Families With Children Are the Fastest Growing Segment of the Homeless Population

Introduction

There have ever been homeless people in the United States. As economic circumstances and demographic forces have fluctuated, so have the size and composition of the homeless population, although relatively permanent skid rows where homeless people congregate have long been a feature of many large cities.

In the past decade, however, the problem of homelessness has increasingly captured public attending. Not simply has the number of homeless people increased dramatically within the concluding several years simply the composition of the homeless population has also changed appreciably during that period: For case, middle-anile men brand up a shrinking fraction of all homeless people, and families with young children are the fastest growing component of the homeless population (U.S. Conference of Mayors, 1987). Growing public awareness of homelessness is also connected to changes in the geographic dispersion of homeless people, who are becoming more visible in neighborhoods and communities that would not have imagined their presence in the past.

This affiliate briefly describes homelessness in the United States. Information technology begins by defining homelessness, assessing methodologies used to count homeless people, and reviewing recent scholarly literature on the subject field. The chapter continues by examining the socio-demographic characteristic s of homeless people, with emphasis on adult individuals, families and children, delinquent and throwaway youths,ⁱ the elderly, and people in rural areas. In the course of this discussion the problems relating to the prevalence of health and mental wellness bug inevitably arise, merely these are reviewed in greater detail in Chapter 3, Health Problems of Homeless People.

Definition of Homeless

For the purpose of this report, the definition of homeless or homeless person is the same as that in P.L. 100-77, the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Human activity, enacted in July 1987 (U.S. Congress, House, 1987):

(ane): an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence: [or]
(2): an private who has a main dark residence that is—

(A): a supervised or publicly operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, besiege shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally sick);
(B): an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or
(C): a public or individual place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.

This definition refers specifically to homeless individuals, just it is every bit applicable to homeless families.

Counting the Homeless

Fifty-fifty within the framework of a relatively straightforward definition, there is considerable uncertainty well-nigh the number of people who are homeless at any given fourth dimension in the United States. Conventional methods of enumerating populations, such equally the census, are based upon counting people where they live. Not only do people motion in and out of homelessness but the methodological bug involved in counting people without a fixed residence are formidable. Studies that have attempted to count homeless people have been discipline to severe criticism. For example, samples are generally small-scale and may not be generalizable to other locales, data are often collected from single sites, samples often are not systematically drawn, measures and definitions of homelessness are inconsistent, and the rural population is virtually unidentified. For all these reasons, the diverse studies cannot be hands compared or generalized. (Appendix B of this report contains a detailed analysis of the three most common methods of counting homeless people and the technical strengths and weaknesses of each.)

The range of estimates of the number of homeless people is wide (Table 1-1). At the depression end is the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Evolution (1984) estimate of 200,000 to 300,000. At the high terminate are advocates' estimates of more than than 2 million (Hombs and Snyder, 1982). Whatever the absolute numbers, the number of homeless people has grown appreciably in recent years. Surveys conducted by the U.S. Briefing of Mayors in 25 representative cities in each of the by two years identified no city in which the numbers were falling; virtually cities reported annual increases of 15 to 50 percent (U. S. Conference of Mayors, 1987). A substantial bulk of the cities reported that families were the fastest growing component of the homeless population. I contempo guess of the number of homeless people in the United states, published in June 1988 by the National Alliance to Stop Homelessness, calculates that currently, on whatsoever given night, there are 735,000 homeless people in the United states; that during the course of 1988, i.3 one thousand thousand to 2.0 million people will be homeless for one or more nights; and that these people are amid approximately 6 million Americans who, because of their disproportionately high expenditures for housing costs, are at extreme risk of condign homeless (Alliance Housing Council, 1988).

Tabular array 1-1

National Estimates of the Homeless Population.

For the purposes of this study, the question of precisely how many homeless people there are was not of central importance considering homelessness is not a static condition; poor people move in and out of a land of homelessness. Therefore, the committee devoted a major function of its try to analyzing the composition of the homeless subpopulations and the health-related needs of each group.

