of homelessness.

Moreover, the pandemic’s effects were not felt equally. It disproportionately impacted communities of color and people with lower incomes , exacerbating existing socioeconomic disparities. These communities faced h igher job loss rates , higher infection rates , and consequently higher rates of housing instability and homelessness .

The pandemic also posed unique challenges for individuals already experiencing homelessness. Infection control in crowded shelters or encampments became a major concern. Access to public spaces and facilities, often crucial for hygiene and sanitation, became increasingly limited due to lockdown measures. Furthermore, individuals experiencing homelessness were more likely to have underlying health conditions, placing them at a higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19.

On a positive note, government aid programs played a crucial role in mitigating some of the pandemic’s effects on poverty and homelessness. Temporary eviction moratoriums , emergency rental assistance programs , expanded unemployment benefits , and stimulus checks provided much-needed relief for many at-risk households. These measures undoubtedly prevented many from falling into poverty or homelessness and helped some to climb out of poverty.

However, these aids were largely temporary, and their expiration threatens to spark a new wave of hardship, poverty, and homelessness. Furthermore, the programs did not reach everyone in need due to eligibility restrictions, bureaucratic hurdles, or lack of awareness.

Government Policies and Strategies

Government policies and strategies form a critical component of the efforts to alleviate poverty and homelessness. Through a variety of programs, federal and state governments seek to provide support and resources to the most vulnerable citizens.

Federal Assistance Programs

Federal programs form the backbone of support aimed at reducing poverty and homelessness. Key among these are:

• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) : Formerly known as Food Stamps, SNAP provides benefits that allow low-income households to buy eligible food in authorized retail food stores. This program is instrumental in mitigating hunger and reducing poverty.
• Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8) : This program enables low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market. It serves as a lifeline for many who would otherwise be unable to secure stable housing.
• Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) : LIHEAP aids eligible low-income households with managing costs associated with home energy bills, energy crises, weatherization, and energy-related minor home repairs.
• Medicaid : This program provides comprehensive health coverage to some low-income people, families and children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) : TANF offers cash assistance and supportive services to assist families with children, while EITC is a benefit for working people with low to moderate income. Both are instrumental in reducing poverty and preventing homelessness.

State-Level Initiatives

Beyond federal efforts, state-level initiatives and strategies further bolster efforts to reduce poverty and homelessness. Some of the significant initiatives include:

• Affordable Housing Schemes: Many states implement these schemes to increase the availability of low-cost housing options.
• Workforce Development Programs: These provide training and skill development to help unemployed or underemployed individuals secure stable employment.
• State-funded Healthcare Programs: These programs supplement federal programs like Medicaid to ensure low-income and homeless individuals can access necessary medical services.

While these policies and programs have made significant strides in reducing poverty and homelessness, the complexity and persistence of these issues point to the need for continued commitment and innovation in policy-making. Building on the strengths of existing programs while adapting to evolving needs and challenges will be crucial in the ongoing fight against poverty and homelessness.

Role of Nonprofits and Charitable Organizations

In the intricate web of efforts aimed at mitigating poverty and homelessness, nonprofits and charitable organizations serve a critical role. These organizations’ dedicated work bridges gaps left by government programs, innovate solutions, advocates for policy changes, and brings a profound human touch to address these complex issues.

Feeding America is a prime example. As the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States, Feeding America operates a network of food banks, pantries, and meal programs to combat food insecurity. By distributing food to millions of people across the country, this nonprofit plays a significant part in reducing the hardships associated with poverty.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness takes a strategic approach to its mission. As a non-partisan, organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States, it works on developing, analyzing, and advocating for policy solutions to homelessness. It also offers capacity-building assistance to on-the-ground homeless service providers, ensuring that these vital services continue to improve and evolve.

Habitat for Humanity has a more hands-on approach to combating poverty and homelessness. Through its efforts, families in need are able to build or improve a place they can call home.

Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage, fostering a sense of pride and ownership. This approach not only provides housing but also promotes stability and community engagement.

These organizations, along with numerous others, have made significant strides in reducing poverty and homelessness. For instance, many have developed innovative models of housing provision, such as the Housing First model , which prioritizes providing permanent housing to people experiencing homelessness. They also provide essential services like food distribution , healthcare , job training , and legal assistance that can be crucial for people struggling with poverty and homelessness.

Furthermore, nonprofits and charitable organizations serve as advocates, raising public awareness about poverty and homelessness, and campaigning for policy changes to tackle these issues at their roots. Through research and data collection, they contribute to a better understanding of these complex issues and inform the design and implementation of effective strategies.

The role of these organizations, however, extends beyond these measurable impacts. By offering compassion , respect , and dignity to individuals and families facing poverty and homelessness, they foster a sense of community and belonging that can be instrumental in helping people navigate and overcome their challenging circumstances.

However, the immense scale and complexity of poverty and homelessness mean that the efforts of nonprofits and charitable organizations alone are not enough. These organizations’ work needs to be supported and complemented by governmental policies, private sector engagement, and societal commitment to truly eradicate poverty and homelessness.

Who is most affected by poverty and homelessness in the US?

Poverty and homelessness in the U.S. affect a broad spectrum of individuals and groups, often reflecting societal disparities and systemic inequities. The most impacted populations include:

• Children and Youth: Children and young adults, particularly those in single-parent families or in families with multiple siblings, are at a high risk of poverty and homelessness. A lack of financial resources, unstable family situations, and limited access to social support can contribute to this vulnerability. Homelessness can significantly affect a child’s education, mental and physical health, and overall development.
• People of Color: Racial and ethnic disparities in poverty and homelessness rates are stark. People of color, especially African Americans and Native Americans, face higher rates of poverty and homelessness. This reflects a long history of systemic racism, discrimination, and inequality that affects access to education, employment, housing, and other resources.
• Individuals with Disabilities and Mental Health Issues: Those with physical, intellectual, or psychological disabilities are disproportionately represented among the homeless population. Disabilities can make it more challenging to secure stable employment and can also increase living costs, thereby increasing the risk of poverty and homelessness. Mental health issues often compound these problems and can make it difficult for individuals to navigate assistance systems.
• Veterans: While the number of homeless veterans has been decreasing due to concerted efforts, they still make up a significant portion of the homeless population. Factors contributing to veteran homelessness include physical and mental health issues (including post-traumatic stress disorder), substance misuse, and difficulty transitioning to civilian life and employment.
• Survivors of Domestic Violence: People fleeing domestic violence often have to leave their homes and may have no place to go, making them vulnerable to homelessness. They may also struggle with financial instability due to their circumstances.
• LGBTQ+ Youth: LGBTQ+ youth are disproportionately represented among homeless youth, often as a result of family rejection, discrimination, or violence related to their sexual orientation or gender identity. These youth often face additional challenges in accessing services, increasing their vulnerability to poverty and homelessness.
• Low-Income Renters: Low-income families and individuals who rent their homes often spend a disproportionate percentage of their income on housing, leaving them vulnerable to homelessness in the event of a financial crisis or an increase in rent.

These groups often face a range of interconnected challenges that increase their risk of poverty and homelessness, from systemic discrimination and a lack of social support networks to specific life circumstances and personal factors.

What are the effects of poverty, homelessness, and hunger on children and teens?

Poverty, homelessness, and hunger have profound effects on children and teens, impacting their physical health, mental well-being, and educational outcomes. The consequences can be immediate, but they can also extend into adulthood, affecting life chances and opportunities. Some of the significant impacts include:

• Physical Health: Children and teens experiencing poverty, homelessness, and hunger often suffer from poor health. They may not receive adequate nutrition, which can hinder growth and development and increase susceptibility to various health issues. Additionally, unstable or poor-quality housing can lead to exposure to toxins, pests, and other health hazards.
• Mental Health: The stress and trauma associated with poverty and homelessness can have severe effects on the mental health of children and teens. They are at a higher risk of experiencing anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other mental health issues. In addition, children facing these circumstances may also experience feelings of shame, stigma, and social exclusion.
• Education: Homelessness and poverty can disrupt schooling and negatively impact educational achievement. Unstable housing often leads to high rates of school mobility, making it difficult for children to maintain consistent attendance and academic progress. Lack of a quiet space to study, limited access to resources like books and the internet, and stress can also hinder academic performance.
• Cognitive Development: Chronic hunger can impact children’s cognitive functioning and impede their ability to concentrate and perform well in school. The lack of adequate nutrition in early childhood can lead to developmental delays that may have long-term impacts on learning.
• Social and Emotional Development: The stress of living in poverty or experiencing homelessness can impact children’s social and emotional development. They may have difficulties forming and maintaining relationships and may struggle with self-esteem and self-worth. They may also experience feelings of shame and stigma that can further hinder their social interactions.
• Future Life Opportunities: The impacts of poverty, homelessness, and hunger can extend into adulthood. Poor health, lower educational attainment, and underdeveloped social and emotional skills can limit opportunities for higher education, stable employment, and economic security in later life.

Addressing the effects of poverty, homelessness, and hunger on children and teens is crucial, not only for their immediate well-being but also for their future potential. It requires comprehensive and coordinated efforts across sectors, including healthcare, education, social services, and housing. Such efforts can help mitigate the harmful impacts of these adversities and provide children and teens with the support and resources they need to thrive.

The data and statistics provided in this article are sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the World Bank, and various non-profit organizations.

Government Resources:

• U.S. Census Bureau : The Census Bureau provides comprehensive data on poverty rates, income levels, and demographic characteristics in the U.S.
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) : HUD’s Annual Homeless Assessment Report provides key statistics on homelessness, including breakdowns by state, demographic group, and shelter status.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics : The BLS provides data on employment and unemployment rates, which can be crucial for understanding economic factors related to poverty.
• U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) : USDA’s Economic Research Service provides data on food security and nutrition assistance programs, both crucial aspects of poverty.
• Federal Reserve : The Fed publishes research on income distribution and economic mobility, among other topics.

Nonprofit Organizations:

• National Alliance to End Homelessness : This organization provides up-to-date information and research on homelessness, policy recommendations, and toolkits for advocacy.
• Feeding America : Feeding America provides statistics and information about food insecurity in the U.S.
• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities : This think tank provides an in-depth analysis of poverty and inequality, budget priorities, and policy solutions.
• Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan : This initiative publishes research on strategies for preventing and alleviating poverty.
• The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) : The EPI conducts extensive research on economic indicators that tie into poverty and homelessness, including wages, income, and wealth.

