Who’s Homeless and Whose Homeless?

Homeless in America, Homeless in California

It is generally believed that the increased incidence of homelessness in the United States has arisen from broad societal factors, such as changes in the institutionalizatio n of the mentally ill, increases in drug addiction and alcohol usage, and so forth. This paper presents a comprehensive test of the alternate hypothesi s that variations in homelessnes s arise from changed circumstances in ...

Families of origin of homeless and never-homeless women.

Naturalistic inquiry was used to compare the characteristics of families of origin of homeless women with never-homeless women. The women's experiences in their families of origin were explored during in-depth interviews using Lofland and Lofland's conceptions of meanings, practices, episodes, roles, and relationships to guide the analysis. The two groups were similar with respect to family abu...

Homeless families and children.

Public concern about homelessness in the United States has increased in recent years. A late 1995 Gallup poll found that 86% of Americans feel sympathy for the homeless, and 33% report that they feel more sympathy now than they did five years ago. According to the same poll, one reason for this apparent increase in sympathy is that 17% of Americans, primarily women and young adults, believe tha...

Social Stigma and Homeless Youth

5- Homeless Families and Children

Debra Rog and John Buckner report that since the mid-1990s, there has been continued research and policy interest in understanding the characteristics and needs of families and children who become homeless, especially in understanding the heterogeneity within the population and whether a “typology” of families can be created (i.e., distinguishing families with greater needs for services and hou...