Studies of Homelessness

Since the early on 1980s, an extensive body of literature about homeless people has emerged. Although some have described homelessness in the United States impressionistically, a number of scholars have conducted substantial surveys and performed extensive data analyses in gild to describe the characteristics of homeless people. The earliest publications on the "new" homeless have focused on the demographic and social characteristics of homeless adults living in large cities, such as New York (Hoffman et al., 1982; Crystal and Goldstein, 1984), Phoenix (Chocolate-brown et al., 1982, 1983), Portland, Oregon (Multnomah County, Oregon, Department of Human Services, 1984, 1985), Los Angeles (Robertson et al., 1985; Farr et al., 1986), Chicago (Stevens et al., 1983; Rossi et al., 1986), St. Louis (Morse et al., 1985), Milwaukee (Rosnow et al., 1985), Boston (Bassuk et al., 1984), Philadelphia (Arce et al., 1983), and Baltimore (Fischer and Breakey, 1986). Wider in geographic scope are the studies of us of Ohio (Roth et al., 1985) and Vermont (Vermont Department of Human Services, 1985). Although the sites at which data were collected oft differed—shelters, streets, single room occupancy hotels—as did the sampling strategy and operational criteria for studying homelessness, the data collected from these unlike areas showed surprising similarities. Research has also been conducted on subpopulations of homeless people besides as on specialized topics related to homelessness. A substantial number of reports take focused on the homeless mentally sick and on homeless people who suffer from alcohol corruption. A much smaller torso of literature exists on other health-related issues. In fact, it was but 3 years ago that the first book on this event, Health Care of Homeless People (Brickner et al., 1985), was published; the importance of the issue and the growth in our knowledge are reflected by the fact that the authors already have begun work on the second edition. There is also a growing body of scholarly work on subpopulations, especially homeless families (Bassuk et al., 1986).

Studies on the demographic and social characteristics of the homeless in the United states of america have nearly always been based upon enquiry conducted in urban areas. Except for the Ohio and Vermont reports, which included both urban and nonurban areas, very little has been published on the homeless in suburban and rural communities—xcept in newspapers (Washington Mail service, September 27, 1987; New York Times, Oct 16, 1987). There is a similar, though less pronounced, paucity of information about sure subpopulations amidst the contemporary homeless, such every bit the elderly, youths, individual developed women, the physically disabled, the mentally retarded, and those fond to illicit drugs.

Characteristics of Homeless People

Homeless people are a various and varied group in terms of age, ethnicity, family circumstances, and health problems. Moreover, the characteristics of the homeless population differ dramatically from i customs to another. Even the recent increase in homeless families is not uniform throughout the land. Although homeless families headed past women are predominant amidst the homeless throughout the country, there are many more homeless two-parent families in the W and Southwest than in New York and other large eastern cities (U.Southward. Conference of Mayors, 1987). Every urban center has homeless adults, but the demographics are not uniform throughout the state. Most cities report that adult homeless men tend to be long-term residents of the urban center. However, during a site visit to San Diego, committee members were informed by both public officials and advocates for the homeless that San Diego'due south developed homeless male person population was composed largely of immature men from the W and Midwest who had come to the Southwest in search of jobs.

To make the needs of homeless people more than understandable, nosotros draw several subgroups separately: individual developed men and women, families with children, youths, the elderly, and people in rural areas.

Homeless Private Adults

Although families may stand for the fastest growing subgroup among the homeless, individual adults withal make up the single largest group among the homeless population. The documented characteristics of homeless adult men and women contradict some popular conceptions of what such people are like.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors (1987) reported that private men made up 56 per centum of the homeless population and individual women made upwards 25 percent. (The rest are adolescents or families with children.) Of the 25 cities in the study, 7 reported recent increases in the numbers of homeless women. In 1963, homeless women represented only 3 percentage of the homeless population (Bogue, 1963). Researchers bespeak that a high proportion of homeless women suffer from serious problems including chronic mental illness and pregnancy-related problems (Wright, 1987; Wright and Weber, 1987; Wright et al., 1987). In addition, homeless women are oftentimes victims of physical set on, especially rape (Brickner et al., 1985).

Individual homeless men and women have an boilerplate age of between 34 and 37 (Morse, 1986); this is significantly lower than those plant in previous decades. Homeless women are from 2 to half-dozen years younger (both mean and median) than homeless men (Multnomah County, Oregon, Department of Human Services, 1984; Robertson et al., 1985; Rossi et al., 1986). Reports from several cities indicate that the sheltered male population is younger still and that homeless women appear to exist either very young or elderly. This is important because, unless they are disabled, the historic period of homeless adults in many parts of the country helps to determine their eligibility for entitlements, especially general assistance and Medicaid.