Helpful Contacts:

• 211 : A vital service that connects millions of people to help every year, such as housing support, utility assistance, and food banks.
• The National Coalition for the Homeless : Provides helpful resources and ways to get involved in ending homelessness.

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• Homelessness Essays

Homelessness as a Social Problem Essay

Homelessness is a social problem which is associated with numerous social problems. The challenges that the homeless people face in the society are mostly caused by illnesses due to poor housing facilities or coldness and overcrowding. Reports indicate that contagious and respiratory diseases have been rampant among the homeless people. Moreover, due to poor living conditions, homeless people suffer from other types of diseases caused by poor hygiene. Homelessness as a problem is however not a naturally occurring phenomenon. Although poverty has been cited as the major cause of homelessness among the people, the reality is that poverty as a problem is not caused by nature. Apart from poverty, various other factors have been associated with the problem of homelessness. Sociologists have used three theoretical perspectives to explain the causes of homelessness in the society. According to sociologists, symbolic interaction, functionalism, and conflict theory are the major causal factors to the homelessness problem. This essay will analyse how sociologists articulate these theories to the problem of homelessness. It will also try to verify whether there are any efforts by the society in trying to address the problem and whether these efforts have been successful.

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Homelessness has been defined as the lack of regular and decent housing among individuals in a society or in some parts of the society. These factors that have been associated with mental illness, drug abuse, physical or sexual abuse as well as lack of money due to poverty. In giving solutions to these problems, sociologists have pointed out on the three sociological theories. Functionalist sociologists associate the complexity of the society with the problem of poverty and lack of finances to acquire proper housing. The functionalist approach compares the evolution of the society with that of an organism, combining all parts of that organism together to make it whole. They consider the society to have evolved through such processes, making the structures function together to achieve a common goal, which is developing together (Isajiw 38). The complex nature of the society has been associated with complexity of the institutions. Building blocks of the society in the view of these sociologists are the family as well as the clan. The clan is part of the larger society, and through relationships developed by the individual people in the society, the result is strong solidarity among these people. According to the theory, the significance of an individual is not is not vested in his or her individuality, but in the status that he has accorded to his own status, his opinion in social relation patterns and the kind of behaviours associated with that particular status. Relationships developed by these structures are supposed to be the pillars in which the society is built upon. As social institutions keep on developing, people are expected to be careful about one another. As the individual cares about other people in the family, the family cares about the clan. This is the essence of the society in which all people ought to be mindful of one another. However, this is not the case altogether. Isajiw (102) observes that people are increasingly being more independent from each other, breaking the structures already set by the rules of functionalism. With the increase in individualism, more people are becoming poor. There is little assistance accorded to the poor by the rich and the able people in the society.

This has been as a result of the broken structures. The only attachment that is currently in existence in the society is the family, which is also breaking apart with time. This has increasingly alleviated the problems that people face in the society. Even the people who are supposed to be caring about their partners have grown apart, making the people poorer. The needs of the needy people increases, yet there are few available opportunities to solve them. Problems that lead to homelessness increases and consequently, people remain homeless for a long time. The emphasis of conflict theory is on the role played by coercion in bringing social order. Sociologists such as Karl Max saw the society to be fragmented into different small groups of people that try to compete with each other to acquire both social and economic resources. Social order according to Bartos and Paul (13) is brought about by the domination of one group of people to other groups. Power is in the hands of the people who have the greatest authority in the society is those who control the political, economic and social resources.

The competition that results from individuals struggling for power and control of the resources victimizes the poor people in the society. This results into conflicts and exploitation. Individuals who control the resources and means of production victimize the others. As a result of control of these resources, most of the people lack the opportunity to improve their lives. The poor thus remains poor, while the rich remains rich and gets richer.

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The disparities created by this problem lead to lack of the very basic needs by the poor people. Shelter is a basic need which every person is entitled to. However, in the event of poor distribution of resources, the poor do not have the access to these resources and means of production. However, this does not occur over night. Control of the means of production by a few individuals by a few people increases their greed. This deprives the rest of the people of these resources and creates a vicious circle of poverty. Those who have been denied the opportunities by the society are therefore regarded as poor. Due to their high levels of poverty, they cannot afford decent housing.

Symbolic interaction according to sociologists influences many areas and disciplines in the society. According to various sociologists, people act towards various things by the virtue of their meanings. These meanings are derived from socially developed interactions, which are later modified through interpretation. According to the father of the theory Max Weber, individual’s actions are determined by their interpretation of the meaning of the world. Through its analysis of the society, the theory addresses the different and yet subjective meanings that people impose on objects, events, and behaviours (Herman 88).

According to this theory, people are in a position to decide what they want and why they want that thing through their individual and personalized interpretation of the world. People thus define the term “home” differently according to this theory. While to some people a home is a symbol of unity and mutual coexistence of different individuals in a group of people, to others it is a sense of belonging. These groups do not see the meaning of having a constant place where they live in. they possess little wealth and attach little value to the things that define wealth and achievements. A house according to them has no use. The mental condition of these people is the biggest contributing factor to their definition of a home. Some of them are mad, while others are drug users. This results to their condition of homelessness. The various causes of homelessness in the society have adequately been discussed. There are efforts to reduce the number of people who are homeless in the society. These efforts have been shown by different groups in the society. Some have vested interests while others are simply concerned parties to the problem of homelessness. The government for example has developed many projects that are geared at developing housing projects for the poor at affordable prices. Due to the increased prices of mortgages, owning a home by the poor people has remained a dream due to affordability issues. To house these people, the government has implemented various housing projects for the poor.

The non-governmental organizations and the well-wishers have also chipped in their efforts in trying to address the problem of homelessness among the people. Various groups have tried to provide homes to the street people who do not have a place to stay. Even the children’s homes have tried to solve this issue. However, these problems have not been adequately addressed as more needs to be done to solve this problem.

Homelessness as discussed in this paper is a social problem. Having been caused by social structures, the problem is not regarded as individual. According to the three sociological theoretical perspectives of symbolic interaction, functionalism, and conflict theory, this problem can only be solved by addressing the contributing factors to the problem. Failure to address these factors, social structures will create more homeless conditions than those solved by the efforts extended towards solving the problem.

Works Cited

• Bartos, Otomar J, and Paul E. Wehr. Using Conflict Theory. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Print.
• Herman, Nancy J. Symbolic Interaction: An Introduction to Social Psychology. Walnut Creek, CA [u.a.: AltaMira [u.a., 2003. Print.
• Isajiw, Wsevolod W. Causation and Functionalism in Sociology. New York: Schocken Books, 1968. Print.

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Social Welfare Issues & Poverty: Homelessness

• Adoption & Foster Care
• Environmental Challenges
• Food Insecurity
• Gender Pay Inequality
• Gun Violence
• Homelessness
• Voting Rights
• Women's Reproductive Rights
• HOMELESSNESS Homelessness is an endemic social problem in the United States, with approximately 643,000 people now living without a place to call home on any given night. Over the course of a year, the number of people residing in emergency shelter and transitional housing exceeds 1.5 million. More than one third live on the streets or in places not fit for human habitation. Of these, a disproportionate number are single men. During times of economic recession and high unemployment, the numbers of people experiencing homelessness, especially those in families, tend to climb. Driven by extreme poverty and the lack of decent affordable housing, homelessness occurs in every state in the nation, but it tends to concentrate in urban areas and in large coastal states (e.g., California, New York, Florida). Homelessness is more than the lack of housing. It can be seen as a metaphor for disconnection from family, friends, caretakers, reassuring routines, belongings, and community. Once people become homeless, the road back to stable housing is tortuous and fraught with peril. Because of the relative lack of affordable housing and difficulties obtaining housing vouchers in most communities, many individuals and families languish in emergency shelters, in transitional programs, and on the streets for long periods. The experience of homelessness is invariably traumatic and may lead to adverse long-term outcomes related to health and well-being.
• HOMELESS FAMILIES Homeless families are those that either lack shelter or have shelter that is so inadequate, temporary, or insecure that the situation threatens the social, psychological, or physical health of the family. Homeless families are a departure from the classic homeless image of the single male, detached from society and disaffiliated from kin, friends, and work. Homeless families receive attention in large part because the presence of children among the homeless confronts society directly with its failure to guarantee a minimum standard of protection. The questions of who these families are, how they became homeless, and how their homelessness can be prevented and ameliorated carry an urgency that contrasts with more blaming attitudes towards the single homeless individual.
• Homeless Children and Youth Social exclusion of marginalized and vulnerable groups makes them a nonproductive part of society in today's globalized world. They can, however, be productive if given a chance. As noted in the literature, marginalized groups such as homeless youth, and young people working on the streets, are often stigmatized as vagrants engaging in deviant behavior. Moreover, the current scenario worldwide does not portray an optimistic view for homeless children and youth. Working children on the streets and homeless youth are neither the priority of the government in many countries—for example, in Pakistan, the focus of this entry—nor do many local governments show concern for them. The phenomenon of homelessness among young people across the globe has given rise to many conceptual difficulties. First of all, there is no exact figure for the number of homeless children and youth, although it is a phenomenon that has been studied for years. Relatedly, research by Asma Khalid found that there are no official data available on homeless children and youth in Pakistan, making it difficult to formulate policies and take appropriate measures.

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Perspectives

Poverty and Homelessness

The National Alliance to End Homelessness states that there are 564,708 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the U.S. The primary source writings in this anthology have been selected to provide your readers with a broad range of viewpoints on poverty and homelessness, including whether government assistance is working or making things worse. The essays in each chapter of this book represent contrasting viewpoints on government social assistance programs and income inequality. Students are encouraged to see the validity of divergent opinions, crucial to the development of critical thinking skills. An important question about the topic is presented in each chapter, and the viewpoints that follow are organized based on their response to the question. Fact boxes summarize important information for researchers, and an extensive bibliography is included.

