The SAGE Encyclopedia of World Poverty Homelessness Contributors: Mehmet Odekon Book Title: The SAGE Encyclopedia of World Poverty Chapter Title: "Homelessness" Pub. Date: 2015 Access Date: November 06, 2015 Publishing Company: SAGE Publications, Inc City: Thousand Oaks Print ISBN: 9781483345703 Online ISBN: 9781483345727 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483345727.n387 Print pages: 745-748 ©2015 SAGE Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This PDF has been generated from SAGE knowledge. Please note that the pagination of the online version will vary from the pagination of the print book. SK Reviewers ©2015 SAGE Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. SAGE knowledge http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483345727.n387 Homelessness Shelter is a basic human need. Without it, people cannot take care of other basic needs or protect themselves from the elements. The United Nations estimates that over 100 million people are homeless worldwide. Homelessness is usually the most extreme instance of poverty. People become homeless in many different ways. For years, social scientists have sought the best explanations of homelessness through structural and individual causes. Structural causes are related to living conditions; individual causes are related to personal characteristics that allow people to accommodate and survive within their communities. Homelessness can be transitional, episodic, chronic, the consequence of disaster, or the result of personal struggles. Most people leave homelessness quickly (90 percent of all homeless). The chronic homeless are society’s greater challenge, considering that they represent about 10 percent of the homeless but use about 50 percent of resources. There is no simple solution to the problem of homelessness. The best approach seems to be one that provides housing efforts in conjunction with other supportive programs. Culture and Standards of Living In primitive times, people created shelter by erecting dwellings such as huts, where they lived with their families. Created from simple materials such as dirt and tree branches, these structures were not sophisticated. These structures are now associated with poverty. A uniquely constructed hut, however, was a sign of wealth, especially if the building contained cooking facilities and was designed with built-in furniture. Even today, living standards and notions of poverty vary in different cultures. For example, what is considered poverty in one nation might be considered wealthy in another lessdeveloped nation. Regardless of standards of living, homelessness is not a desired cultural norm. With changes in sociology, culture, government, and an increased attitude toward upward mobility, shifts to more modern structures became increasingly normative. However, Page 3 of 8 The SAGE Encyclopedia of World Poverty: Homelessness SK Reviewers ©2015 SAGE Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. SAGE knowledge modernization and increases in living standards, while seen as positive for many, also produce unrealistic demands to pay for other facilities including water, electricity, sewage, and taxation. Some third-world nations still maintain standards that differ from developing nations; well-built structures, various utilities, and other facilities are not as much of a priority as engaging with the local culture that provides a home, albeit unsophisticated. Generally, the problem of homelessness in these subcultures is a result of continuity disruption in the ancestral milieu (e.g., village life), generally created by phenomena such as disasters, wars, disease, and death of kin (e.g., acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS), which leads to displacement. Fully understanding homelessness from a cross-cultural perspective is problematic, however, largely because of an absence of robust research. Prior to World War II, many residents in developed countries embraced urbanization, which included renting or owning modern homes. However, with global economic decline at that time, many found it hard to pay their landlords. With laws favoring landlords, occupants who were unable to pay their rent were evicted, becoming homeless. Alternately, homeowners were burdened by ongoing maintenance to insure safety and taxes. Code enforcement laws pushed many homeowners out of their houses when they did not have the financial means to conduct repairs. Consequently, many houses were dilapidated and eventually condemned, leaving homeowners on the streets, or living in shelters or with family members. There are similar trends now, with increased homelessness in developed nations because of the banking crisis, home foreclosures, and other economic downturns in the West and Europe. Economic stresses in society and the reduction in the availability of affordable housing have contributed greatly to modern homelessness. In the United States, the deinstitutionalization of patients from state psychiatric hospitals in the 1970s was also a dramatic factor in urban areas. This homeless bed was found in Sweden and is not a unique sight in any urban area across the globe. (Wikimedia/Max Rönnersjo) Page 4 of 8 The SAGE Encyclopedia of World Poverty: Homelessness SK Reviewers ©2015 SAGE Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. SAGE knowledge Categories of Homelessness Looking at homelessness categorically can help in more comprehensively understanding it. For example, those who cannot maintain societal standards (e.g., are unable to afford to improve their living standards) are often left homeless. This category is commonly found in developed countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, and in several European nations. But as more residents of developing countries enter the middle and upper classes, as in the example of China and India, the inability of some to keep up to standards may yield similar consequences. Other subgroups that would otherwise not be homeless sometimes become homeless because of sudden and abrupt disparities. This has happened historically in cases of civil war, disasters, and abrupt family estrangement. For example, in some regions of Africa, if a family member is mentally ill, a sexual minority, or is somehow different than familial norms, he or she will often be subjected to estrangement and thus become vulnerable to poverty and homelessness. Natural disasters also change circumstances. One storm can change everything, and exchange wealth for poverty. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) teens are disproportionately more homeless compared to their peers, which is often because of hostile backlash after coming out. The mentally disabled are likewise stigmatized. When institutionalized care is no longer available, the mentally disabled are often forced to live on the streets. Former members of the military, including combat veterans, often retreat to the familiar setting of camps in the woods because of their poor social readjustment and integration skills. Throughout history, over 12 million children have been left homeless around the world because of war. Today, single men represent the highest numbers of homeless, but recent trends show an increase in the numbers of women, children, and families, particularly in rural areas. Battered women are often left displaced because of the additional stressor of economic instability and fear of the abuser finding them. Some theorize that women have more protective factors from homelessness than men overall. For example, in Japan, women are more likely to obtain a job. In the United States and in other developed countries, women often qualify for social welfare benefits more often than men. The focus on Page 5 of 8 The SAGE Encyclopedia of World Poverty: Homelessness SK Reviewers ©2015 SAGE Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. SAGE knowledge urban centers as principal sites of homelessness can actually downplay other lessobvious, less-public forms, such as homelessness in small towns and in rural areas. Finally, substance abuse is relevant when it comes to the topic of homelessness. Substance abuse is more common among the homeless [p. 746 ↓ ] than the general population, but considering those at risk for homelessness are in despair, it is likely that depression is the actual culprit, with the substance abuse behavior simply a way of coping for those affected. The consequences of substance-abuse behaviors can result in homelessness. Homelessness can be a barrier for gaining access to care for substance-abuse disorders and other mental health and general health-care services. Responses to Homelessness In developed nations, governments have responded to the increasingly visible problem of homelessness. For example, in the United States in the 1980s, Congress aggressively enacted legislation to address homelessness. Funds were authorized to provide food, health care, and shelter; education for children affected; grants to help those affected get back on their feet; and prevention and outreach efforts. In addition, specific funds were authorized to assist those least resilient (e.g., children and victims of domestic violence). Similar government responses were also seen in other developed countries, for example in England. The European Federation of National Organisations (FEANTSA) often looks to the United States’ response to homelessness because the American approach to homelessness is one of the most comprehensive. Recent studies concerning how to end homelessness in the United States may help other countries adopt evidencebased practices (EBPs) that they can apply in their respective countries to help eradicate homelessness. However, because of recent trends in governmental cuts and shutdowns, there is a greater demand now to partner with charity organizations in response to the problem of homelessness. In the United States, emergency shelter is available in crisis situations, usually only for one night. Transitional housing models have been established to provide shelter for the homeless for up to two years and to help them work on their personal crisis situations Page 6 of 8 The SAGE Encyclopedia of World Poverty: Homelessness SK Reviewers ©2015 SAGE Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. SAGE knowledge with community assistance. Permanent supportive housing is a newer approach that offers assistance, regardless of the individual’s willingness to address personal barriers in maintaining stable housing. Other services can then be offered to help the individual maintain housing. This approach is commonly called “housing first” and is an EBP in helping the chronically homeless. New approaches focus on prevention, the collection of data to evaluate programs, and building infrastructure, such as housing first programs. Other EBPs and innovations in the efforts to end homelessness are illness management and recovery, critical time intervention, and assertive community treatment. Critical time intervention is especially important because it helps the chronically homeless with disabilities to rejoin society physically, emotionally, and physiologically. Obtaining a key to one’s own home is a life-changing experience. On the basis of this practice, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), together with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), developed the Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program, in which HUD offers housing and the VHA offers professional services so that veterans can reconnect to the community. According to 2011 to 2012 data prepared by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, there was an increase in the number of homeless families (1.4 percent), but a decrease among the chronically homeless (6.8 percent) and military veterans (7.2 percent). However, the higher rate of homelessness among military veterans compared to the general population still persists. In the United States, evidence-based practices intervention models are generally hailed as successful in comparison to other nations’ practices which provide housing-only responses. Critics question the practice of agencies supporting the model of shelters and transitional housing as part of a “homelessness industry” that reinforces the status of the homeless individual. Many who are homeless need professional help in the form of mental-health stabilization and/or substance-abuse treatment. Assistance is a priority because the longer people remain homeless, the more difficult it is for them to leave homelessness. Becoming homeless is a traumatic event that pushes people to new experiences of survival and adaptation. Page 7 of 8 The SAGE Encyclopedia of World Poverty: Homelessness SK Reviewers ©2015 SAGE Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. SAGE knowledge Homelessness requires those affected to discover new experiences and resources developed [p. 747 ↓ ] to help them. No single product delivery program can solve the complexity of the homeless problem because this is a global problem related to the varied philosophies of governments, different cultures and standards of living, and housing needs. Simply providing housing is not enough. Efforts to house the homeless must be accompanied by supportive programs in order to avoid recidivism. James E. Phelan Ohio State University Jaroslaw Richard Romaniuk Veterans Health Administration Case Western Reserve University See Also: Institute for the Study of Homelessness and Poverty; National Alliance to End Homelessness; National Coalition for the Homeless; Standard of Living. Further Readings Coyne, Barry. Homelessness: A Bibliography. New York: Nova Science Publishing, 2007. Mangano, Philip. Modern Homelessness. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2011. Milbourne, Paul, and Paul Cloke. International Perspectives on Rural Homelessness. New York: Routledge, 2006. Nooe, Roger, and David Patterson. “The Ecology of Homelessness.” Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, v.20/2 (2010). http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483345727.n387 Page 8 of 8 The SAGE Encyclopedia of World Poverty: Homelessness