Homeless adults are likely never to have been married. Reported levels range from 40 per centum in Portland, Oregon (Multnomah County, Oregon, Department of Human Services, 1984) to 64 percent in New York City (Hoffman et al., 1982). Homeless women are more likely than homeless men to have been married' In the Portland report, just 29 percent of homeless women had never married compared with 44 percent of homeless men. Never-married homeless adults are generally not members of households and often lack stiff family ties. The absence of family unit ties removes the possibility of finding shelter with family members.

Minorities are overrepresented amidst homeless people in the nation'south larger cities (Table i-2). This distribution reflects the overrepresentation of minorities in the poorest strata of American society (Morse, 1986).

TABLE 1-ii

Ethnic Background of Homeless Adult Individuals (in percentage) Compared with That of the General Population.

The proportion of homeless people with a high school diploma has increased during the by 25 years. For example, in 1963, simply nineteen percentage of homeless people in Chicago had completed loftier schoolhouse (Bogue, 1963), compared with 35 percent of the general population of Chicago (U.South. Bureau of the Census, 1963). In 1985, 55 percent of the homeless population in that urban center were high school graduates (Rossi et al., 1986); the comparable figure for the unabridged population of Chicago was 56 pct, virtually identical to that for the homeless population. While there was a greater divergence betwixt the educational level of homeless and full general populations in other cities (Roth et al., 1985; Farr et al., 1986), nationally the proportion of homeless adults with high school diplomas is approximately 45 percent.

Contrary to the fears expressed by public officials that their urban center may attract increasing numbers of homeless people if they practice more to help, several contempo studies indicate that the great majority of homeless people have been long-term residents of the city in which they are sheltered (Table 1-3). This was confirmed during the site visits. It was also reported that when a city did attract transients, it was by and large not by virtue of its entitlement programs merely, rather, because of a favorable economic climate and the possibility of employment. People working directly with the homeless in various cities reported to the committee that transient persons failing to notice employment in one city tended not to stay long and shortly moved on in search of jobs.

TABLE 1-three

Length of Residency of Homeless Adult Individuals.

Since the mean historic period of homeless men is approximately 35, information technology is not surprising that a large number are Vietnam veterans (Table 1-4). Studies of homeless veterans in Los Angeles (Robertson, 1987) and Boston (Schutt, 1985) indicate that they are older than nonveterans, improve educated, and more likely to have been married, factors that normally would signal greater stability. They too tend to be white, although the percentage of ethnic minorities increases substantially amidst those who served in Vietnam.

As discussed in detail in Chapter 3, psychiatric problems and alcohol and drug abuse are common amidst homeless veterans. The Los Angeles and Boston studies both reported college rates of psychiatric hospitalization than among nonveteran homeless people. The Boston study, as well every bit a study of homeless veterans in San Francisco (Swords to Plowshares, 1986), reported that veterans were more than likely to identify substance corruption as a reason for homelessness. The San Francisco study reported that 45 percent suffered from booze abuse (19 percent reporting severe booze problems) and 23 percent from drug abuse.

The almost recent statistics on homeless veterans come from the Homeless Chronically Mentally Ill outreach program conducted by the Veterans Assistants as mandated past P.L. 100-6 (Rosenheck et al., 1987). The program is targeted specifically to mentally ill homeless veterans (and therefore does not present a valid sample of all homeless

veterans), but it is both the nearly contempo research on homeless veterans and the well-nigh geographically comprehensive. The outreach effort was conducted in 26 states and included Veterans Administration medical centers serving rural, suburban, and urban areas. In its start 4 months of functioning (May-September 1987) the program made contact with vi,342 homeless veterans.

Of the veterans contacted, 98.6 percent were men; ane.4 percent were women. The average age was 43:75 pct were either divorced or had never married. Sixty percent were white, thirty percentage were black, and 9 percent were Hispanic. In regard to instruction, 82 pct were high school graduates. Thirty percent had served in combat, and 1.7 percent had been prisoners of war; 9 percent were diagnosed every bit having gainsay-related posttraumatic stress disorder. With regard to the time of their military duty, 38 percentage were veterans of the Vietnam era, 21 pct served in the mail service-Vietnam menstruum, and 18 percent served in the period between the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. Only 9 percent served in World War 2 and 10 percent in Korea.

Several authors have reported that between 5 and ten pct of the homeless are employed full-time and between ten and 20 percent are employed part-time or episodically (Dark-brown et al., 1982, 1983; Multnomah Canton, Oregon, Department of Human Services, 1984, 1985; Rossi et al., 1986). These people oftentimes perform unskilled labor; are on the lesser rung of the economic ladder; and often lack task security, health insurance, and the skills necessary to succeed in a high-tech economy.