The Open Door

The Open Door: Homelessness and Severe Mental Illness in the Era of Community Treatment explains how and why homelessness among the mentally ill has persisted over the past 35 years, despite policy and program initiatives to end it. This ten-chapter book chronicles the unintended rise of homelessness in the wake of far-reaching post-World War II mental health care reforms, and highlights the key role of advocacy in spurring a governmental response to homelessness. The author provides a comprehensive, carefully documented "state of the science" on homelessness, reviews critical issues in managing severe mental illness in the community setting, and presents evidence of the effectiveness of service and housing interventions that have brought stability to the lives of many. Finally, the book reviews the role of homelessness prevention, a recovery orientation, and the promise of early treatment of psychotic disorders to facilitate greater social inclusion and community participation. In addition to providers of housing and services to the homeless mentally ill, this text will appeal to policymakers, mental health professionals, and students of public health and social sciences.

Encyclopedia of Homelessness

Homelessness is one of the major social problems and personal and family tragedies of the contemporary world. No community, city, or nation is immune and the lack of affordable housing and a decline in secure, well-paying jobs means that the problem will only get worse. The Encyclopedia of Homelessness is the first systematic effort to organize and summarize what we know about thus complex topic which impacts not only the homeless but all of society. The Encyclopedia whilst focussing on the current situation in the United States, ensures an international perspective by including a comparative sampling of homelessness from around the world. Articles cover: · Causes · Lifestyle Issues · Health Issues and Services · History · Legal Issues and Advocacy · Government Policies and Programs · Organizations · Research Approaches · Service Systems and Settings · Size and Characteristics of the Homeless Population · Public Perceptions of Homelessness · World Issues and Perspectives Additional descriptive articles cover homelessness today in a sample of American cities and a sample of cities and nations of the world, allowing for quick and easy comparisons. The Encyclopedia contains entries on Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, France, Guatemala, Japan, Nigeria, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, Tokyo, Calcutta, London and others from around the world. The Encyclopedia of Homelessness meets the needs of a broad audience, offering a rich history and the data, views, and perspectives of experts from different disciplines and perspectives, including: · Sociologists; · Anthropologists; · Economists; · Historians; · Social Policy Analysts and Planners; · Program Administrators; · Physicians; · Social Workers; · Lawyers who provide advocacy and services; · Journalists; · Students of history, social studies, and the social sciences in high school through graduate school.

Moving to Nowhere

The number of homeless families in the United States continues to increase at an alarming rate. There is little doubt that becoming homeless and living in shelters has had significant effects on the lives of the children in these families. While many empirical studies have documented the effects of homelessness on one or another aspect of children's lives, Moving To Nowhere looks at the experience of losing one's home and living in a shelter from the perspective of the child. Children who are homeless tell their own story. They speak of life in a shelter as they have known it. It is through these stories that human service professionals can come to see homelessness as the children themselves see it and can learn what living in a shelter is like. Children who are homeless tell their own story. They describe how they became homeless, why they think it happened to their family, what their expectations and concerns were as they realized they would be moving to a shelter, and what the shelter was like when they arrived. They speak often of missing their old neighborhoods, their friends, and their extended family. They report their fears, their worries about their family's future, the absence of money and resources, and, for some, the presence of violence or substance abuse in their families. They repeatedly tell of their embarrassment about being homeless; this profoundly colors their relationships to friends, schoolmates, and teachers. And, in each of their stories, these children provide clear and moving examples of how they manage to survive on a day to day basis while they wait for permanent housing. Health care professionals, psychologists, and teachers, as well as students and the general public, will find this work poignant and instructive.

The Politics of Ending Homelessness

This book highlights the political nature of homelessness in particular, the political nature of ending the problem and suggests that a movement of homeless and poor people is the best, and perhaps the only, hope for significantly alleviating the homelessness problem. There are signs that the potential for such a movement is growing. Unions of the Homeless and other national protest organizations comprised of homeless and low-income people have arisen in the past decade. These groups constitute the beginnings of what could become a widespread Homeless and Poor People's Movement. Contents: Preface; INTRODUCTION; UNDERSTANDING HOMELESSNESS; Prevalence of Homelessness; Characteristics of the Population; Structural Causes of Homelessness; Governments Response to Homelessness; THE HOMELESS AND POOR PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT; The Potential for an Emerging Movement; Potential Forms of the Movement; Potential Successes of the Movement; Limitations of the Movement's Successes; Notes; PROTEST AS THE MEANS TO END HOMELESSNESS; The Role of Outsiders in the Movement; Conclusion; Appendix; Biography; Index.

Exposing Homelessness

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A Road to Home

The homestretch: three homeless teenagers fighting for their future, online resources.

• HHS.gov U.S. Department of Health & Human Services: Homelessness HHS is the United States government's principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and supporting the delivery of essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves. As such, the delivery of treatment and services to persons experiencing homelessness is included in the activities of the Department
• U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs: Homelessness Being homeless, or being at risk of homelessness, is one of the most difficult problems any Veteran can face. In its 2017 Annual Homeless Assessment report to Congress, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported that just over 40,000 Veterans were experiencing homelessness (including those living on the street or in a shelter, temporary safe haven, or any place unfit to reside in) on a given night in January 2017.
• United States Interagency Council on Homelessness USICH is the only federal agency with the sole mission of preventing and ending homelessness in America. We coordinate with our 19 federal member agencies, state and local governments, and the private sector to create partnerships, use resources in the most efficient and effective ways, and implement evidence-based best practices.

The Street: A Film with the Homeless

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• Last Updated: May 15, 2023 11:26 AM
• URL: https://southern.libguides.com/socialwelfare

• Open access
• Published: 22 August 2017

Social conditions of becoming homelessness: qualitative analysis of life stories of homeless peoples

• Mzwandile A. Mabhala   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1350-7065 1 , 3 ,
• Asmait Yohannes 2 &
• Mariska Griffith 1  

International Journal for Equity in Health volume  16 , Article number:  150 ( 2017 ) Cite this article

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It is increasingly acknowledged that homelessness is a more complex social and public health phenomenon than the absence of a place to live. This view signifies a paradigm shift, from the definition of homelessness in terms of the absence of permanent accommodation, with its focus on pathways out of homelessness through the acquisition and maintenance of permanent housing, to understanding the social context of homelessness and social interventions to prevent it.

However, despite evidence of the association between homelessness and social factors, there is very little research that examines the wider social context within which homelessness occurs from the perspective of homeless people themselves. This study aims to examine the stories of homeless people to gain understanding of the social conditions under which homelessness occurs, in order to propose a theoretical explanation for it.

Twenty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted with homeless people in three centres for homeless people in Cheshire North West of England.

The analysis revealed that becoming homeless is a process characterised by a progressive waning of resilience capacity to cope with life challenges created by series of adverse incidents in one’s life. The data show that final stage in the process of becoming homeless is complete collapse of relationships with those close to them. Most prominent pattern of behaviours participants often describe as main causes of breakdown of their relationships are:

engaging in maladaptive behavioural lifestyle including taking drugs and/or excessive alcohol drinking

Being in trouble with people in authorities.

Homeless people describe the immediate behavioural causes of homelessness, however, the analysis revealed the social and economic conditions within which homelessness occurred. The participants’ descriptions of the social conditions in which were raised and their references to maladaptive behaviours which led to them becoming homeless, led us to conclude that they believe that their social condition affected their life chances: that these conditions were responsible for their low quality of social connections, poor educational attainment, insecure employment and other reduced life opportunities available to them.

It is increasingly acknowledged that homelessness is a more complex social and public health phenomenon than the absence of a place to live. This view signifies a paradigm shift, from the definition of homelessness in terms of the absence of permanent accommodation [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ], with its focus on pathways out of homelessness through the acquisition and maintenance of permanent housing [ 6 ], to understanding the social context of homelessness and social interventions to prevent it [ 6 ].

Several studies explain the link between social factors and homelessness [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. The most common social explanations centre on seven distinct domains of deprivation: income; employment; health and disability; education, skills and training; crime; barriers to housing and social support services; and living environment [ 11 ]. Of all forms, income deprivation has been reported as having the highest risk factors associated with homelessness [ 7 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]: studies indicate that people from the most deprived backgrounds are disproportionately represented amongst the homeless [ 7 , 13 ]. This population group experiences clusters of multiple adverse health, economic and social conditions such as alcohol and drug misuse, lack of affordable housing and crime [ 10 , 12 , 15 ]. Studies consistently show an association between risk of homelessness and clusters of poverty, low levels of education, unemployment or poor employment, and lack of social and community support [ 7 , 10 , 13 , 16 ].

Studies in different countries throughout the world have found that while the visible form of homelessness becomes evident when people reach adulthood, a large proportion of homeless people have had extreme social disadvantage and traumatic experiences in childhood including poverty, shortage of social housing stocks, disrupted schooling, lack of social and psychological support, physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, neglect, dysfunctional family environments, and unstable family structures, all of which increase the likelihood of homelessness [ 10 , 13 , 14 ].

Furthermore, a large body of evidence suggests that people exposed to diverse social disadvantages at an early age are less likely to adapt successfully compared to people without such exposure [ 9 , 10 , 13 , 17 ], being more susceptible to adopting maladaptive coping behaviours such as theft, trading sex for money, and selling or using drugs and alcohol [ 7 , 9 , 18 , 19 ]. Studies show that these adverse childhood experiences tend to cluster together, and that the number of adverse experiences may be more predictive of negative adult outcomes than particular categories of events [ 17 , 20 ]. The evidence suggests that some clusters are more predictive of homelessness than others [ 7 , 12 ]: a cluster of childhood problems including mental health and behavioural disorders, poor school performance, a history of foster care, and disrupted family structure was most associated with adult criminal activities, adult substance use, unemployment and subsequent homelessness [ 12 , 17 , 21 ]. However, despite evidence of the association between homelessness and social factors, there is very little research that examines the wider social context within which homelessness occurs from the perspective of homeless people themselves.

This paper adopted Anderson and Christian’s [ 18 ] definition, which sees homelessness as a ‘function of gaining access to adequate, affordable housing, and any necessary social support needed to ensure the success of the tenancy’. Based on our synthesis of the evidence, this paper proposes that homelessness is a progressive process that begins at childhood and manifests itself at adulthood, one characterised by loss of the personal resources essential for successful adaptation. We adopted the definition of personal resources used by DeForge et al. ([ 7 ], p. 223), which is ‘those entities that either are centrally valued in their own right (e.g. self-esteem, close attachment, health and inner peace) or act as a means to obtain centrally valued ends (e.g. money, social support and credit)’. We propose that the new paradigm focusing on social explanations of homelessness has the potential to inform social interventions to reduce it.

In this study, we examine the stories of homeless people to gain understanding of the conditions under which homelessness occurs, in order to propose a theoretical explanation for it.

The design of this study was philosophically influenced by constructivist grounded theory (CGT). The aspect of CGT that made it appropriate for this study is its fundamental ontological belief in multiple realities constructed through the experience and understanding of different participants’ perspectives, and generated from their different demographic, social, cultural and political backgrounds [ 22 ]. The researchers’ resulting theoretical explanation constitutes their interpretation of the meanings that participants ascribe to their own situations and actions in their contexts [ 22 ].

The stages of data collection and analysis drew heavily on other variants of grounded theory, including those of Glaser [ 23 ] and Corbin and Strauss [ 24 ].

Setting and sampling strategy

The settings for this study were three centres for homeless people in two cities (Chester and Crewe) in Cheshire, UK. Two sampling strategies were used in this study: purposive and theoretical. The study started with purposive sampling and in-depth one-to-one semi-structured interviews with eight homeless people to generate themes for further exploration.

One of the main considerations for the recruitment strategy was to ensure that the process complies with the ethical principles of voluntary participation and equal opportunity to participate. To achieve this, an email was sent to all the known homeless centres in the Cheshire and Merseyside region, inviting them to participate. Three centres agreed to participate, all of them in Cheshire – two in Chester and one in Crewe.

Chester is the most affluent city in Cheshire and Merseyside, and therefore might not be expected to be considered for a homelessness project. The reasons for including it were: first, it was a natural choice, since the organisations that funded the project and the one that led the research project were based in Chester; second, despite its affluence, there is visible evidence of homelessness in the streets of Chester; and third, it has several local authority and charity-funded facilities for homeless people.

The principal investigator spent 1 day a week for 2 months in three participating centres, during that time oral presentation of study was given to all users of the centre and invited all the participants to participate and written participants information sheet was provided to those who wished to participate. During that time the principal investigator learned that the majority of homeless people that we were working with in Chester were not local. They told us that they came to Chester because there was no provision for homeless people in their former towns.

To help potential participants make a self-assessment of their suitability to participate without unfairly depriving others of the opportunity, participants information sheet outline criteria that potential participants had to meet: consistent with Economic and Social Research Council’s Research Ethics Guidebook [ 25 ], at the time of consenting to and commencing the interview, the participant must appear to be under no influence of alcohol or drugs, have a capacity to consent as stipulated in England and Wales Mental Capacity Act 2005 [ 26 ], be able to speak English, and be free from physical pain or discomfort.

As categories emerged from the data analysis, theoretical sampling was used to refine undeveloped categories in accordance with Strauss and Corbin’s [ 27 ] recommendations. In total 26 semi-structured interviews were carried out. Theoretical sampling involved review of memos or raw data, looking for data that might have been overlooked [ 27 , 28 ], and returning to key participants asking them to give more information on categories that seemed central to the emerging theory [ 27 , 28 ].

The sample comprised of 22 male and 4 female, the youndgest participant was 18 the eldest was 74 years, the mean age was 38.6 years. Table 1 illustrates participant’s education history, childhood living arrangements, brief participants family and social history, emotional and physical health, the onset of and trigger for homelessness.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Chester. The centre managers granted access once ethical approval had been obtained, and after their review of the study design and other research material, and of the participant information sheet which included a letter of invitation highlighting that participation was voluntary.

Data analysis

In this study data collection and analysis occurred simultaneously. Analysis drew on Glaser’s [ 23 ] grounded theory processes of open coding, use of the constant comparative method, and the iterative process of data collection and data analysis to develop theoretical explanation of homelessness.

The process began by reading the text line-by-line identifying and open coding the significant incidents in the data that required further investigation. The findings from the initial stage of analysis are published in Mabhala [ 29 ]. The the second stage the data were organised into three themes that were considered significant in becoming homeless (see Fig. 1 ):

Engaging in maladaptive behaviour

Being in trouble with the authorities.

Being in abusive environments.

Social explanation of becoming homeless. Legend: Fig. 1 illustrates the process of becoming homeless

The key questions that we asked as we continued to interrogate the data were: What category does this incident indicate? What is actually happening in the data? What is the main concern being faced by the participants? Interrogation of the data revealed that participants were describing the process of becoming homeless.

The comparative analysis involved three processes described by Glaser ([ 23 ], p. 58–60): each incident in the data was compared with incidents from both the same participant and other participants, looking for similarities and differences. Significant incidents were coded or given labels that represented what they stood for, and similarly coded or labeled when they were judged to be about the same topic, theme or concept.

After a period of interrogation of the data, it was decided that the two categories - destabilising behaviour, and waning ofcapacity for resilience were sufficiently conceptual to be used as theoretical categories around which subcategories could be grouped (Fig. 1 ).

Once the major categories had been developed, the next step consisted of a combination of theoretical comparison and theoretical sampling. The emerging categories were theoretically compared with the existing literature. Once this was achieved, the next step was filling in and refining the poorly defined categories. The process continued until theoretical sufficiency was achieved.

Figure 1 illustrates the process of becoming homeless. The analysis revealed that becoming homeless is a process characterised by a progressive waning of resilience created by a series of adverse incidents in one’s life. Amongst the frequently cited incidents were being in an abusive environment and losing a significant person in one’s life. However, being in an abusive environment emerged from this and previously published studies as a major theme; therefore, we decided to analyse it in more detail.

The data further show that the final stage in the process of becoming homeless is a complete collapse of relationships with those with whom they live. The most prominent behaviours described by the participants as being a main cause of breakdown are:

Engaging in maladaptive behaviour: substance misuse, alcoholism, self-harm and disruptive behaviours

Being in trouble with the authorities: theft, burglary, arson, criminal offenses and convictions

The interrogation of data in relation to the conditions within which these behaviours occurred revealed that participants believed that their social contexts influenced their life chance, their engagement with social institution such as education and social services and in turn their ability to acquire and maintain home. Our experiences have also shown that homeless people readily express the view that behavioural lifestyle factors such as substance misuse and engaging in criminal activities are the causes of becoming homeless. However, when we spent time talking about their lives within the context of their status as homeless people, we began to uncover incidents in their lives that appeared to have weakened their capacity to constructively engage in relationships, engage with social institutions to make use of social goods [ 29 , 30 , 31 ] and maturely deal with societal demands.

Being in abusive environments

Several participants explicitly stated that their childhood experiences and damage that occurred to them as children had major influences on their ability to negotiate their way through the education system, gain and sustain employment, make appropriate choices of social networks, and form and maintain healthy relationships as adults.

It appears that childhood experiences remain resonant in the minds of homeless participants, who perceive that these have had bearing on their homelessness. Their influence is best articulated in the extracts below. When participants were asked to tell their stories of what led to them becoming homeless, some of their opening lines were:

What basically happened, is that I had a childhood of so much persistent, consistent abuse from my mother and what was my stepfather. Literally consistent, we went around with my mother one Sunday where a friend had asked us to stay for dinner and mother took the invitation up because it saved her from getting off her ass basically and do anything. I came away from that dinner genuinely believing that the children in that house weren’t loved and cared for, because they were not being hit, there was no shouting, no door slamming. [Marco]

It appears that Marco internalised the incidents of abuse, characterised by shouting, door slamming and beating as normal behaviour. He goes on to intimate how the internalised abusive behaviour affected his interaction with his employers.

‘…but consistently being put down, consistently being told I was thick, I started taking jobs and having employers effing and blinding at me. One employer actually used a “c” word ending in “t” at me quite frequently and I thought it was acceptable, which obviously now I know it’s not. So I am taking on one job after another that, how can I put it? That no one else would do basically. I was so desperate to work and earn my own money. [Marco]

Similarly, David makes a connection between his childhood experience and his homelessness. When he was asked to tell his life story leading to becoming homeless, his opening line was:

I think it [homelessness] started off when I was a child. I was neglected by my mum. I was physically and mentally abused by my mum. I got put into foster care, when I left foster care I was put in the hostel, from there I turn into alcoholic. Then I was homeless all the time because I got kicked out of the hostels, because you are not allowed to drink in the hostel. [David]

David and Marco’s experiences are similar to those of many participants. The youngest participant in this study, Clarke, had fresh memories of his abusive environment under his stepdad:

I wouldn't want to go back home if I had a choice to, because before I got kicked out me stepdad was like hitting me. I wouldn't want to go back to put up with that again. [I didn't tell anyone] because I was scared of telling someone and that someone telling me stepdad that I've told other people. ‘[Be] cause he might have just started doing again because I told people. It might have gotten him into trouble. [Clarke]

In some cases, participants expressed the beliefs that their abusive experience not only deprived them life opportunities but also opportunities to have families of their own. As Tom and Marie explain:

We were getting done for child neglect because one of our child has a disorder that means she bruise very easily. They all our four kids into care, social workers said because we had a bad childhood ourselves because I was abused by my father as well, they felt that we will fail our children because we were failed by our parents. We weren’t given any chance [Tom and Marie]

Norma, described the removal of her child to care and her maladaptive behaviour of excessive alcohol use in the same context as her experience of sexual abuse by her father.

I had two little boys with me and got took off from me and put into care. I got sexually abused by my father when I was six. So we were put into care. He abused me when I was five and raped me when I was six. Then we went into care all of us I have four brothers and four sisters. My dad did eighteen months for sexually abusing me and my sister. I thought it was normal as well I thought that is what dads do [Norma]

The analysis of participants in this study appears to suggest that social condition one is raised influence the choice of social connections and life partner. Some participants who have had experience of abuse as children had partner who had similar experience as children Tom and Marie, Lee, David and his partners all had partners who experienced child abuse as children.

Tom and Marie is a couple we interviewed together. They met in hostel for homeless people they have got four children. All four children have been removed from them and placed into care. They sleep rough along the canal. They explained:

We have been together for seven years we had a house and children social services removed children from us, we fell within bedroom tax. …we received an eviction order …on the 26th and the eviction date was the 27th while we were in family court fighting for our children. …because of my mental health …they were refusing to help us.