Many are homeless considering their incomes have not kept stride with the dramatic increase in housing costs. The loss of a day or two of pay may make the difference betwixt paying rent and being evicted.

Homeless Families

As mentioned previously, the fastest growing subgroup amid the homeless population consists of families with children. In late 1986, the U.Due south. Conference of Mayors estimated that such families made up 28 per centum of all homeless people in the 25 cities participating in the conference's almanac survey of hunger, homelessness, and poverty in America. Most homeless families are headed past women with two or three children (Bassuk et al., 1986). Nearly of the children are nether the age of five and are spending their critical developmental years without the stability and security of a permanent home (Towber, 1986a,b; Bassuk and Rubin, 1987; Wright and Weber, 1987).

The literature on the characteristics and needs of homeless families is largely anecdotal, although there are a few systematic studies describing the status and unmet needs of homeless families and the wellness status (Wright and Weber, 1987), emotional issues (Bassuk et al., 1986; Bassuk and Rubin, 1987; Bassuk and Gallagher, in press; Boxill and Beatty, in printing), nutritional status (Acker et al., 1987), and issues in instruction and learning (Bassuk et al., 1986; Bassuk and Rubin, 1987) of homeless children. To date, the findings are generally descriptive, and there are big regional differences; only a few attempts accept been fabricated to generate and test hypotheses near the antecedents, course, and consequences of family homelessness past studying appropriate comparison groups. Despite limitations of the information base, reports of shelter providers, clinicians, agencies, advocates, and policymakers (Simpson et al., 1984; Gallagher, 1986), as well as the committee'southward site visits to sheltering facilities, tend to support the findings of existing studies. The combined information allows for some generalizations about the characteristics and needs of homeless families.

The vast majority of homeless families are headed by women, but the percentages vary by region. In western regions there are more than intact homeless families than in eastern regions (Bassuk et al., 1986; Towber, 1986a,b; McChesney, 1986; Dumpson, 1987). Homeless families that include both parents appear to be more than common in rural areas than in urban areas (encounter Appendix C). Because there is a lack of systematic information almost the characteristics of intact homeless families, particularly the fathers, the following discussion concentrates primarily on mothers and children.

Homeless mothers tend to be in their late 20s (Bassuk et al., 1986; McChesney, 1986; Towber, 1986a,b; Dumpson, 1987), are either single or divorced, and have completed at least several years of loftier schoolhouse (Bassuk et al., 1986; Towber, 1986a,b; Dumpson, 1987). Their ethnic condition tends to mirror the indigenous composition of the area where they are living, with minorities overrepresented in the cities and whites predominating in suburban and rural areas (Bassuk et al., 1986). The vast majority of homeless families are recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). A Massachusetts report indicated that long-term AFDC users (those receiving benefits for longer than 2 years) are overrepresented amidst homeless families (Bassuk et al., 1986).

Researchers have reported that homeless mothers typically are quite isolated and have few, if any, supportive relationships. McChesney (1986) studied the support networks of homeless mothers with at least 1 child who were living in five Los Angeles Canton family shelters. She described their slide into homelessness as including ''. . . many varied and artistic means to shelter themselves and their children" in an effort to stave off homelessness. Virtually striking was the fact that many families could non call on their own parents, brothers, or sisters every bit resources. There were three major reasons: "either their parents were expressionless, their parents and siblings didn't alive in the Los Angeles area, or their parents and siblings were estranged" (McChesney, 1986). Bassuk and colleagues (1986), in their study of 80 homeless families living in family shelters in Massachusetts, also described fragmented support networks. When asked to name three persons on whom the mothers could depend during times of stress, 43 percent were unable to name anyone or could proper noun only 1 person, and virtually a quarter named their small-scale child as their principal source of emotional support (Bassuk et al., 1986). tn addition to economic and support system factors, serious wellness problems may also increment a family unit's risk of condign homeless.

Many homeless mothers are victims of family violence, which suggests considerable overlap between families residing in family shelters and those residing in battered women's shelters (Ryback and Bassuk, 1986). Generally, a woman fleeing straight from an abusive mate turns to a battered women's shelter rather than to a family unit shelter. According to Bassuk et al. (1986), 45 per centum of the women they interviewed in Massachusetts family shelters had a history of an abusive relationship with a spouse or mate, but this was generally non the immediate crusade of their homelessness. In the only study reporting data about probable kid abuse, Bassuk and coworkers found that 22 percent of homeless mothers were currently involved in an investigation or follow-upwardly of child fail or abuse (Bassuk et al., 1986; Bassuk and Rubin, 1987).