Our children have been adopted now. The adoption was done without our permission we didn’t agree to it because we wanted our children home because we felt we were unfairly treated and I [Marie] was left out in all this and they pin it all on you [Tom] didn’t they yeah, my [Tom] history that I was in care didn’t help.

Tom went on to talk about the condition under which he was raised:

I was abandoned by my mother when I was 12 I was then put into care; I was placed with my dad when I was 13 who physically abused me then sent back to care. [Tom].

David’s story provides another example of how social condition one is raised influence the choice of social connections and life partner. David has two children from two different women, both women grew up in care. Lisa one of David’s child mother is a second generation of children in care, her mother was raised in care too.

I drink to deal with problems. As I say I’ve got two kids with my girlfriend Kyleigh, but I got another lad with Lisa, he was taken off me by social services and put on for adoption ten years ago and that really what started it; to deal with that. Basically, because I was young, and I had been in care and the way I had been treated by my mum. Basically laid on me in the same score as my mum and because his mum [Lisa] was in care as well. So they treated us like that, which was just wrong. [David]

In this study, most participants identified alcohol or drugs and crime as the cause of relationships breakdown. However, the language they used indicates that these were secondary reasons rather than primary reasons for their homelessness. The typical question that MA and MG asked the interview participants was “tell us how did you become homeless”? Typically, participants cited different maladaptive behaviours to explain how they became homeless.

Alvin’s story is typical of:

Basically I started off as a bricklayer, … when the recession hit, there was an abundance of bricklayers so the prices went down in the bricklaying so basically with me having two young children and the only breadwinner in the family... so I had to kinda look for factory work and so I managed to get a job… somewhere else…. It was shift work like four 12 hour days, four 12 hour nights and six [days] off and stuff like that, you know, real hard shifts. My shift was starting Friday night and I’ll do Friday night, Saturday night to Monday night and then I was off Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but I’d treat that like me weekend you know because I’ve worked all weekend. Then… so I’d have a drink then and stuff like that, you know. 7 o’ clock on a Monday morning not really the time to be drinking, but I used to treat it like me weekend. So we argued, me and my ex-missus [wife], a little bit and in the end we split up so moved back to me mum's, but kept on with me job, I was at me mum’s for possibly about five years and but gradually the drinking got worse and worse, really bad. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. … I used to drink to get rid of the anxiety and also to numb the pain of the breakup of me marriage really, you know it wasn’t good, you know. One thing led to another and I just couldn’t stop me alcohol. I mean I’ve done drugs you know, I was into the rave scene and I’ve never done hard drugs like heroin or... I smoke cannabis and I use cocaine, and I used to go for a pint with me mates and that. It all came to a head about November/December time, you know it was like I either stop drinking or I had to move out of me mum's. I lost me job in the January through being over the limit in work from the night before uum so one thing led to another and I just had to leave. [Alvin]

Similarly, Gary identified alcohol as the main cause of his relationship breakdown. However, when one listens to the full story alcohol appears to be a manifestation of other issues, including financial insecurities and insecure attachment etc.

It [the process of becoming homeless] mainly started with the breakdown of the relationship with me partner. I was with her for 15 years and we always had somewhere to live but we didn't have kids till about 13 years into the relationship. The last two years when the kids come along, I had an injury to me ankle which stopped me from working. I was at home all day everyday. …I was drinking because I was bored. I started drinking a lot ‘cause I couldn't move bout the house. It was a really bad injury I had to me ankle. Um, and one day me and me partner were having this argument and I turned round and saw my little boy just stood there stiff as a board just staring, looking at us. And from that day on I just said to me partner that I'll move out, ‘cause I didn't want me little boy to be seeing this all the time. [Gary]

In both cases Gary and Alvin indicate that changes in their employment status created conditions that promoted alcohol dependency, though both explained that they drank alcohol before the changes in their employment status occurred and the breakdown of relationships. Both intimated that that their job commitment limited the amount of time available to drink alcohol. As Gary explained, it is the frequency and amount of alcohol drinking that changed as a result of change in their employment status:

I used to have a bit of a drink, but it wasn’t a problem because I used to get up in the morning and go out to work and enjoy a couple of beers every evening after a day’s work. Um, but then when I wasn't working I was drinking, and it just snowballed out, you know snowball effect, having four cans every evening and then it went from there. I was drinking more ‘cause I was depressed. I was very active before and then I became like non-active, not being able to do anything and in a lot of pain as well. [Gary]

Furthermore, although the participants claim that drinking alcohol was not a problem until their employment circumstances changed, one gets a sense that alcohol was partly responsible for creating conditions that resulted in the loss of their jobs. In Gary’s case, for example, alcohol increased his vulnerability to the assault and injuries that cost him his job:

I got assaulted, kicked down a flight of stairs. I landed on me back on the bottom of the stairs, but me heel hit the stairs as it was still going up if you know what I mean. Smashed me heel, fractured me heel… So, by the time I got to the hospital and they x-rayed it they wasn't even able to operate ‘cause it was in that many pieces, they weren't even able to pin it if you know what I mean. [Gary]

Alvin, of the other hand, explained that:

I lost my job in the January through being over the limit in work from the night before, uum so one thing led to another and I just had to leave. [Alvin]

In all cases participants appear to construct marriage breakdown as an exacerbating factor for their alcohol dependence. Danny, for example, constructed marriage breakdown as a condition that created his alcohol dependence and alcohol dependence as a cause of breakdown of his relationship with his parents. He explains:

I left school when I was 16. Straight away I got married, had children. I have three children and marriage was fine. Umm, I was married for 17 years. As the marriage broke up I turned to alcohol and it really, really got out of control. I moved in with my parents... It was unfair for them to put up with me; you know um in which I became... I ended up on the streets, this was about when I was 30, 31, something like that and ever since it's just been a real struggle to get some permanent accommodation. [Danny]

Danny goes on to explain:

Yes [I drank alcohol before marriage broke down but] not very heavily, just like a sociable drink after work. I'd call into like the local pub and have a few pints and it was controlled. My drinking habit was controlled then. I did go back to my parents after my marriage break up, yes. I was drinking quite heavily then. I suppose it was a form of release, you know, in terms of the alcohol which I wish I'd never had now. When I did start drinking heavy at me parents’ house, I was getting in trouble with the police being drunk and disorderly. That was unfair on them. [Danny]

The data in this study indicate that homelessness occurs when the relationships collapse, irrespective of the nature of the relationship. There were several cases where lifestyle behaviour led to a relationship collapse between child and parents or legal guardians.

In the next excerpt, Emily outlines the incidents: smoking weed, doing crack and heroin, and drinking alcohol. She also uses the words ‘because’, ‘when’ and ‘obviously’, which provide clues about the precipitating condition for her behaviours “spending long time with people who take drugs”.

I've got ADHD like, so obviously my mum kicked me out when I was 17 and then like I went to **Beswick** and stuff like that. My mum in the end just let me do what I wanted to do, ‘cause she couldn't cope anymore. …I mean I tried to run away from home before that, but she'd always like come after me in like her nightie and pyjamas and all that. But in the end she just washed her hands of me . [Emily]

Emily presented a complex factors that made it difficult for her mother to live with her. These included her mother struggle with raising four kids as a single parent, Emily’s mental health (ADHD], alcohol and drug use. She goes on to explain that:

Ummm, well the reason I got kicked out of my hostel was ‘cause of me drinking, so I'd get notice to quit every month, then I’d have a meeting with the main boss and then they'd overturn it and this went on every month for about six months. Also, it was me behaviour as well, but obviously drink makes you do stuff you don't normally do and all that shit. I lived here for six months, got kicked out because I jumped out the window and broke me foot. I was on the streets for six months and then they gave me a second chance and I've been here a year now. So that's it basically. [Emily]

There were several stories of being evicted from accommodation due to excessive use of alcohol. One of those is David:

I got put into foster care. When I left foster care I was put in the hostel, from there I turn into alcoholic. Then I was homeless all the time because I got kicked out of the hostels, because you are not allowed to drink in the hostel. It’s been going on now for about… I was thirty-one on Wednesday, so it’s been going on for about thirteen years, homeless on and off. Otherwise if not having shoplifted for food and then go to jail, and when I don’t drink I have lot of seizures and I end up in the hospital. Every time I end up on the street. I trained as a chef, I have not qualified yet, because of alcohol addiction, it didn’t go very well. I did couple of jobs in restaurants and diners, I got caught taking a drink. [David]

Contrary to the other incidents where alcohol was a factor that led to homelessness, Barry’s description of his story appears to suggest that the reason he had to leave his parents’ home was his parents’ perception that his sexuality brought shame to the family:

When I came out they I’m gay, my mum and dad said you can’t live here anymore. I lived in a wonderful place called Nordic... but fortunately, mum and dad ran a pub called […] [and] one of the next door neighbours lived in a mansion. His name was [….] [and] when I came out, he came out as in he said “I'm a gay guy”, but he took me into Liverpool and housed me because I had nowhere to live. My mum and dad said you can't live here anymore. And unfortunately, we get to the present day. I got attacked. I got mugged... only walked away with a £5 note, it’s all they could get off me. They nearly kicked me to death so I was in hospital for three weeks. By the time I came out, I got evicted from my flat. I was made homeless. [Barry]

We used the phrase “engaging in maladaptive behaviour” to conceptualise the behaviours that led to the loss of accommodation because our analysis appear to suggest that these behaviours were strategies to cope with the conditions they found themselves in. For example, all participants in this category explained that they drank alcohol to cope with multiple health (mental health) and social challenges.

In the UK adulthood homelessness is more visible than childhood homelessness. However, most participants in this research reveal that the process of becoming homeless begins at their childhood, but becomes visible after the legal age of consent (16). Participants described long history of trouble with people in authority including parents, legal guardians and teachers. However, at the age of 16 they gain legal powers to leave children homes, foster homes, parental homes and schools, and move outside some of the childhood legal protections. Their act of defiance becomes subject to interdiction by the criminal justice system. This is reflected in number of convictions for criminal offenses some of the participants in this study had.

Participants Ruddle, David, Lee, Emily, Pat, Marco, Henry and many other participants in this study (see Table 1 ) clearly traced the beginning of their troubles with authority back at school. They all expressed the belief that had their schooling experience been more supportive, their lives would have been different. Lee explains that being in trouble with the authorities began while he was at school:

‘The school I came from a rough school, it was a main school, it consisted of A, B, C, D and The school I came from [was] a rough school, it was a main school, it consisted of A, B, C, D and E. I was in the lowest set, I was in E because of my English and maths. I was not interested, I was more interested in going outside with big lads smoking weed, bunking school. I used to bunk school inside school. I used to bunk where all cameras can catch me. They caught me and reported me back to my parents. My mum had a phone call from school asking where your son is. My mum grounded me. While my mum grounded me I had a drain pipe outside my house, I climbed down the drain pipe outside my bedroom window. I used to climb back inside. [Lee]

Lee’s stories constructed his poor education experiences as a prime mover towards the process of becoming homeless. It could be noted in Table 1 that most participants who described poor education experiences came from institutions such as foster care, children home and special school for maladjusted children. These participants made a clear connection between their experiences of poor education characterised by defiance of authorities and poor life outcomes as manifested through homelessness.

Patrick made a distinct link between his school experience and his homelessness, for example, when asked to tell his story leading up to becoming homeless, Patrick’s response was:

I did not go to school because I kept on bunking. When I was fifteen I left school because I was caught robbing. The police took me home and my mum told me you’re not going back to school again, you are now off for good. Because if you go back to school you keep on thieving, she said I keep away from them lads. I said fair enough. When I was seventeen I got run over by a car. [Patrick]

Henry traces the beginning of his troubles with authorities back at school:

[My schooling experience]… was good, I got good, well average grades, until I got myself into [a] few fights mainly for self-defence. In primary schools, I had a pretty... I had a good report card. In the start of high school, it was good and then when the fights started that gave me sort of like a... bad reputation. I remember my principal one time made me cry. Actually made me cry, but eh... I don't know how, but I remember sitting there in the office and I was crying. My sister also stuck up for me when she found out what had happened, she was on my side; but I can’t remember exactly what happened at that time. [Henry]

Emily’s story provides some clues about the series of incidents - including, delay in diagnosing her health condition, being labelled as a naughty child at school, being regularly suspended from school and consequently poor educational attainment.

Obviously, I wasn't diagnosed with ADHD till I was like 13, so like in school they used to say that's just a naughty child. … So it was like always getting suspended, excluded and all that sort of stuff. And in the end [I] went to college and the same happened there. [Emily]

The excerpt above provides intimations of what she considers to be the underlying cause of her behaviour towards the authorities. Emily suggests that had the authorities taken appropriate intervention to address her condition, her life outcomes would have been different.

Although the next participant did not construct school as being a prime mover of their trouble with authorities, their serious encounters with the criminal justice system occurred shortly after leaving school:

Well I did a bit of time at a very early age, I was only 16… I did some remand there, but then when I went to court ‘cause I'd done enough remand, I got let out and went to YMCA in Runcorn. Well, that was when I was a kid. When I was a bit older, ‘cause it was the years 2000 that I was in jail, I was just trying to get by really. I wasn’t with Karen at the time. I was living in Crewe and at the time I was taking a lot of amphetamines and was selling amphetamines as well, and I got caught and got a custodial sentence for it. But I've never been back to jail since. I came out in the year 2000 so it's like 16 years I've kept meself away from jail and I don't have any intentions of going back. [Gary]

The move from school and children social care system to criminal justice was a common pathways for many participants in this study. Some including Lee, Crewe, David, Patrick spent multiple prison sentences (see Table 1 ). Although Crewe did not make connection between his schooling experiences and his trouble with law, it could be noted that his serious encounter with criminal justice system started shortly after leaving foster care and schooling systems. As he explains:

I was put into prison at age of 17 for arson that was a cry for help to get away from the family, I came out after nine months. I have been in prison four times in my life, its not very nice, when I came out I made a promise to myself that I’m never going to go back to prison again. [Crewe]

Lee recalls his education experience. He explained:

I left school when I was fifteen… then I went off the rails. I got kidnapped for three and half months. When I came back I was just more interested in crime. When I left school I was supposed to go to college, but I went with travellers. I was just more interested in getting arrested every weekend, until my mum say right I have enough of you. I was only seventeen. I went through the hostels when I was seventeen. [Lee]

None describe the educational experience with a similar profundity to Marco:

On few occasions I came out on the corridors I would be getting battered on to my hands and knees and teachers walk pass me. There was quite often blood on the floor from my nose, would be punched on my face and be thrown on the floor. …. It was hard school, pernicious. I would go as far as saying I never felt welcome in that school, I felt like a fish out of the water, being persistently bullied did my head in. Eventually I started striking back, when I started striking back suddenly I was a bad one. My mother decided to put me in … school for maladjusted boys, everyone who been there including myself have spent time in prison. [Marco]

The trouble with authorities that was observes in participants stories in this category appear to be part of the wider adverse social challenges that the participants in this study were facing. Crewe’s description of arson as a cry for help appears to be an appropriate summation of all participants in this category.

The participants’ description of the social conditions in which were raised and their references to maladaptive behaviours which led to them becoming homeless, led us to conclude that they believe that their social condition affected their life chances: that these conditions were responsible for their low quality of social connections, poor educational attainment, insecure employment and other reduced life opportunities available to them.

The key feature that distinguish this study from comparable previous studies is that it openly acknowledges that data collection and analysis were influenced by the principles of social justice [ 28 , 30 , 31 ]. The resulting theoretical explanation therefore constitutes our interpretation of the meanings that participants ascribe to their own situations and actions in their contexts. In this study, defining homelessness within the wider socioeconomic context seemed to fit the data, and offered one interpretation of the process of becoming homeless.

While the participants’ experiences leading to becoming homeless may sound trite. What is pertinent in this study is understanding the conditions within which their behaviours occurred. The data were examined through the lens of social justice and socio-economic inequalities: we analysed the social context within which these behaviours occurred. We listened to accounts of their schooling experiences, how they were raised and their social network. The intention was not to propose a cause-and-effect association, but to suggest that interventions to mitigate homelessness should consider the social conditions within which it occurred.

Participants in this study identified substance misuse and alcohol dependency as a main cause of their homelessness. These findings are consistent with several epidemiological studies that reported a prevalence of substance misuse amongst the homeless people [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ]. However, most these studies are epidemiological; and by nature epidemiological studies are the ‘gold standard’ in determining causes and effects, but do not always examine the context within which the cause and effect occur. One qualitative study that explored homelessness was a Canadian study by Watson, Crawley and Cane [ 37 ]. Participants in the Watson, et al. described ‘lack of quality social interactions and pain of addition. However, Watson et al. focus on the experiences of being homeless, rather than the life experiences leading to becoming homeless. To our knowledge the current study is one of very few that specifically examine the conditions within which homelessness occurs, looking beyond the behavioural factors. Based on the synthesis of data from previous studies, it makes sense that many interventions to mitigate homelessness focus more on tackling behavioural causes of homelessness rather than fundamental determinants of it [ 38 ]. From the public health intervention’ point of view, however, understanding the conditions within which homelessness occurs is essential, as it will encourage policymakers and providers of the services for homelessness people to devote equal attention to tackling the fundamental determinants of homelessness as is granted in dealing behavioural causes.

Participants in this study reported that they have been defiant toward people in positions of authority. For most of them this trouble began when they were at school, and came to the attention of the criminal justice system as soon as they left school at the age of 16. These findings are similar to these in the survey conducted by Williams, Poyser, and Hopkins [ 39 ] which was commissioned by the UK Ministry of Justice. This survey found that 15 % of prisoners in the sample reported being homeless before custody [ 39 ]; while three and a half percent of the general population reported having ever been homeless [ 39 ]. As the current study reveals there are three possible explanations for the increased population of homeless young people in the criminal justice system: first, at the age of 16 they gain legal powers to leave their foster homes, parents homes, and schools and move beyond some of the childhood legal protections; second, prior to the age of 16 their defiant behaviours were controlled and contained by schools and parents/legal guardians; and third, after the age of 16 their acts of defiant behaviour become subject to interdiction by the criminal justice system.

The conditions in which they were born and raised were described by some participants in this study as ‘chaotic’, abusive’, ‘neglect’, ‘pernicious’ ‘familial instability’, ‘foster care’, ‘care home’, etc. Taking these conditions, and the fact that all but one participants in this left school at or before the age of 16 signifies the importance of living conditions in educational achievement. It has been reported in previous studies that children growing up in such conditions struggle to adjust in school and present with behavioural problems, and thus, poor academic performance [ 40 ]. It has also been reported that despite these families often being known to social services, criminal justice systems and education providers, the interventions in place do little to prevent homelessness [ 40 ].

Analysis of the conditions within which participants’ homelessness occurred reveals the adverse social conditions within which they were born and raised. The conditions they described included being in an abusive environment, poor education, poor employment or unemployment, poor social connections and low social cohesion. These conditions are consistent with high index of poverty [ 37 , 41 , 42 ]. And several other studies found similar associations between poverty and homelessness [ 42 ]. For example, the study by Watson, Crowley et al. [ 37 ] found that there were extreme levels of poverty and social exclusion amongst homeless people. Contrary to previous studies that appear to construct homelessness as a major form of social exclusion, the analysis of participants’ stories in this current study revealed that the conditions they were raised under limited their capacity to engage in meaningful social interactions, thus creating social exclusion.

Homeless people describe the immediate behavioural causes of homelessness; however, this analysis revealed the social and economic conditions within which homelessness occurred. The participants’ descriptions of the social conditions in which were raised and their references to maladaptive behaviours which led to them becoming homeless, led us to conclude that they believe that their social condition affected their life chances: that these conditions were responsible for their low quality of social connections, poor educational attainment, insecure employment and other reduced life opportunities available to them.