Many families had histories of residential instability and moved several times prior to their electric current shelter stay; about moved within the customs where they were sheltered. A majority of families had been doubled up in overcrowded apartments with friends or relatives, while some had previously resided in other shelters or welfare hotels (Bassuk et al., 1986; Towber, 1986a,b).

A substantial proportion of homeless families using the sheltering system can be characterized as multiproblem families (Bassuk et al., 1986). These families accept chronic economic, educational, vocational, and social bug; have fragmented support networks; and take difficulty accessing the traditional service delivery system; ". . . these families use a disproportionally large amount of social services and . . . traditional techniques of treating them neglect or, at best, are simply marginally successful . . ." (Kronenfeld et al., 1980). The multiproblem family unit typically seeks assistance when a crisis occurs, but ceases contact with the bureau when the crunch abates (Gallagher, 1986).

Studies specifically describing the characteristics and needs of homeless children are quite sparse; studies seeking to provide an gauge of the number of homeless children nationwide are nonexistent. However, the magnitude of the trouble can be seen in even the near conservative estimates: If there are approximately 735,000 people homeless on any given night (ICF Inc., 1987), and 25 percentage of these people are members of intact families (U.S. Conference of Mayors, 1986), of whom 55 percent are children (Barbanel, 1985), so a minimum of 100,000 children are homeless on any given night of the year. This figure includes only children of intact families; it does not include runaway, throwaway, or abandoned children on the streets or in institutions.

Not surprisingly, researchers have reported erratic school attendance among homeless children. Shelters are often located far away from a school, and transportation may be defective. Preliminary data reported by the Traveler's Aid Program and Kid Welfare League (1987) betoken that of 163 families with 331 children in eight cities, merely 57 percent of the homeless children attended school regularly. A study of 52 families residing in five New York City welfare hotels reported that, according to parents, 60 percent of their children missed less than iii days of school per month, 30 pct missed between 4 and x days of schoolhouse per month, and 10 percent missed more 10 days a month, which is over half of the school days (Columbia University Masters of Public Assistants Programme, 1985).

Homeless Runaway and Throwaway Youths

The amount of systematic data describing the characteristics of homeless adolescents is even scantier than those for other homeless subpopulations. In addition to its site visits, the committee reviewed 3 recent studies of delinquent and throwaway youths:

the 1985 Greater Boston Adolescent Emergency Network (GBAEN) study (1985) of 84 adolescents using xi shelters throughout Massachussetts;
the 1983 report of 118 adolescents in seven shelters in New York City completed past David Shaffer and Ballad L. M. Caton (1984); and
the 1984 written report of 149 adolescents in a crisis centre in Toronto, conducted by Mark-David Janus and colleagues (1987) and funded by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Each study identified running abroad not so much as an event simply as a process; adolescents get out home several times (each successive incident being of longer duration than the previous ones) before actually living on the streets. Every bit Shaffer and Caton (1984) reported, "most adolescents start running abroad some years earlier they start to utilize shelters." With regard to throwaway youths, the Boston written report institute that 17 percent of subjects who had left home for the first time had been "evicted by their parents" (for the entire population in the Boston report, the proportion evicted, including those with multiple running away incidents, was 12 per centum). The cardinal result in trying to determine the extent of the throwaway youth population is to make up one's mind the line between a parent forcing a teenager out of the dwelling and a parent creating a situation so intolerable that the youngster has no option but to leave. To quote Reverend Leonard A. Schneider, executive managing director of The Emergency Shelter in New York City:

Information technology is just possible that running away may be an indication of a very healthy mind, and depression may be a very natural response to an intolerable state of affairs. (Customs Council of Greater New York, 1984)

Boosted issues regarding the throwaway youth population are discussed in successive chapters: the dynamics of the running away process as it relates to homelessness (Chapter 2); the health issues of runaway youths (Chapter three); and the current land of services for this population (Chapter five).

Homeless Elderly People

The percentage of elderly people among the homeless population is less than that among the general population. In all but ane recently published written report, the elderly made up less than 10 percent of the homeless population (Tabular array 1-5). The effigy of 19.4 percent reported past Rossi et al. (1986) for the homeless in Chicago is the highest, but information technology is all the same low compared with the 29.6 percent elderly for that city'due south domiciled population. The contrast is even greater in Ohio, where 6.four per centum of the homeless were over age 60, in dissimilarity to 21.seven percent of the population of the country as a whole (Roth et al., 1985). In the skid row area of Los Angeles, 5 per centum of the homeless population is over age 61, in comparison with 17 pct domiciled elderly for the entire county (Farr et al., 1986). Nationwide, only three percent of the homeless people who presented themselves for care at the Johnson-Pew Health Care for the Homeless projects were over 65, even though 12 percent of the population of the United States is elderly (Wright and Weber, 1987).

Three hypotheses have been proposed to explain the small percentages of elderly homeless. The commencement suggests that on turning 65, many homeless people go eligible for diverse entitlements (Social Security, Medicare, senior denizen housing, etc.). Information technology is possible that such programs generate enough income in benefits, lower housing costs, or both that people are able to go out the streets or at least are prevented from becoming homeless to begin with (Wright and Weber, 1987). The 2d possibility is that homeless people practice not survive to old age, considering the realities of a homeless beingness are so severely debilitating (Wright and Weber, 1987). A 1956 study of men living on Chicago's skid row revealed an annual death charge per unit of 70 per i,000, in contrast to the national death rate for white men of 11 per ane,000 (Bogue, 1963). Yet, a third explanation for the pocket-sized percentage of homeless elderly may exist related to sampling. The subjects of most studies are self-selected and include residents of shelters, those who announced for medical treatment, people on the streets willing to be interviewed, and the like. The homeless elderly are particularly reluctant to use certain sheltering facilities that they view as dangerous (Coalition for the Homeless/Grey Panthers of New York City, 1984). To quote Joseph Doolin, the director of the Kit Clarke Senior House, which operates the Fundamental Medeiros Twenty-four hours Center for the homeless elderly of Boston, "younger homeless people tend to 'squeeze out' older street people [from the shelters]" (Doolin, 1986). To the extent that the homeless elderly do not participate in various programs for the homeless, they will be underrepresented in near studies.

The Rural Homeless

Since its start coming together, the committee has been concerned with the fact that most all the scholarly literature describes the urban homeless. Only two studies, the statewide written report of Ohio, Homelessness in Ohio: A Study of People in Demand (Roth et al., 1985), and the statewide study of Vermont, Homelessness in Vermont (Vermont Section of Human Services, 1985), brainstorm to address the physical and mental wellness problems of homeless people living in rural areas. Equally a result, the commission commissioned a special study of this population. After, the Wellness Resources and Services Assistants of the U.Southward. Department of Health and Human Services, in cooperation with the commission, funded a more detailed assay of this result. This included site visits to rural areas in Alabama, Mississippi, Minnesota, and Due south Dakota. The results of this joint effort of the Found of Medicine and the Department of Health and Human being Services are included in Appendix C of this written report.

Briefly, the problems of the rural homeless differ from those of their urban counterparts in several important ways. The rural homeless are far less visible than those in the cities; many live with relatives or others who are role of an extended family network. Some are officially domiciled considering they pay a nominal token hire for the use of a shack or other substandard form of housing. However, they are even less likely than their urban counterparts to obtain assistance during times of economic or personal crisis. Rural areas do not accept the range of social and fiscal supports available in most urban areas. Often, homeless people migrate to the cities in search of work; when they neglect in that try, they go a function of the growing numbers of homeless people in the cities. Those who stay in rural areas remain hidden until some event causes them to lose their housing, at which point they tin be found living in, for example, cars, abandoned buildings, and forest. Even those communities with previously adequate social service systems are finding it increasingly difficult to serve the growing numbers of homeless people, peculiarly in areas where the turn down of agronomics, forestry, and mining is severe.

Summary

The homeless population is heterogeneous. While at that place is considerable controversy about the number of homeless people, there is general agreement that the number is condign greater as each year passes. As the number increases, so do the complexities of the homelessness problem:

Why practise people become homeless? Which interventions can be used to prevent or resolve the state of homelessness? What strategies must be developed to address the long-term issues involved with this problem?

As has been seen in this chapter, there are several subgroups among the general population of homeless people: individual adults, families with children, adolescents and young adults, the elderly, and people in rural areas. While together they all share 1 common problem—the lack of a stable residence—they each have specific needs.

As will exist seen in the next affiliate, the long-established organisation that has traditionally addressed homelessness now finds itself confronted with a seemingly overwhelming set of bug.

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one: ''Throwaway" youths refers to children and adolescents who are evicted from their homes by their parents or another adult in a position of responsibleness for them.

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Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK218239/