Limitations

The conclusions drawn relate only to the social and economic context of the participants in this study, and therefore may not be generalised to the wider population; nor can they be immediately applied in a different context. It has to be acknowledged that the method of recruitment of the 26 participants generates a bias in favour of those willing to talk. The methodology used in this study (constructivist grounded theory) advocates mutual construction of knowledge, which means that the researchers’ understanding and interpretations may have had some influence on the research process as the researchers are an integral part of the data collection and analysis

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank all participants in this study; without their contribution it would not have been possible to undertake the research. The authors acknowledge the contribution of Professor Paul Kingston and Professor Basma Ellahi at the proposal stage of this project. A very special thanks to Robert Whitehall, John and all the staff at the centres for homeless people for their help in creating a conducive environment for this study to take place; and to Roger Whiteley for editorial support. A very special gratitude goes to the reviewers of this paper, who will have expended considerable effort on our behalf. 

This research was funded by quality-related research (QR) funding allocation for the University of Chester.

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The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to ethical restriction and privacy of participant data but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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MM wrote the entire manuscript, designed the study, collected data, analysed and interpreted data, and presented the findings. AY contributed to transcribing data and manuscript editing. MG contributed to data collection, and transcribed the majority of data. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Mabhala, M.A., Yohannes, A. & Griffith, M. Social conditions of becoming homelessness: qualitative analysis of life stories of homeless peoples. Int J Equity Health 16 , 150 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-017-0646-3

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Poverty and Homelessness

BY Mahwish Moiz . LAST REVISED ON August 20th, 2023 .

How does poverty cause homelessness? What are the top 5 most impoverished cities in the world? This article answers both and more!

A Definition of Poverty

Poverty is one of the biggest factors behind homelessness. Defined as the state of not having enough possessions or assets to fulfill a person’s needs, poverty and homelessness are severe social issues in almost every part of the world.

This means that poverty can include social, economic, and political elements as well. While there are many definitions to consider, one thing is for certain: poverty results in exclusion from society.

When people don’t have enough financial resources to have an adequate standard of living, they can’t afford to spend on luxuries. They can only focus on the basics, including food and shelter. Since they get excluded from society, they are neither well educated nor are in the best physical condition.

There are various causes of poverty. The nature of work and income levels play a significant role in contributing to this condition. Many people work long hours for a paltry sum that is hardly enough for their needs. Others comprise families where there is usually just a single breadwinner trying to make ends meet.

Other significant factors that cause homelessness include the lack of the affordable housing , mental illness , and substance abuse .

People who face the highest risk of falling into poverty include:

• Unemployed individuals
• Individuals relying on government payments
• Immigrants from developing nations
• Single-parent families

Poverty is a complex societal issue that can’t be solved overnight. It results from many structural faults that can only be fixed if all members of society work together to provide opportunities to everyone.

How poverty causes homelessness

Along with unemployment and lack of affordable housing, it is touted as one of the most crucial reasons for homelessness.

Thus, a very strong correlation exists between poverty and homelessness. Consider the following statistics from Family Promise :

• Almost 40 million people in the US live below the poverty line
• Over 15 million children under age 18 in the US are poor
• A worker within a family of four needs to earn $12.73 per hour to reach the poverty level
• Median rent increased by 61% from 1960 to 2016, while median renter income only rose by 5% in that period
• The US faces a shortage of over 7.2 million rental homes affordable to very low-income households

Poverty strips an individual of the resources necessary to afford a decent shelter for the long term. A poor individual or family can only spend so much. Between food and having a roof above their heads, most people prefer the former. Therefore, homelessness often precedes hunger. Thus, homelessness results from not having enough financial resources to afford rent and other housing costs.

The 5 most impoverished cities in the world

Poverty is a social issue that exists all over the world, in both developing and developed countries. However, some places are poorer than others and have a lower standard of living. The following are the five most impoverished cities in the world:

1). Burundi

The terrible situation during the civil war in 1994 left a massive 65% of the population of Burundi in extreme poverty. Its gross national income (GNI) per capita is just over $700. A majority of the children only get to complete three years of education. The low literacy rate combined with the high level of poverty makes this African nation one of the most impoverished in the world.

Chad is one of the poorest nations in the world, courtesy of poor infrastructure and constant conflict. The latter is mostly spread by the military group Boko Haram. A considerable 48% of the residents face financial vulnerability. The GNI per capita stands at $1,750, with children receiving 2.3 years of education on average.

3). South Sudan

This African nation is a very young one, as it gained independence in 2011. However, its long history of conflict and violence has rendered it a very poor nation. The World Bank estimates that about 82% of the South Sudanese population lives in extreme poverty. The GNI per capita is $963, while children get just 4.8 years of schooling on average.

4). Central African Republic

The Central African Republic (CAR) is not only one of the poorest countries in the world, but it’s also the hungriest. The 2018 Global Hunger Index classified the CAR as the only country with “extremely alarming” hunger levels. 62% of the country’s population lives in severe poverty. The GNI per capita is $633, with children receiving an average of 4.3 years of schooling.

Niger was classified as the country with the lowest Human Development Index score in 2018 . With a GNI per capita of just $906 combined with only two years of schooling for children on average, this makes sense. The World Bank report form 2014 suggests that 44.5% of the country’s population lives in extreme poverty.

How to solve poverty

The best way to reduce poverty around the world is to increase average incomes. This sounds obvious, but there are several ways to go about it. At the end of the day, earning enough to fund your accommodation is the one certain way in which people can lift themselves out of poverty and homelessness.

Here are five ways in which the incomes of poor people can be increased:

1) Increase employment

This is where the government will play a crucial role. By investing in infrastructure and services such as schools and childcare centers, the government can generate both jobs and social benefits. Local-hiring ordinances for large employers in low-income communities can ensure high employment rates for the poor as well. Providing low-cost housing can also increase the amount of available income by cutting down on housing costs. Of course, the government itself can be an employer for many of these people.

2) Strengthen social safety measures

Many countries have existing social programs like unemployment insurance, tax credits, food stamps, and cash assistance. Such measures need to be strengthened and any barriers to access need to be removed.

3) Paid family and sick leave

Paid leave would allow people to take care of themselves and their families without having to sacrifice the income that is so vital for them.

4) Improve lives of immigrants

Some of the poorest people in developed countries are immigrants from developing nations. They are discriminated against, face few opportunities, and are exploited by their employers. Thus, there needs to be effective immigration reform to improve their lives and give them better opportunities in society.

5) Eliminate segregation

Structural segregation has made it difficult for minorities to rise out of poverty. They end up being isolated, deprived of resources, and excluded from society. Since they also comprise some of the poorest people, it is essential to provide them with the right opportunities. Their children must be educated and given better access to resources to give them a fighting chance.

Poverty is the state of not having enough resources to fulfill a person’s needs. It is largely caused by low-income levels and increasing costs. A strong correlation exists between poverty and homelessness. Each is responsible for the other. Poverty prevents a person from affording a decent shelter over the long term.

Some of the poorest nations in the world include Burundi, Chad, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Niger.

Poverty can be reduced by increasing average incomes among the poor sectors of society. This can be achieved by increasing employment, strengthening social benefits, encouraging paid leaves, reforming immigration, and eliminating segregation in society.

further reading

This article focused exclusively on poverty and homelessness. What it focused little to none on, however, is substance abuse and homelessness...

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND HOMELESSNESS?

Read " Substance Abuse and Homelessness - facts, statistics, and more ."

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key takeaways

• Poverty is the state of lacking enough possessions or assets to fulfill a person’s needs.
• Homelessness results from not having enough financial resources to afford rent and other housing costs.
• Burundi is the most impoverished country in the world.
• If we increase desirable employment opportunities, and offer more social programs, poverty can be a thing of the past.

other helpful articles

thank you for reading

Homelessness as a Social Issue Essay

Introduction, status quo/impacts, history/context, ethical solutions to the problem, recommendations, works cited.

Homelessness is a pertinent social problem that has been escalating over the past few decades. Efforts by different governments across the world to contain the problem have not been successful in dealing with homelessness (Atherton and Nicholls 96). Homelessness is attributed to poverty, substance abuse, mental disorders, unemployment, and increased rental rates, among other factors.

Chronic homeless is believed to be the major cause of other social problems such as poor health, substance abuse, and illiteracy amongst the affected individuals (Tompsett et al. 50). The cost incurred by governments in providing healthcare services for homeless individuals is high, and if the issue is not addressed in time, it may affect the world’s economy in the near future. This paper explores the issue of homelessness, its status and impacts, the historical context, and ethical solutions to the problem.

Statistics indicate that by March 2015, 578,424 individuals in the US were homeless (“National Alliance to End Homelessness” 5). According to the “National Alliance to End Homelessness,” about two-thirds of these people spend their nights in temporary shelters (6). In addition, one-third of the homeless individuals spend their nights either in cars or under bridges.

Moreover, a quarter of the group is composed of children who are under the age of 18 years (“National Alliance to End Homelessness” 7). Veterans form a great number of homeless individuals in the US, with about 57000 of them spending nights in temporary shelters or unsheltered places (“National Alliance to End Homelessness” 6).

Research indicates that homeless persons are at a high risk of contracting infectious diseases, which increases the cost of health, thus affecting the country’s economy (Tompsett et al. 53). Security of the population is also a major concern since such people have to carry their clothes and beddings to avoid loss through theft.

Homeless people’s privacy is not guaranteed, and they suffer from the shortage of sanitary materials, which exposes them to infectious illnesses and other health hazards (Atherton and Nicholls 113). The problem with this population is further compounded by the lack of addresses, which denies them job opportunities since employers require potential employees to prove their residency before they are hired (Cronley 329).

In addition, the groups have fewer chances of being admitted to educational institutions due to their poor financial and health conditions (Tompsett et al. 54). This population is highly susceptible to violence, and it contributes to increased crime rates where they reside. In addition, the government incurs huge losses in a bid to address other parallel social issues emanating from homelessness (Shelton et al. 468). The losses come in the form of healthcare costs, police patrols to deter crime by these groups, and civil cases, among others.

Homelessness is not an emerging issue as it dates back to the 17 th Century (Turnbull, Muckle, and Masters 1066). Initially, it was not viewed as a social problem, but as a moral issue and obligation as people moved from their rural areas to prove their financial wellbeing (Toro 477). However, today, the issue has turned into a social problem that requires stringent measures to contain it. Various groups have engaged the governments in civil suits in efforts to have the administration settle all the destitute persons.

The suits are premised on the Bill of Rights that guarantees each citizen the right to proper housing (Cronley 331). Research indicates that 20% of homeless persons suffer from untreated mental illnesses, and this aspect complicates the problem (Toro 477).

Research further indicates that the group is at a high risk of suffering from addiction in an effort to contain stress and ignominy associated with homelessness. Drug addiction has been one of the leading causes of death in the US, which makes the issue of homelessness a significant area of study and research (Tompsett et al. 57).

Homelessness has been a pertinent issue since the 17 th Century, and up to date, it has not been fully addressed despite huge resources being devoted to the fight against the issue (Turnbull, Muckle, and Masters 1066). The US is among the few countries that have been at the forefront in the fight against the ever-worsening social problem (Toro 472).

However, this task has been insurmountable due to the shortage of funds and the increased number of legal and illegal immigrants in the US (Cronley 322). According to the “National Alliance to End Homelessness,” the only way to deal with the issue of homelessness is through the provision of permanent houses to all homeless individuals, and many policymakers support this argument.

The market value of rental houses is increasing tremendously, thus leading to a loss in the available houses for the poor in society (Atherton and Nicholls 140). This aspect has led to an increased number of homeless persons in the country as more people join the homelessness state. The high number of homeless people in the world, coupled with the numerous cases of new homelessness cases have prompted various organizations to come up with programs aimed at providing permanent solutions to the recurring problem (Shelton et al. 471).

The Obama administration, through the Opening Doors initiative, has stated its commitment to achieving zero cases of homelessness in a span of 10 years. Since the Opening Doors campaign was launched in 2010, the US has recorded a 21% decrease in the number of homeless persons (“National Alliance to End Homelessness” 32).

The program is slated to achieve zero homelessness by the year 2017. However, it faces insurmountable challenges, among them being the inadequacy of funds. In addition to the Opening Doors, which is an initiative sponsored by the Obama administration, the American government has put in place other projects aimed at containing the issue of homelessness.

Another program that has successfully reduced the number of homelessness in the US is the Federal Housing Program, which is designed to provide permanent houses to low-income earners. The overall program is comprised of two subprograms, viz. the public housing and the federal housing vouchers.

Since its implementation, the program has seen most homeless individuals acquire homes. The rent charged to tenants living in homes provided through the program is slightly lower than the market rates, and it is determined by considering the annual income of each household.

The Permanent Supportive Housing is another program, which has seen the number of homeless people reduce significantly. The program was launched in the 1980s to address the issue of homelessness amongst special groups such as the mentally challenged and the HIV/AIDS victims (Shelton et al. 467). This program, together with the HUD, has managed to deter the increase in the number of the homeless population through the provision of affordable housing to the target groups.

Raising awareness about the problem to the public through the media and other public forums is another effective way of fighting the issue of homelessness (Cronley 327). Raising awareness invites people and organizations to help with inputs in the form of opinions and funds. This aspect is a good strategy for eliminating homelessness in some parts of the world.

For example, the Cornerstone Christian Church in Vista allowed homeless persons living in the streets to occupy its parking lot, following the awareness raised by the media (Tompsett et al. 48). The church allows the people to use the lot until they acquire a job or after they are financially stable enough to cater for their housing needs. The church also provides counseling services to veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) coupled with those suffering from substance abuse.

This aspect has helped in the reduction of the number of individuals without homes since stress and substance abuse are closely linked with the issue of homelessness (Shelton et al. 465). Awareness also attracts non-governmental organizations and the international community to come and assist the suffering group through financial and other forms of donations.

The United Way of San Diego and Project 25 are good examples of organizations that have joined the fight against homelessness due to the creation of awareness. The organizations provide homeless individuals with addresses with a mailbox that helps the groups find jobs easily coupled with facilitating their involvement in communal activities.

The following suggestions should be considered in a bid to counter homelessness:

• The government should initiate more programs to build houses for the homeless
• Advocacy groups should be empowered to champion the campaign against homelessness
• People exiting homelessness should be equipped with the necessary financial management skills in a bid to avoid the problem in the future.

Atherton, Iain, and Carol Nicholls. “‘Housing First’ as a means of addressing multiple needs and homelessness.” European Journal of Homelessness 2.1 (2008): 289-303. Print.

Cronley, Courtney. “Unraveling the social construction of homelessness.” Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment 20.2 (2010): 319-333. Print.

National Alliance to End Homelessness: The state of homelessness in America. Washington D.C: Homelessness Research Institute, 2015. Print.

Shelton, Katherine, Pamela Taylor, Adrian Bonner, Marianne Bree. “Risk factors for homelessness: evidence from a population-based study.” Psychiatric Services 60.4 (2009): 465-472. Print.

Tompsett, Carolyn, Paul Toro, Melissa Guzicki, Manuel Manrique, and Jigna Zatakia. “Homelessness in the United States: Assessing changes in prevalence and public opinion, 1993–2001.” American Journal of Community Psychology 37.2 (2006): 47-61. Print.

Toro, Paul. “Toward an international understanding of homelessness.” Journal of Social Issues 63.3 (2007): 461-481. Print.

Turnbull, Jeffrey, Wendy Muckle, and Christina Masters. “Homelessness and health.” Canadian Medical Association Journal 177.9 (2007): 1065-1066. Print.

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• The Solution to World Poverty by Peter Singer
• The Poverty Across the US Culture
• History and Modern Day Reasons
• Minority Population at Risk: Homelessness

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3. problems students are facing at public k-12 schools.

We asked teachers about how students are doing at their school. Overall, many teachers hold negative views about students’ academic performance and behavior.

• 48% say the academic performance of most students at their school is fair or poor; a third say it’s good and only 17% say it’s excellent or very good.
• 49% say students’ behavior at their school is fair or poor; 35% say it’s good and 13% rate it as excellent or very good.

Teachers in elementary, middle and high schools give similar answers when asked about students’ academic performance. But when it comes to students’ behavior, elementary and middle school teachers are more likely than high school teachers to say it’s fair or poor (51% and 54%, respectively, vs. 43%).

Teachers from high-poverty schools are more likely than those in medium- and low-poverty schools to say the academic performance and behavior of most students at their school are fair or poor.

The differences between high- and low-poverty schools are particularly striking. Most teachers from high-poverty schools say the academic performance (73%) and behavior (64%) of most students at their school are fair or poor. Much smaller shares of teachers from low-poverty schools say the same (27% for academic performance and 37% for behavior).

In turn, teachers from low-poverty schools are far more likely than those from high-poverty schools to say the academic performance and behavior of most students at their school are excellent or very good.

Lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Among those who have been teaching for at least a year, about eight-in-ten teachers say the lasting impact of the pandemic on students’ behavior, academic performance and emotional well-being has been very or somewhat negative. This includes about a third or more saying that the lasting impact has been very negative in each area.

Shares ranging from 11% to 15% of teachers say the pandemic has had no lasting impact on these aspects of students’ lives, or that the impact has been neither positive nor negative. Only about 5% say that the pandemic has had a positive lasting impact on these things.

A smaller majority of teachers (55%) say the pandemic has had a negative impact on the way parents interact with teachers, with 18% saying its lasting impact has been very negative.

These results are mostly consistent across teachers of different grade levels and school poverty levels.

Major problems at school

When we asked teachers about a range of problems that may affect students who attend their school, the following issues top the list:

• Poverty (53% say this is a major problem at their school)
• Chronic absenteeism – that is, students missing a substantial number of school days (49%)
• Anxiety and depression (48%)

One-in-five say bullying is a major problem among students at their school. Smaller shares of teachers point to drug use (14%), school fights (12%), alcohol use (4%) and gangs (3%).

Differences by school level

Similar shares of teachers across grade levels say poverty is a major problem at their school, but other problems are more common in middle or high schools:

• 61% of high school teachers say chronic absenteeism is a major problem at their school, compared with 43% of elementary school teachers and 46% of middle school teachers.
• 69% of high school teachers and 57% of middle school teachers say anxiety and depression are a major problem, compared with 29% of elementary school teachers.
• 34% of middle school teachers say bullying is a major problem, compared with 13% of elementary school teachers and 21% of high school teachers.

Not surprisingly, drug use, school fights, alcohol use and gangs are more likely to be viewed as major problems by secondary school teachers than by those teaching in elementary schools.

Differences by poverty level

Teachers’ views on problems students face at their school also vary by school poverty level.

Majorities of teachers in high- and medium-poverty schools say chronic absenteeism is a major problem where they teach (66% and 58%, respectively). A much smaller share of teachers in low-poverty schools say this (34%).

Bullying, school fights and gangs are viewed as major problems by larger shares of teachers in high-poverty schools than in medium- and low-poverty schools.

When it comes to anxiety and depression, a slightly larger share of teachers in low-poverty schools (51%) than in high-poverty schools (44%) say these are a major problem among students where they teach.  

Discipline practices

About two-thirds of teachers (66%) say that the current discipline practices at their school are very or somewhat mild – including 27% who say they’re very mild. Only 2% say the discipline practices at their school are very or somewhat harsh, while 31% say they are neither harsh nor mild.

We also asked teachers about the amount of influence different groups have when it comes to determining discipline practices at their school.

• 67% say teachers themselves don’t have enough influence. Very few (2%) say teachers have too much influence, and 29% say their influence is about right.

• 31% of teachers say school administrators don’t have enough influence, 22% say they have too much, and 45% say their influence is about right.
• On balance, teachers are more likely to say parents, their state government and the local school board have too much influence rather than not enough influence in determining discipline practices at their school. Still, substantial shares say these groups have about the right amount of influence.

Teachers from low- and medium-poverty schools (46% each) are more likely than those in high-poverty schools (36%) to say parents have too much influence over discipline practices.

In turn, teachers from high-poverty schools (34%) are more likely than those from low- and medium-poverty schools (17% and 18%, respectively) to say that parents don’t have enough influence.

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Table of contents, ‘back to school’ means anytime from late july to after labor day, depending on where in the u.s. you live, among many u.s. children, reading for fun has become less common, federal data shows, most european students learn english in school, for u.s. teens today, summer means more schooling and less leisure time than in the past, about one-in-six u.s. teachers work second jobs – and not just in the summer, most popular.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .