research title about poverty and homelessness

Mental health effects of poverty, hunger, and homelessness on children and teens

Rising inflation and an uncertain economy are deeply affecting the lives of millions of Americans, particularly those living in low-income communities. It may seem impossible for a family of four to survive on just over $27,000 per year or a single person on just over $15,000, but that’s what millions of people do everyday in the United States. Approximately 37.9 million Americans, or just under 12%, now live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau .

Additional data from the Bureau show that children are more likely to experience poverty than people over the age of 18. Approximately one in six kids, 16% of all children, live in families with incomes below the official poverty line.

Those who are poor face challenges beyond a lack of resources. They also experience mental and physical issues at a much higher rate than those living above the poverty line. Read on for a summary of the myriad effects of poverty, homelessness, and hunger on children and youth. And for more information on APA’s work on issues surrounding socioeconomic status, please see the Office of Socioeconomic Status .

Who is most affected?

Poverty rates are disproportionately higher among most non-White populations. Compared to 8.2% of White Americans living in poverty, 26.8% of American Indian and Alaska Natives, 19.5% of Blacks, 17% of Hispanics and 8.1% of Asians are currently living in poverty.

Similarly, Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous children are overrepresented among children living below the poverty line. More specifically, 35.5% of Black people living in poverty in the U.S. are below the age of 18. In addition, 40.7% of Hispanic people living below the poverty line in the U.S. are younger than age 18, and 29.1% of American Indian and Native American children lived in poverty in 2018. In contrast, approximately 21% of White people living in poverty in the U.S. are less than 18 years old.

Furthermore, families with a female head of household are more than twice as likely to live in poverty compared to families with a male head of household. Twenty-three percent of female-headed households live in poverty compared to 11.4% of male-headed households, according to the U.S. Census Bureau .

What are the effects of poverty on children and teens?

The impact of poverty on young children is significant and long lasting. Poverty is associated with substandard housing, hunger, homelessness, inadequate childcare, unsafe neighborhoods, and under-resourced schools. In addition, low-income children are at greater risk than higher-income children for a range of cognitive, emotional, and health-related problems, including detrimental effects on executive functioning, below average academic achievement, poor social emotional functioning, developmental delays, behavioral problems, asthma, inadequate nutrition, low birth weight, and higher rates of pneumonia.

Psychological research also shows that living in poverty is associated with differences in structural and functional brain development in children and adolescents in areas related to cognitive processes that are critical for learning, communication, and academic achievement, including social emotional processing, memory, language, and executive functioning.

Children and families living in poverty often attend under-resourced, overcrowded schools that lack educational opportunities, books, supplies, and appropriate technology due to local funding policies. In addition, families living below the poverty line often live in school districts without adequate equal learning experiences for both gifted and special needs students with learning differences and where high school dropout rates are high .

What are the effects of hunger on children and teens?

One in eight U.S. households with children, approximately 12.5%, could not buy enough food for their families in 2021 , considerably higher than the rate for households without children (9.4%). Black (19.8%) and Latinx (16.25%) households are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity, with food insecurity rates in 2021 triple and double the rate of White households (7%), respectively.

Research has found that hunger and undernutrition can have a host of negative effects on child development. For example, maternal undernutrition during pregnancy increases the risk of negative birth outcomes, including premature birth, low birth weight, smaller head size, and lower brain weight. In addition, children experiencing hunger are at least twice as likely to report being in fair or poor health and at least 1.4 times more likely to have asthma, compared to food-secure children.

The first three years of a child’s life are a period of rapid brain development. Too little energy, protein and nutrients during this sensitive period can lead to lasting deficits in cognitive, social and emotional development . School-age children who experience severe hunger are at increased risk for poor mental health and lower academic performance , and often lag behind their peers in social and emotional skills .

What are the effects of homelessness on children and teens?

Approximately 1.2 million public school students experienced homelessness during the 2019-2020 school year, according to the National Center for Homeless Education (PDF, 1.4MB) . The report also found that students of color experienced homelessness at higher proportions than expected based on the overall number of students. Hispanic and Latino students accounted for 28% of the overall student body but 38% of students experiencing homelessness, while Black students accounted for 15% of the overall student body but 27% of students experiencing homelessness. While White students accounted for 46% of all students enrolled in public schools, they represented 26% of students experiencing homelessness.

Homelessness can have a tremendous impact on children, from their education, physical and mental health, sense of safety, and overall development. Children experiencing homelessness frequently need to worry about where they will live, their pets, their belongings, and other family members. In addition, homeless children are less likely to have adequate access to medical and dental care, and may be affected by a variety of health challenges due to inadequate nutrition and access to food, education interruptions, trauma, and disruption in family dynamics.

In terms of academic achievement, students experiencing homelessness are more than twice as likely to be chronically absent than non-homeless students , with greater rates among Black and Native American or Alaska Native students. They are also more likely to change schools multiple times and to be suspended—especially students of color.

Further, research shows that students reporting homelessness have higher rates of victimization, including increased odds of being sexually and physically victimized, and bullied. Student homelessness correlates with other problems, even when controlling for other risks. They experienced significantly greater odds of suicidality, substance abuse, alcohol abuse, risky sexual behavior, and poor grades in school.

What can you do to help children and families experiencing poverty, hunger, and homelessness?

There are many ways that you can help fight poverty in America. You can:

• Volunteer your time with charities and organizations that provide assistance to low-income and homeless children and families.
• Donate money, food, and clothing to homeless shelters and other charities in your community.
• Donate school supplies and books to underresourced schools in your area.
• Improve access to physical, mental, and behavioral health care for low-income Americans by eliminating barriers such as limitations in health care coverage.
• Create a “safety net” for children and families that provides real protection against the harmful effects of economic insecurity.
• Increase the minimum wage, affordable housing and job skills training for low-income and homeless Americans.
• Intervene in early childhood to support the health and educational development of low-income children.
• Provide support for low-income and food insecure children such as Head Start , the National School Lunch Program , and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) .
• Increase resources for public education and access to higher education.
• Support research on poverty and its relationship to health, education, and well-being.
• Resolution on Poverty and SES
• Pathways for addressing deep poverty
• APA Deep Poverty Initiative

Homelessness and the Persistence of Deprivation: Income, Employment, and Safety Net Participation

Homelessness is arguably the most extreme hardship associated with poverty in the United States, yet people experiencing homelessness are excluded from official poverty statistics and much of the extreme poverty literature. This paper provides the most detailed and accurate portrait to date of the level and persistence of material disadvantage faced by this population, including the first national estimates of income, employment, and safety net participation based on administrative data. Starting from the first large and nationally representative sample of adults recorded as sheltered and unsheltered homeless taken from the 2010 Census, we link restricted-use longitudinal tax records and administrative data on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicare, Medicaid, Disability Insurance (DI), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), veterans’ benefits, housing assistance, and mortality. Nearly half of these adults had formal employment in the year they were observed as homeless, and nearly all either worked or were reached by at least one safety net program. Nevertheless, their incomes remained low for the decade surrounding an observed period of homelessness, suggesting that homelessness tends to arise in the context of long-term, severe deprivation rather than large and sudden losses of income. People appear to experience homelessness because they are very poor despite being connected to the labor market and safety net, with low permanent incomes leaving them vulnerable to the loss of housing when met with even modest disruptions to life circumstances.

The Census Bureau has reviewed this data product for unauthorized disclosure of confidential information and has approved the disclosure avoidance practices applies to this release, authorization number CBDRB-FY2022-CES005-015. We thank the U.S. Census Bureau for their support, as well as John Abowd, Mark Asiala, George Carter, James Christy, Dennis Culhane, Kevin Deardorff, Conor Dougherty, Ingrid Gould Ellen, Anne Fletcher, Katie Genadek, Tatiana Homonoff, Kristin Kerns, William Koerber, Margot Kushel, Larry Locklear, Tim Marshall, Brian McKenzie, Brendan O’Flaherty, James Pugh, Trudi Renwick, Annette Riorday, Nan Roman, William Snow, Eddie Thomas, Matthew Turner, and John Voorheis for providing feedback and answering questions. We also thank participants in seminars at Yale University (Labor/Public Economics Workshop), the University of Chicago (Demography Workshop), APPAM, NTA, NBER Labor Studies, IRS/Census (Income Measurement Workshop), and the Institute for Research on Poverty. Ilina Logani and Mandana Vakil provided excellent research assistance. We appreciate the financial support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Charles Koch Foundation, the Menard Family Foundation, and the American Enterprise Institute. Wyse thanks the National Institute on Aging for their support. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

MARC RIS BibTeΧ

Download Citation Data

• data appendix

Working Groups

Mentioned in the news, more from nber.

In addition to working papers , the NBER disseminates affiliates’ latest findings through a range of free periodicals — the NBER Reporter , the NBER Digest , the Bulletin on Retirement and Disability , the Bulletin on Health , and the Bulletin on Entrepreneurship  — as well as online conference reports , video lectures , and interviews .

• About The Journalist’s Resource
• Follow us on Facebook
• Follow us on Twitter
• Criminal Justice
• Environment
• Politics & Government
• Race & Gender

Expert Commentary

New research parses how income inequality drives homelessness in U.S.

Analysis links income inequality with increased cost burdens, rather than how fast housing prices rise.

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License .

by Clark Merrefield, The Journalist's Resource April 20, 2021

This <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org/economics/income-inequality-homelessness/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org">The Journalist's Resource</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://journalistsresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/cropped-jr-favicon-150x150.png" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;">

Income inequality drives hundreds of people into homelessness on any given night in dozens of communities across the U.S., finds new research in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science .

A community of 740,000 people where income disparities have risen sharply over the past decade can expect over 550 additional people to experience homelessness on a given night, the researchers report in their paper, “ A Rising Tide Drowns Unstable Boats: How Inequality Creates Homelessness .”

The findings may not surprise residents of expensive cities like New York, where, according to federal data, 13% of the nation’s homeless population lives. West coast cities with high housing costs, like Los Angeles , San Francisco and Seattle , also have well-documented homelessness crises.

The new research is among the first to parse the specific ways income inequality affects homelessness at the local level.

“Ultimately, income inequality is pricing lower-income households out of housing markets,” says lead author Thomas Byrne , an assistant professor at Boston University who studies housing.

Income inequality refers to the earnings gap separating those who earn the most money and those who earn least. Income is separate from wealth, which is accrued through stock market investments, real estate and other avenues apart from wages earned for work and other taxable income.

The value of an owned home doesn’t count as income . Neither do noncash public aid benefits, like supplemental nutrition cards and housing subsidies.

Imperfect data on homelessness

Roughly 580,000 people experience homelessness in the U.S., according to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2020 annual report to Congress.

National homelessness figures are imprecise because they’re based on an annual count taken on a single night in late January. A homeless person is someone who “lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence,” according to the report.

About 60% of counted homeless people are in shelters while 40% are unsheltered and living, for example, on the street, in a park, vehicle or abandoned building.

“Rent is getting too high to live,” one Seattle renter said in 2017, responding to a survey from the city’s Seattle Women’s Commission and the King County Bar Association’s Housing Justice Project , which offers free legal help to local renters facing eviction.

While the overall count of homeless people is down 10% since the federal agency’s first count in 2007, the authors of the new paper note rising homelessness in some large communities has driven upticks in the national tally since 2016.

HUD counts homeless people living within nearly 400 geographies known as continuums of care. It’s easiest to think of a continuum of care as a network of service providers, including nonprofit organizations and government agencies, addressing issues of homelessness within and sometimes across regions. Staff at those providers, as well as local volunteers, conduct the annual one-night count.

Some cities, like New York and St. Louis, are their own continuums of care. For other places, like Denver, the continuum of care includes the metropolitan area . In less densely populated areas — Montana, North Dakota and Delaware, for example — a whole state might be a continuum of care.

HUD’s data is flawed in other ways. Academic researchers have noted the agency doesn’t report measures of uncertainty, such as error margins , and that some people without homes are not included in the homelessness count because it happens only one night.

Still, it’s the most comprehensive current data available on homelessness in the U.S., and it is regularly used in research on housing and homelessness.

Unequal growth in inequality

The authors of the new paper estimate a Gini coefficient , a widely used measure of income distribution, for 239 continuums of care from 2007 to 2018. Those communities accounted for 77% of people experiencing homelessness on any given night in 2018.

The authors exclude communities with fewer than 65,000 people because recent yearly Census Bureau estimates on median household income, median rent and other factors associated with homelessness are not available for smaller communities.

The Gini coefficient often is expressed on a scoring scale of 0 to 100. A score closer to 0 indicates less inequality, while a score closer to 100 means more inequality.

The national Gini coefficient closely tracks with the share of income the top 10% of earners take home, according to the authors.

The average Gini score was 44 across all years and communities studied.

Income inequality increased 0.37 points, about 1%, over the decade studied, but varied widely for individual communities. About one-third of communities saw their estimated Gini score increase by more than one point, over twice the average rate of growth for the communities studied.

Bigger cities and their surrounding areas that experienced a relatively larger increase in income inequality include Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Las Vegas, Miami, New Orleans, St. Louis and Philadelphia.

Smaller communities in the same category include Amarillo, Texas; Burlington, Vermont; Camden, New Jersey; Chico, California; DeKalb, Illinois; Lakeland, Florida; Portsmouth, Virginia; Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Utica, New York; and Worcester, Massachusetts.

The full list is available here .

The average community in the authors’ dataset had a population of 740,000 — roughly the size of Seattle.

For a community that size, a one point increase in the Gini score is associated with 562 additional people not having a home on any given night, the researchers find.

‘We can make a lasting impact’

The American Rescue Plan, which President Joe Biden signed into law March 11, includes $5 billion in grants to help state and local governments reduce homelessness.

The goal is to get “as many as 130,000 people off the streets” over the next 12 to 18 months, HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said during a March 18 press briefing.

“If we’re strategic about how those funds are used, we can make a lasting impact,” Byrne says.

His new paper, written with University of Southern California associate professor Benjamin Henwood and California State Polytechnic University assistant professor Anthony Orlando , could be instructive.

The authors examine two ways income inequality might drive homelessness.

The first has to do with what people spend on housing.

Housing supply typically can’t keep up with housing demand in cities. There’s “an urban renaissance,” Orlando wrote in his 2018 doctoral dissertation, “and housing is not being built fast enough.” Zoning and land-use regulations are two big reasons housing supply can’t keep up.

What happens when housing supply can’t keep up with demand? Prices go up.

That raises the odds that people who make less money will become housing-cost burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their pretax income on housing. Some people will pay more to stay in their homes, while higher prices will drive others out of their homes.

Housing researchers have noted limitations of the 30% threshold — though, from an analytical perspective, it is “a helpful way of establishing a binary relationship from which the research can then distinguish households who are cost-burdened from those who are not,” as the authors of a recent paper on rural housing burdens wrote .

The second way income inequality might drive homelessness has to do with the pace housing prices increase. Economically booming communities attract high-income, high-skill workers, who quickly drive up the price of housing, according to the authors.

Their analysis most strongly links rising income inequality with the housing-cost burden, rather than how fast housing prices rise, though the authors call this finding “tentative” and stress more research is needed.

Still, they write that “while many housing policy advocates focus on slowing the growth of housing prices, this strategy alone is unlikely to be sufficient in preventing homelessness. It is important to include policies that increase the ability of low-income households to afford housing — for example, increasing the minimum wage, public benefit levels, and the supply of Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers .”

The authors further stress their findings “point to the importance of local, as distinct from national, inequality.”

But Byrne says there’s one thing the federal government could do to vastly reduce homelessness: make sure everyone who needs a housing choice voucher gets one.

Section 8 , also known as the Housing Choice Voucher Program, is the federal government’s biggest effort to help people with low income rent safe housing. The program subsidizes 70% of monthly rent and utilities for families that make less than half the median income for the county or metropolitan area where they live.

While about 2.2 million households use federal housing choice vouchers, eligible households aren’t automatically enrolled, and about three-quarters of eligible households don’t use them.

One study of voucher program take-up looked at more than 69,000 households offered a voucher and found 48% used them. There are a variety of reasons, including landlords who won’t accept vouchers and not enough voucher supply .

“It seems trite to say, but homelessness is a problem rooted in affordability, and income inequality effectively makes it more difficult for individuals to afford housing,” Byrne says. “Helping them afford housing is a logical and sound response. The thing that would have the biggest impact on reducing homelessness would be to make Section 8 universally available to everyone who’s eligible.”

About The Author

Clark Merrefield

• Social Science
• Urban/Rural Sociology
• Homelessness

Homelessness as the sharp edge of poverty

• October 2017
• In book: Urban Poverty and Health Inequalities (pp.101-126)

• Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

• The University of Waikato

Discover the world's research

• 25+ million members
• 160+ million publication pages
• 2.3+ billion citations
• Recruit researchers
• Join for free
• Login Email Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google Welcome back! Please log in. Email · Hint Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google No account? Sign up

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.

DISCLAIMER: Facsnet.org is not operated by, affiliated or associated with any local, state, or federal government or agency. 

Facsnet.org is not a “consumer reporting agency” under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), and does not provide “consumer reports” under the FCRA. Facsnet expressly prohibits the use of information you obtain from search results (a) to discriminate against any consumer; (b) for the purpose of considering a consumer’s eligibility for personal credit or insurance, employment, housing, or a government license or benefit; or (c) otherwise to affect a consumer’s economic or financial status or standing.

• Animal Rights Research Topics Topics: 55
• Color Blindness Topics Topics: 49
• Gender Inequality Topics Topics: 75
• Gender Equality Research Topics Topics: 77
• Social Inequality Research Topics Topics: 77
• Gender Stereotypes Paper Topics Topics: 94
• Domestic Violence Topics Topics: 160
• Black Lives Matter Research Topics Topics: 112
• Animal Abuse Topics Topics: 97
• Animal Testing Topics Topics: 111
• Animal Cruelty Essay Topics Topics: 107
• Animal Ethics Paper Topics Topics: 60
• Gender Issues Topics Topics: 101
• Poverty Research Topics Topics: 205
• Social Problems Paper Topics Topics: 157

151 Research Questions Homelessness Essay Topics & More

Welcome to our list of research questions about homelessness! On this page, you will find qualitative and quantitative homelessness essay topics, thesis ideas, and title options. Check them out below!

🔝 Top 7 Research Questions about Homelessness

🏆 best homelessness essay topics, 👍 good homelessness research topics & essay examples, 🎓 most interesting homelessness titles for research, 💡 simple homelessness essay ideas, ❓ homelessness research questions.

• The Problem of Homelessness: Sociological Perspectives
• Homelessness: Causes and Solutions
• The Homelessness Issue in the World
• The National Alliance to End Homelessness’ Activity
• Homelessness and Racial Disparities of African Americans
• Homelessness in San Bernardino
• Christopher Gardner’s Rise from Homelessness
• Homelessness Policy in California There are several cities in which the number of homeless people is so big that the situation with the growth of homelessness in them is called an epidemic.
• Homelessness and Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy In homeless populations, the application of traditional measures for enhancing adherence to antiretroviral therapy also proves to lead to less impressive results.
• Homelessness Among College Students This paper explains why there is homelessness at a high rate, stating that fewer well-paying jobs for those without a college degree is one of the reasons.
• Arguments on Homelessness in California This paper analyzes the argument about the homelessness issue and states that the lack of access to permanent places of residence is specifically problematic in California.
• The Veteran Homelessness Issue Analysis While the official statistics on homeless veterans are relatively low, the statistics do not include veterans who experience financial struggles.
• Homelessness and Poor Health Relationship Homeless people can be described as that group of people who lack adequate, fixed, or regular night-time shelter. Homeless people include single men and women, young families.
• A Proposal for Eliminating Homelessness in Columbia, Missouri The phenomenon of homelessness represents a major barrier to proper quality of life for several American individuals.
• Homelessness Among Children in the United States Homelessness among children in the United States is a growing problem. Children are particularly vulnerable because many run away from their homes.
• Encampment Project: Homelessness Eradication Encampment projects are usually helpful for few people or families. Homelessness eradication is almost impossible without efforts to combat unemployment.
• The City of Atlanta, Georgia: Poverty and Homelessness This project goal is to address several issues in the community of the City of Atlanta. Georgia. The primary concern is the high rate of poverty and homelessness in the city.
• Poverty and Homelessness Among African Americans Even though the U.S. is wealthy and prosperous by global measures, poverty has persisted in the area, with Blacks accounting for a larger share.
• Homelessness in Western Australia Homelessness is a concern that has received widespread attention in Australia’s social justice framework. It remains an important issue that needs to be addressed by authorities.
• The Homelessness Problem in California Several causes can contribute to the high incidence of homelessness in California, including challenges in treating individuals with mental disorders and substance abuse.
• Addressing the Homelessness Crisis in California Homelessness and rising housing expenses are two of California’s most pressing issues. California has the nation’s second-highest homelessness rate.
• Poverty and Homelessness in Jackson, Mississippi This paper will review the statistics and information about poverty and homelessness in Jackson, MS. The community of Black Americans is suffering from poverty and homelessness.
• The Issue of Homelessness The paper states that homelessness is still an urgent issue nowadays, and many people still try to survive on the streets, and they often do not succeed.
• The Effects of Homelessness on Single-Parent Families in Black Community The paper states that single-parent families can be adversely impacted by homelessness, especially during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Problem of Homelessness in Canada Homelessness is a common societal issue in Canada and many other developing nations. Every year, about 235,000 people in Canada experience homelessness.
• Homelessness in United States of America The increased rate of homelessness in the United States of America, particularly in parts of California, confirms to go up daily.
• Homelessness During COVID-19 in the US and Europe The paper reviews “Homelessness during COVID-19” by Rodriguez et al. and “Lifetime, 5-year and past-year prevalence of homelessness in Europe” by Taylor et al.
• Homelessness as a Social Issue in California The issue of homelessness has brought several issues in California, owing to the large population of financially unstable citizens.
• Reconsidering Housing Policies in California The problem of unaffordable housing in California is complex and needs to be addressed by various techniques with a primary focus on fighting inequality and discrimination.
• Policy Solutions to Address Homelessness in California There is a need for California to change some of the housing policies by simplifying the registration process and providing more resources for developing affordable housing programs.
• Researching the Homelessness Issues This paper presents the annotated bibliography dedicated the poverty issues and understanding the homelessness.
• Administrative Policy on Homelessness The issue of homelessness needs to be addressed with the use of national and state policies. The current measures are composed of a combination of harmful and beneficial policies.
• Homelessness in California: Homelessness in California California should rethink some of its property rules, provide more money to affordable homes initiatives, and streamline the application form.
• Strategies for Ending Homelessness in America The problem of homeless people in America is extremely worrisome in the context of the social and psychological well-being of the people of the country.
• Treating Substance Use Among Youth Experiencing Homelessness in California Homelessness puts the youths in unstable housing situations and at a higher risk of substance use. Homelessness in California has been one of the top challenges.
• Discussion of Homelessness in Modern Society Martha Stone discusses homelessness the matter sharing information on the causes of it, consequences, and what society can do about it.
• Homelessness and Poverty in Developed and Developing Countries All states across the globe need to undertake all possible efforts to reduce the rates of poverty and homelessness.
• Mental Disorders and Homelessness About 15 percent of people with extreme mental illness were homeless over one year in California. Homelessness is familiar to persons with some mental disorders, like paranoia.
• Vulnerabilities Associated With Homelessness The paper discusses the nature of vulnerabilities of the health of homeless people in the United States and its influence on society.
• Public Health and Health Policy: Newham’s Cases of Homelessness Newham’s cases of homelessness may be on the rise as the report indicated. The problem affects people of all ages in the borough who experience several and unique health problems.
• Socio-Economic Plan: Homelessness The purpose of the paper is to critically evaluate the changes in socioeconomic factors that affect the homeless and the influence of various stakeholders on the issue.
• Homelessness Due to Unemployment During COVID-19 This paper is a research on how unemployment resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic has left many homeless in the United States.
• The Problem of Homelessness in America This paper reviews existing literature on homelessness to shed more light on how it impacts the homeless in New York City.
• Homelessness Crisis in Canada In this paper, the researcher seeks to investigate the problem of homelessness in Canada and to provide potential solutions that can help in addressing it.
• Addressing Homelessness Issue: Current Policies This discussion identifies the latest policies intended to address the social issue of homeless Americans.
• Homelessness in the New York City It’s necessary to look at the problem from different angles and come up with different ways to reduce the rate of homelessness in New York.
• Solving Problems Caused by Homelessness The reasons causing homelessness vary a lot. They can be both of personal or global character from a home violence to a financial crisis.
• Homelessness and Housing-Levels of Policy Impact on Services User The correlated causes of housing insecurity include discrimination, physical, financial, behavioral, and mental challenges, and the lack of appropriate and affordable housing.
• Alleviation of Homelessness in California This paper discusses five ways that could be used to alleviate homelessness in California. For every strategy, this paper offers an opposing view and why such views fall short.
• Homelessness in Los Angeles: Causes and Solutions In this paper, a crisis of homelessness in Los Angeles will be discussed with consideration of traditional, feminist, and Pragmatic concepts.
• Poverty and Homelessness in Canada Poverty and homelessness figure prominently in government policies and the aims of many social service organizations even in a country like Canada.
• Patients Experiencing Homelessness: Mental Health Issues It is acknowledged that the association between homelessness and mental health has been explored while this link is still under-researched when it comes to specific populations.
• Homelessness and Its Primary Reasons Every country in the world, no matter how abundant or easy to live in, will have some proportion of homeless people.
• Homelessness in Rochester, NY Analysis Homelessness is a prevalent issue in some areas in the United States, particularly in the state of New York. People lose their places of residence and are forced to live on the streets.
• Homelessness and Depression Among Illiterate People There are various myths people have about homelessness and depression. For example, many people believe that only illiterate people can be homeless.
• Homelessness and Solutions in the United States In this paper, the researcher seeks to explain the cause of homelessness, its implications, and the effort that different stakeholders are taking to address the problem.
• Poverty and Homelessness: Dimensions and Constructions With the growth of the economy and the failure of employment, the number of people living in poverty and without shelter increases.
• Homelessness and Mass Incarceration Relationship Homelessness is an issue that affects not only those individuals who do not have their own residence but also the rest of society.
• Hunger and Homelessness Consequences on Development The article discusses the consequences of hunger and homelessness during the early developmental years on children’s growth and development.
• American Veteran Homelessness & Advocacy Practice A study by Lusk, Staudt, and Moya (2012), shows that subjecting these veterans to constant gun violence causes emotional stress to them
• Swanscombe Community’s Homelessness and Urban Health The urban health profile at hand has enabled one to examine the selected community, Swanscombe, from the perspective of a healthy environment.
• Regional-Level Challenges: California’s Homelessness The major problem connected with homelessness is that social service organizations tend to adopt narrow practice approaches reducing the human need to basic ones.
• Homelessness to Mass Incarceration The objective of this paper is to analyze the correlations between the homelessness and crime rates, as well as its connections to the mental disorders and substance abuse.
• Homelessness for Female-Headed Homes
• The Issues and Future Solutions to Homelessness in America
• Major Depression Disorder and Homelessness
• Homelessness Among NYC Youth
• Family, Resilience, Homelessness, and Mental Health
• US Citizenship Rights and Homelessness
• Domestic Violence and Homelessness Among Women
• Homelessness and Mental Health and Substance Abuse
• Social Problems and Homelessness in Savannah, Georgia
• Preventing and Reducing Homelessness
• Homelessness and Children’s Health Issues
• Veterans and Their Struggle With Homelessness
• Racial Differences Regarding Homelessness in the US
• Analyzing Homelessness and the Effect It Has on Social Health
• The Factors Associated With Youth Homelessness and Arrest
• Homelessness, Mental Illness, and Social Intervention
• The Structural and Individual Causes of Homelessness
• Homelessness and Sociological Perspectives
• Alleviating Homelessness Within New York City
• Homelessness Among Those With Mental Illness
• Homelessness Among the Veteran Community America S Forgotten Heroes
• Early Illicit Drug Use and the Age of Onset of Homelessness
• Homelessness Among the Community of Drug Addicts
• United States Interagency Council on Homelessness
• Sociology and Race, Homelessness, and Urban Life
• Homelessness and the Effects It Has on Humans
• Societal Inequalities Foster Homelessness in the United States
• The Need for Sustainability as It Relates to Homelessness in Australia
• The Relationship Between Homelessness in Australia and Rising Cases of Health Issues
• Deviance: Mental Illness and Homelessness
• The Link Between Homelessness and Mental Health
• City Life, Homelessness, Race, and Sociology
• Homelessness Amongst Marginalized LGBTQ Youth
• Family Homelessness and Its Effects on Children
• Homelessness, Mental Illness, and the Advocate Role
• Youth Homelessness Structural Factors
• Homelessness and Food Insecurity
• The Main Causes and Prevention Strategies of Homelessness
• Homelessness and Its Effects on America
• Post-1900 American Homelessness
• Homelessness and Its Effects on Licking County
• Homelessness Among American Veterans Research
• Reasons for Preventing Homelessness Among Youth
• Homelessness and Housing Problems in the United States
• Family Homelessness and the Impact on Health and Healthcare Provision
• Homelessness Affects Adults and Children
• Analyzing the Statistics and Problem of Homelessness in the U.S
• Ethnography and Homelessness Research
• Problems and Resolutions for Homelessness in the Northeast
• Child Abuse and Neglect, Homelessness, and Marital Problems
• The Growing Concern Over the Homelessness Around the Globe
• Reducing Homelessness In the United States
• Mental Illness, Homelessness, and Public Administration
• Homelessness and Permanent Supportive Housing
• Policy for Addressing Homelessness Canada
• Developing Social Theories and Perspectives on Homelessness
• The Homelessness and Its Effects on Women
• Federal Funding for Housing and Homelessness
• Homelessness Affecting the United States
• The Unemployment, Poverty, Homelessness, and Safety and Security Problem
• What Is the Impact of Homelessness on Children?
• Does Rent Control Cause Homelessness?
• Does Public Housing Reduce Homelessness?
• What Is a Longitudinal Analysis of Homelessness?
• Why Woman Headed Households Are Suffering From Homelessness?
• What Are the Structural Determinants of Homelessness in the United States?
• What Are the Definitions of Homelessness in Developing Countries?
• What Are Public Beliefs About the Causes of Homelessness?
• What Are the Prevalence of Homelessness Among Adolescents in the United States?
• What Is the Social History of Homelessness in Contemporary America?
• What Are the Risk Factors for Homelessness Among Indigent Urban Adults?
• What Is the Connection Between Severity of Homelessness and Adverse Birth Outcomes?
• What Are Some Reflections on the Policy History of Youth Homelessness in Australia?
• What Are the Risk Factors for Homelessness Among Women With Schizophrenia?
• Why Maternal Depression Is a Risk Factor for Family Homelessness?
• What Are the Pathways to Homelessness Among the Mentally Ill?
• What Are the Reasons for Youth Homelessness?
• What Are the Links Between Domestic Violence and Homelessness?
• What Is the Data Dilemma in Family Homelessness?
• What Are the Faith-based Programs and What’s Their Influence on Homelessness?
• What Is the Intersection of Homelessness, Racism, and Mental Illness?
• What Are the Complexities of Elder Homelessness?
• What Is the Impact of Homelessness on the Health of Families?
• What Are the International Perspectives on Rural Homelessness?
• What Are the Factors Associated With Youth Homelessness and Crime Rates?

Cite this post

• Chicago (N-B)
• Chicago (A-D)

StudyCorgi. (2022, March 1). 151 Research Questions Homelessness Essay Topics & More. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/homelessness-essay-topics/

"151 Research Questions Homelessness Essay Topics & More." StudyCorgi , 1 Mar. 2022, studycorgi.com/ideas/homelessness-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . (2022) '151 Research Questions Homelessness Essay Topics & More'. 1 March.

1. StudyCorgi . "151 Research Questions Homelessness Essay Topics & More." March 1, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/homelessness-essay-topics/.

Bibliography

StudyCorgi . "151 Research Questions Homelessness Essay Topics & More." March 1, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/homelessness-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2022. "151 Research Questions Homelessness Essay Topics & More." March 1, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/homelessness-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Homelessness were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on June 23, 2024 .

236 Brilliant Homelessness Essay Topics & Free Paper Examples

Homelessness is a compound problem that consists of many different aspects and causes, and you want to discuss as many as possible in your essay on homelessness. Check our article to get homelessness essay topics and thesis ideas, research questions, and inspiration from free paper examples!

🌎 How to Write a Homelessness Essay

🏆 best homelessness topics & essay examples, 👍 good homeless essay topics, ⭐ simple & easy homelessness essay titles, 💡 interesting topics to write about homelessness, ✍️ homelessness essay topics for college, 📑 memorable research topics about homelessness, ❓ research questions about homelessness.

Some people encounter obstacles in their lives and end up on the streets while they try to find a new job and improve their livelihood. Others become homeless veterans, resigning to a life without a proper dwelling.

There are also rare people who choose a homeless lifestyle of their own volition due to personal beliefs. Such individuals may be better off than the rest, but they still warrant an inspection. Depending on the category you want to discuss, you will have to select an appropriate homelessness essay thesis.

You should discuss homelessness as a systemic issue that happens to a group of people. You may use individual cases as illustrations for some of your points, but anecdotal evidence is not sufficient for strong statements.

Statistics and scholarly articles are preferable sources, though you may use journalistic pieces to support a theoretical framework. If you do so, make sure that the articles maintain an objective tone and try to remain impartial instead of appealing to feelings.

Poor journalism is possibly even less trustworthy than the unsupervised websites your instructions may have warned you to avoid. Their use would damage the credibility of your essay and, therefore, its impact.

As can be seen from the above, the reasons why people may become homeless are an excellent topic for discussion. You can link the people who are temporarily homeless to the region’s economic performance or similar factors.

Additional research would be necessary to do so, including economic analyses and interviews with homeless people. Nevertheless, the discussion will show your insight and originality in linking different ideas to explain phenomena.

It will also demonstrate your knowledge of various economic and political topics and further your understanding of social factors. You can also use a discussion of the reasons why people may lose their homes as a homelessness essay hook to shift to their current situation.

On its own, homelessness may be viewed in a manner similar to that of unemployment, with some degree of it being unavoidable and necessary to power the real estate industry. However, when people remain without a residence for an extended period, their state becomes an issue and should be explored.

In your homelessness essay topics, you should discuss the reasons why homeless people may be unable to obtain a permanent home. Physical factors such as the inability to obtain a job or the high prices of housing are excellent examples.

Mental issues such as depression and other conditions also warrant discussion. You will be able to obtain a more complete overview of the issue by inspecting its various components.

Here are some additional tips for your essay:

• The phenomenon of homelessness as it occurs on a societal level has been researched thoroughly. You may voice original ideas, but make sure that they are supported with strong evidence.
• Try to differentiate between various categories of homeless people. Homogenizing them without considering their differences and attitudes may lead you to make mistaken assessments.
• Try to consult historical data to identify periods when homelessness rose or fell and associate them with other events. You may discover effective or ineffective policy, economic growth and crises, or other ideas you can use.

Come to IvyPanda for homelessness essay titles and other helpful paper samples!

• “Death of a Homeless Man” by Scott Russell Sanders The author stresses that the aim of the story is not simply to inform about the fact or some statistics concerning poverty or alcoholism in the USA.
• On How to Eradicate Homelessness The truth of the matter is that majority of the homeless are people with dreams, ambitions and desire to succeed. According to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, paucity has been the key […]
• Mumbai Great Problem: Homelessness Problem in Cities From the discussion of the categories of the homeless, it is clear that it can prove to be difficult to define what homelessness truly is.
• Homelessness in the US: Causes and Solutions Due to the income disparity, insufficient accommodations, and racial inequality, the homelessness crisis in the US has been exacerbated. To recommend the most appropriate and effective policies, the causes should be analyzed in detail.
• Giving Money to the Homeless: Is It Important? The question of whether a person should give money to a homeless person or not is a complicated one and cannot have the right answer.
• Homelessness as a Global Social Issue In the US, homelessness is on the increase because of economic melt- down and foreclosures. Moreover, differences in perception of homelessness by liberal and conservative on homeless have increased homelessness in the US.
• Homelessness as a Social Issue 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.
• Overpopulation and Homelessness in the Modern World According to the United Nations, more than half of the population resides in urban areas, making the problem of homelessness visible: cities cannot keep up with the high demand for housing, resulting in people living […]
• Homelessness in the US The existing policies do not address the problem of homelessness in the US. The constitution was adjusted in 1949 to cater for the needs of the poor in society.
• Helping the Homeless in the Community The main task during the two hours is preparing cutlery and to serving the food to the homeless people. We particularly have to focus on the living conditions of the homeless people to highlight the […]
• Homelessness and its Solutions This problem is caused by either inability to afford the costs of proper medication or as a result of the congestion within the concentration camps of the homeless.
• Tell Them Who I am, the lives of Homeless Women by Elliot Liebow The writer though reports that it is not the interest of women to be homeless since they have the capacity to work and provide themselves with whatever they want.
• The Problem of Homeless People in Modern World In 1987, the number of homeless people in Canada was between 100,000 and 250,000 out of a total population of 28 million people. There are several negative impacts of homelessness to the homeless people.
• Community Service Experience: Homeless Shelter The shelter also organizes outreach and humanitarian work during the day to ensure that homeless people in the community know about the shelter and the services it provides.
• Social Work and Homelessness Research Methodology A randomized controlled trial will be conducted to answer the following research question: what is the effectiveness of the Housing First program to street homelessness based on the experiences of both human service professionals and […]
• Homelessness in Phoenix Arizona State People have different views regarding the help rendered to the homeless people, and indeed, there are those who feel that Arizona State should pay no attention to the homeless people.
• Homelessness and Housing in Oneida County and City of Utica This research aims to assess the well-being of the community of Oneida County and the City of Utica, using the data on homelessness rates and housing prices.
• Homelessness in the Context of Middle-Range Theories The purpose of this paper is to discuss the selected vulnerable group and its current health and social issues and then to analyze the application of several middle-range theories to the mentioned issues.
• Public Administration: Homeless in Phoenix Various models have been adopted to eradicate the problem, but the general formula to control the issue has been through the exclusion of the homeless from the main city as lepers into the territorial confinement […]
• Homelessness: A Huge Social Problem in Canada Lastly, homelessness was chosen as a topic of research because there is very little information about the issue especially in relation to health.
• The Causes and Impacts of Homelessness Liberalists argue that homelessness results from the general nature and the poor economic structures and the manner in which finances and resources are distributed in the society.
• Homelessness and Schizophrenia It is essential to consider that lack of a proper home can exert pressure in an individual, to the extent of mental burdening.
• Homelessness in Australia: Geography of Unhealthy Housing The two primary domains that govern the social welfare needs of this population group are income support and housing assistance; however, there can be limitations in these policies that impact the well-being of homeless Australians.
• The Rights of the Homeless and the Contradictions of the Law Thus, there is a direct contradiction in this and similar municipal laws to the provision of the Constitution, as the Court of Appeals affirmed.
• Safe Golf in Sacramento: Solving the Homelessness Problem There are many problems and misunderstandings related to the problem of homelessness in Sacramento, but the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex is probably the most damaged organization in this context.
• Homelessness Solutions for the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex The point is that there is a homeless encampment behind the organization on Roseville Road, and the behavior and lifestyles of its resident deter golfers and potential guests of the complex from playing at the […]
• Homelessness in the Veteran Community Such social conditions may consist of bureaucracy, the lack of government investments, class distribution, the lack of ethical considerations within the scope of the legislation, and many others which can deprive the mentioned population of […]
• Nature and Importance of a Center for Homeless People The organizations offer community members an opportunity to give back to the community, and they will always be appreciated due to the fact that needy and homeless individuals will exist endlessly in the world.
• Understanding the Causes of Homelessness Poverty, in this case, was defined as the inability of a person to afford essential commodities such as food, shelter, and clothing. In this case, although alcoholism and drug use contributed to homelessness, the precedent […]
• The Issue of Homelessness in New York City The enormous drop in the number of single-room dwelling units in New York City during the rise of contemporary homelessness was the most crucial single shift in the city’s housing stock.
• Homeless People and Their Key Challenges Therefore, I continue to view homeless people as those deserving of equal compassion and sympathy as those having a home. Since I view homeless people as fellow human beings first, I continue to promote the […]
• Homeless as At-Risk Population Based on the statistics from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, about 580466 people were “experiencing homelessness on our streets and in shelters in America” as of 2020.
• Poverty and Homelessness as a Global Social Problem What makes the task of defining poverty particularly difficult is the discrepancy in the distribution of social capital and, therefore, the resulting differences in the understanding of what constitutes poverty, particularly, where the line should […]
• Organization’s Mission to End Homelessness The rate of homelessness has been steadily increasing over the last decade in the U.S.due to foreclosures and unprecedented recessionary cycles.
• Poverty and Homelessness in American Society It is connected with social segregation, stigmatization, and the inability of the person to improve their conditions of life. The problem of affordable housing and poverty among older adults is another problem that leads to […]
• Homeless Populations in the United States For example, power is the ability to affect and manage external resources related to human behaviors and decisions that contribute to social movements and community change.
• Providing Medical Care to Homeless People During the COVID-19 Pandemic The first barrier affecting the provision of medical care to the homeless is social. The first possible socio-economic support for changes may be the opening of a department in each hospital to work with the […]
• The Homelessness Issue in Canada The amount of Canadians who are homeless on any nightly basis in Canada is believed to be at least 35,000 people.even though the average duration of stay in emergency housing is about 50 days, more […]
• Drug Abuse Among Homeless Young Adults in New Jersey The reason why young adults in New Jersey get involved in drugs and alcohol after becoming homeless is to manage their situations in an attempt to attain the tentative pleasure of life despite their problems. […]
• Promoting Wellbeing in Homeless People: Group Fitness Intervention The authors of this article conducted the study to give insight into the importance of considering homeless people in the society they belong. The importance of the study was to encourage people to have inclusivity […]
• Homelessness in the US: Effectiveness of Intervention The issue of properly maintaining a home was addressed as the client learned how to adapt to a home by himself.
• Issue of Youth Homelessness in Canada The third and fourth factors, the lack of education and unemployment, are interconnected, resulting in inconsistent and low income and the inability to afford proper housing.
• Homeless People and COVID-19: Maricopa Country Moved Homeless People In other words, it is necessary to increase the level of social assistance to the homeless, increasing the availability of housing and social benefits.
• Homelessness as a Major Healthcare Issue As such, relocating the money to provide shelter and improve housing for homeless people would ensure a positive result of spending the budget to care for the homeless.
• Homelessness: Its Causes, Effects, and Prevention In this article, the professors collaborate in addressing the issue of homelessness and its impact on public health. In this article, the authors focus on the effects of homelessness on economies and public health.
• Vancouver Homeless Problem and Solutions It does not address the main source of the problem the financial struggles of homeless people and their inability to pay the rent.
• The National Intensive Case Management Program for Homeless Veterans: Critique The program is assessed using the four principles of community psychology, which include problems addressed, values reflected in the program approach and methods, conceptual foundation of the program, and action and research tools.
• Why Is Being Homeless Not a Bad Idea? Another benefit of living on the streets is a chance to be withdrawn from the misery of modern life and technological advancements.
• “Homelessness, Housing Insecurity and Social Exclusion” in Asian Regions The article Homelessness, housing insecurity and social exclusion in China, Hong Kong, and Japan, written by Kennett and Mizuuchi, examines the issue of homelessness in Asian regions, emphasizing housing insecurity in Hong Kong.
• Homelessness in Canada: Reflective Analysis This analysis is intended to be an academic reflection and to cover issues related to the clarification of the topic, personal experiences, and the connection of the problem to global citizenship.
• “Homelessness Monologue”: A Fictional Story He is also white, and his appearance is disheveled: the face appears dirty and tired and has bruises; the clothes are torn, and the shoes can barely protect the feet. The partition in the middle […]
• Homelessness in Northern California The residents of Northern California faced frustration and anxiety, raising health and safety fears and causing multiple debates about poverty and discrimination in one of the wealthiest states of the country.
• Homelessness in Los Angeles County, California Hence, the purpose of this research is to explore the background of the homelessness issue in Los Angeles County, California, and provide a specific health education program for the identified vulnerable population.
• Poverty and Homelessness as Social Problem The qualifications will include a recommendation from the community to ensure that the person is open to help and willing to be involved in the neighborhood of Non-Return.
• Single, Low-Income, or Homeless Mothers’ Health and Parenting Problems To promote their wellbeing, health professionals may support homeless mothers in practices such as the use of strengths-anchored nursing, supporting ideas of good parenting, overcoming stigma, and discovering and eliminating the unsurmountable hindrances encountered within […]
• Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” and Homelessness in the U.S. This paper aims to briefly summarize the plot and the themes of this short story and relate it to the current problem of homelessness in the United States.
• Community Meeting on Homelessness in the US The purpose of the public deliberations was to help the City Council make more informed decisions about how homeless encampments should be serviced and managed in the future. Power and influence are some of the […]
• The Issue of Homeless Veterans I learned a lot in the framework of the issue of homeless veterans. Among the primary problems, there is the absence of programs for the rapid adaptation of servicemen to a peaceful life.
• Navigating the System For Families Experiencing Homelessness As a social phenomenon, it is caused by a complex of social, economic, civil, and cultural conflicts, as a result of which a part of the population is deprived of living conditions, which are recognized […]
• Homelessness: Improving Health Outcomes However, in the 1880s, the public perceptions of homelessness improved following the development of literature that appreciated their courage and willingness to deviate from monotony and oppression associated with industrial work.
• The Problem of Homelessness in Society Societies begin to realize that the growth of homelessness is partly their fault, and it is also their responsibility not to let this issue get worse.
• Cultural Immersion Project for Homeless Group My practice was relatively positive and in line with the expectations and previously received information about the cultural group, as clients voluntarily underwent training and sought to reduce the level of aggression.
• Health Care for the Homeless According to Gent, people tend to dehumanize the people they see on the streets and respond to them as they would to objects, attempting to view them neutrally and seeing their need for help as […]
• The Problem of Homeless Youths With HIV-AIDS Studies carried out in the city of New York in 2008 showed that 21 percent of homeless youth males and 24 percent of homeless female youths had “more than 100 lifetime partners”. 5 percent of […]
• The Problem of Homeless People in St. Petersburg The problem under consideration concerns the number of homeless people living on the streets of the second-largest city in Russia. The intended results of the project’s activities are to increase the awareness of the residents […]
• Regulating Society: Criminalising Homelessness Intolerance of homelessness and homeless people by cities, law enforcement agencies, and the public accounts for such violent crimes against homeless people.
• Vulnerable Population: Homelessness In such a way, they will be more prepared to come up with quality personalized approaches to health care for this vulnerable population’s representatives.
• Addressing Substance Abuse in Skid Row: Intervention and Prevention There is a need to fill the data gap regarding the issues of magnitude, location, period, severity, and changeability of the SUD in the Skid Row community.
• Shelter and Public Welfare Resources for the Homeless One of the issues the campaign is currently facing is the lack of information about the problem, the current government programs, their strengths and weaknesses, and the input that general citizens can make for the […]
• Chronic Homelessness: Definition and Addressing the Issue The problem was first reported in the 1850s though it became a national problem in the 1870s shortly after the Civil War.
• Housing Interventions for Homelessness The interventions studied were TH and RRH with ES serving as a reference point or control, and the time length is manifested in the analysis, which assesses the general likelihood of a household returning to […]
• Homelessness: Social and Economic Problems It is these and other factors that contribute to homelessness, a condition that is seldom a choice for people who must live outside the comfort and security of a home environment.
• Homeless Shelter Health Care Services The search for articles was based primarily on the issues they addressed: they all concern the issue of health care for homeless people and try to single out the most optimal models of it.
• About the California Homeless The population of concerns is homeless youth under age 18 who seek shelter in the community of San Diego, California.
• Homelessness and Education in the USA Every child, homeless or not, has the right to a public school education that is equal to the standards of achievement that are available for all youths and children.
• Understanding of the Homeless Population The state of focus is Georgia and the County of Fulton. 2 percent of homeless individuals had severe cases of mental illnesses Nearly 34.
• Decision-Making in Business: Help Our Homeless Offspring The decision remains with the financial controller of the donor-corporation who is tasked with advising its organisation on whether to grant the funding.
• Homeless Persons as Vulnerable Population in the US The nature of homelessness and its link to the resources available, the status of health and related risks can be of great significant to nurses.
• Aggregate Homeless in Fulton County, Georgia The individuals who are homeless constituted 52% of the total homeless people in Fulton. The decrease in the numbers of the homeless was by 21 people.
• Health Problems Among Homeless People To sum up, it should be noted that homeless people, one of the most vulnerable groups in society, suffer from numerous health problems.
• Mental Health & Incidences of Homelessness in Australia In Australia, as is the case in other countries across the world, it is generally assumed that most homeless individuals are faced with mental health challenges and that mental illness is a principal cause of […]
• Homeless Women and Healthcare: Access to Health Care, Medication, and Health Facilities Farmer suggested that the utter disregard to the plight of the marginalized who are most vulnerable in all aspects of social benefits is the “pathologies of power” that are symptoms and signs of structural inequality.
• Homeless Families Analysis One of the highlights of the existing studies is the idea of a “hunger-obesity paradox” determined by the body mass indicator of homeless adults and the rest of the people.
• A Need for an Effective Homelessness Policy in Florida 3 million disparity in the number of units available for rent and the number of households exacerbated the problem of homelessness in the country.
• The Problem of Homelessness in Australia: Social, Political, and Political Dynamics The involvement and collaboration of all key partners and stakeholders will make it possible for the country to overcome this problem.
• The Impact of Homelessness in California: Economic and Other Reasons The crisis intensified after the recession of 2008 when prices soared up, and now hundreds of thousands of people live in their tents or vehicles in LA, San Francisco, and other cities.
• Kids and Youth Homelessness: Facts and Statistics in the United States There have been numerous government interventions in the form of policies since the times of the Great Depression, but the number of homeless children and teenagers has only increased.
• Self-Efficacy and Smoking Urges in Homeless Individuals Pinsker et al.point out that the levels of self-efficacy and the severity of smoking urges change significantly during the smoking cessation treatment.
• Debunking the Myths on Homelessness: Misconceptions About the Social Status and Mental Health The point of concern is that the housing market, particularly in the United States, does not have enough low-cost living space that is affordable to the economical marginals and people with low income.
• Political Issue of Homelessness: Finding Solutions Despite the undoubted successes of the Trump administration in the economic sphere – it appeared possible to significantly reduce unemployment and overcome the mortgage crisis – the number of homeless people is constantly growing.
• The Issue of Homeless People in Los Angeles A reliable organization that provides statistics on the problem and aims to overcome it is the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, or LAHSA. The latter makes it difficult to find a well-paid job and get […]
• Christian Ethics: Homelessness in Atlanta According to it, it is a norm for all people to have an appropriate home where they can be safe. There is no legislation that can make others provide a vulnerable population with home, but […]
• Urban Planning Optimization and Homelessness Therefore, the urban planning should be revised regarding those private providers’ interests: the risk of failure for future city development would strongly increase in the areas of possible economic concern.
• Optimizing Urban Planning to Address Homelessness Researchers use sensitivity analysis to assess the contribution of single preference parameters to the uncertainty of the ranking of alternatives. In the same manner, authorities can create a database consisting of all the shelters for […]
• Media’s Role in Framing Homelessness Apart from this whatever the weakness or merits of the commission’s plan are, there also exists a great and a huge gap between the policy’s level and the ways for an ordinary citizens in order […]
• The Problem of Homeless People Is a Social The subject of homelessness allows me to understand that stable employment and control of financial accounts are the main things in the life of every person.
• Health Implications of Homelessness: Experiences and Emotional Feelings This study considers the aspect of health implications in homelessness through the essay written by a noted writer, Lars Eighner, through his various essay, significant among them being called ‘On dumpster diving.’ In this article […]
• Homeless Students Problem in USA This essay discusses the causes and consequences of homelessness in the nation and a solution to decrease the problems faced by the homeless youngsters.
• The Problem of Homelessness: Media View It understands the role of the media in problem construction and the definition of the weight the matter carries to the public.
• Volunteer Group Event for Homeless Children Such children will be the pillars of the future generation and hence it becomes a duty for each of us to contribute in making the lives of deprived children better.
• The Problem of Homelessness in the US That is why every government tries to provide the strategies for homelessness to help people to deal with the problem, but not all of them are successful.
• Problem of Homeless People in New York New York City, the city that never sleeps, and one of the most populous places on the earth, has been facing the huge task of providing homes to its citizens.
• The Homeless in Our Community The estimated half a million children that, at any one time, is homeless in America and their mothers represent the “fastest growing segment of the homeless population”.
• New York’s Homeless Children and Foster Care System Foster homes have to also face the challenge of developing the mentalities of the children are their clients, and care should be provided on that basis.
• Amicus Curiae: Defending the Rights of the Homeless Laws by the government that the poor should not be homeless and that those who are homeless should not be permitted to sit or roam around the sidewalks of the US cities are not fair.
• Evaluating the Self-Esteem of the Homeless The mission statement of the program indicates the central role played by the agency to the welfare of the society.”The Doe Fund’s mission is to develop and implement cost-effective, holistic programs that meet the needs […]
• Homeless Problem in the US In contrast to independent media, the task of mainstream media is to impress the audience and impress them by ‘current news’ and reports.
• Homelessness Studies and Their Ethical Dimensions It is clear that the individuals were not made aware of the consequences of these experiments. Such research can be made ethical if researchers devote more attention to people’s health during and after the trials’ […]
• Transitional Living Program Design for Homeless Adolescents The Homeless Trust organizes and directs the Miami-Dade County Homeless Plan, which is a central document of the county that regulates the government policy that addresses the issues of the homeless.
• The Issue of Homelessness in Modern World The problem is viewed from various perspectives by different authors, and many conclusions are valuable in terms of drawing attention to the issue.
• Human Services and Needs Assessment of Homeless In the case study by Giffords, Alonso, and Bell, the purpose of gathering needs information is to assess and record the level of individual adolescents’ skills. A needs assessment is crucial for identifying the goals […]
• The US Government and Homes for Homeless People The situation with homeless people differs from one state to another, but common features of the issue and the ways the local authorities choose to deal with homelessness are similar.
• Violating Norms: A Day in the Life of a Homeless Person He said it in a concerned manner that when my friend told him what I was up to, he laughed at the humor of it.
• Anti-Homelessness Program’s Cost Benefit Analysis For the first program, the major benefit is the reduction of homelessness among adolescents and young adults as one of the most serious current social problems.
• Social Justice Group Work for Homeless Young Mothers The group discussed in the article was started for the purpose of assisting residents address the problem of homelessness especially in aspects of parenting and during pregnancy periods.
• Mental Illness and Homelessness in the United States Hence, there is a need to establish elaborate policies for addressing the problem of mental illness among homeless people in all regions in the US.
• The Needs of Students Experiencing Homelessness Thus, counselors will have a possibility to identify common patterns in the target learners’ behaviors and design the interventions that will help manage the emotional and psychological concerns of homeless students. It is crucial that […]
• A Look at Homelessness in Chicago When speaking about this problem in the context of the American city of Chicago, Illinois, it is worth noting that here, the level of homelessness is quite high.
• Crowdfunding Project to Help Homeless People To assess the marketability of the proposed project, it is important to answer the question, “Why is the project important?” Providing free haircuts and showers to homeless people proved to be a beneficial activity.
• Homelessness Among Students in the United States The number of homeless students is increasing due to rising costs of living and the lack of programs aimed at assisting this vulnerable population.
• Aboriginal Homelessness in Vancouver One of the examples of institutionalized discrimination is the existence of the Indian Act, first established to define the “Indian Status” and control the identity of Indigenous people.
• Homelessness in the US as a Solvable Problem The problem is believed to be caused by a wide range of social issues that have affected the country for the past centuries.
• American Homelessness, Its Causes and Solutions The United States of America has a fair share of the homeless. In the absence of poverty, the population would afford decent housing and avoid residing on the streets.
• Homelessness in “Light in August” and “Wise Blood” The concept of home is commonly regarded in relation to the process of formation of individual identity, and, in almost every culture, the definition of a home serves as an indicator of a person’s wholeness […]
• Mentally Ill Homeless People: Stereotypes Therefore, it is interesting from the research point of view to analyze the stereotypes about the homeless with chronic mental conditions.
• Homelessness and School Readiness Evaluation Rog expected to define and underline the necessities of homeless families and their mechanisms of coping with the situation, review the correlation between homelessness in families, child and domestic abuse, and incidents of rape, and […]
• Mayor Schell’s Homeless Policy Reengineering The paper will also highlight the steps taken by Mayor Schell to redesign the program in order to fit the fresh goals.
• Issue of Homelessness in America Currently the numbers of homeless families have significantly increased compared with the number in 1980s and earlier. However, the numbers of homeless individuals and families have considerably augmented by over thirty percent in the last […]
• The Homeless Population Reducing The number of homeless Americans is increasing and these people, in the vast majority of cases, are also suffering from numerous diseases including HIV/AIDS, drug and alcohol abuse, various mental disorders and so on.
• Homeless Veterans Causes and Effects The inability of the Department of Veterans Affairs to fast track compensation and funding for disabled veterans is linked to homelessness among many veterans.
• Christian Duty to Care for Homeless People While Catholic Social Teachings call for the people in the society to promote equality, the poor people in the society are seen as a nuisance to the financially liberated members of the society.
• Catholic Dealing With Poverty and Homelessness The idea of “common good” will support many people in the world. The practice will support many people in the world.
• Minority Population at Risk: Homelessness For example, in improving the conditions of the homeless, employers should review the employment requirements and level of competencies in order to absorb the unemployed homeless.
• Homelessness in Canadian Society As a result, the demand for housing has surpassed the supply because of changes in government policies and efforts to address the issue of homelessness.
• Counting Homeless People in Seattle This research paper explores the possibilities of solving the problem of homeless and street families through counting them and presenting the best alternatives and suggestions on how this exercise should be done.
• Cultural Immersion of Homeless Veterans Veterans value their country and therefore the Department of Veterans Affairs should make an effort to ensure that the lives of all veterans are improved.
• Policy Analysis: Homelessness This paper identifies some of the solutions to the problem and analyzes the viability of each solution. It is only through evaluation that policy makers can account for each cent spent in the project.
• An Action Plan for Settling Homeless People in Seattle The problem of homelessness in Seattle is worsened by the lack of affordable housing units for the poor citizens in the city.
• Crimes, Homelessness, Mental Disorders However, several problems in the Australian society have become a serious cause for concern, specifically because these problems have a direct impact on the future of the young people and consequently the future of Australia.
• Approaching Homelessness in America It is estimated that the majority of those who are homeless live in central cities and they constitute 71% of all the people who are homeless in America.
• Disparities in health outcomes in homeless people In this paper explores some of the social, cultural, and political factors that propel disparities in health among the homeless, and policy frameworks that can serve to redress these disparities.
• Ending Chronic Homelessness in the United Kingdom This planning team, working in collaboration with the agency, used a strategic procedure in reviewing current achievements and in developing suggestions for the scope and tactics to be the outline of the 2013 activities, the […]
• Herts Young Homeless Group Marketing Strategy The organization was established in 1988 in a bid to address the issue of homelessness among the youth of Hertfordshire. Volunteers and members of the community will be encouraged to market the organization to their […]
• Poverty, Homelessness and Discrimination in Australia: The Case of the Aboriginal He described the various aspects of the ownership of the means of production in the form of factories, machines and technology and emerging system of relations of production as an important determinants of classes.
• The Canadian Government should Offer Additional Support for Homeless People A critical examination in to the causes of homelessness in Canada raises a myriad of questions as to what the Canadian government is doing to contain the situation.
• Public Administration in America: Grants to Help Homeless In an effort to solve the homelessness issue, the municipal council of the city in conjunction with other governmental and non-governmental agencies concerned had the goal of eliminating homelessness in the city by the year […]
• The Concept of Community Development to the Homeless Youths in Australia The nature of the issues and aspirations of the youths To come up with a clear description of the nature of the issues and aspirations of the homeless youths in Australia, an appreciative inquiry process […]
• Homelessness as the Social Phenomenon Another thing that makes the fight against homelessness more difficult is the existence of the phenomenon of hidden homelessness.”First among the reasons for the persistent undercount of the number of people who are under the […]
• Volunteering for Horizon House: Homeless Neighbours’ Motivation to Find Jobs To understand and analyze the role of the center in changing the homeless neighbours’ life for better, it is appropriate to focus on the center’s assistance in employing neighbours and developing their job skills with […]
• The Effects of Homelessness in Ohio The causes of homelessness in the current Ohio include the rising costs of housing, poverty and the lack of affordable housing. There are various effects of homelessness to the community and to the homeless.
• The Problem of Homeless Veterans in US The records at the department of Veteran affairs in the US indicate that majority of the homeless veterans are males, and only four percent are females. The needs and the demands of the homeless veterans […]
• Homeless Veterans in the United States The lack of jobs leads to idleness which is the major cause of the veterans’ addiction to drug abuse. The alarming increase in the number of the homeless veterans is due to continuing war in […]
• Homelessness in the United States Additionally, a variety of factors contributes to homelessness and they are deep within the makeup of the economy thus homelessness has remained an area of concern to the government, the social service providers and the […]
• Homeless Rights in US There is a lot of controversy surrounding the issue of the rights of the homeless people. In Florida and Las Vegas the members of the public are not allowed to feed the homeless people in […]
• Climate Shift Could Leave Some Marine Species Homeless This is very important as it helps put pressure on countries to reduce on carbon release, in order to conserve the environment and hence species at risk.
• Homelessness in Vancouver, Canada: Discussing its Causes & Effects The second cause, which is characteristic of the city of Vancouver, is the increase in the number of poor people. Another cause of homelessness in Vancouver, which is diametrically related to low assistance levels, is […]
• Homelessness as the Scourge of the Modern Society: The Causes, the Outcomes and the Means to Eliminate It Although the results of poverty are rather explicit and unequivocal, the issue is rather hard to define, since it has a number of facets, such as the economical, the political and the financial proper.
• Combating Homelessness With Affordable Housing
• Culture and Individual Development of Homelessness
• The Impact of the American Economic System on Homelessness
• Homelessness, Mental Illness, and Social Intervention
• The Federal Strategic Plan For Prevent and End Homelessness
• Homelessness and Other Issues Caused by the Mergers and Advancement of Companies in the United States
• Overview Homelessness and the Lawson Panhandling in America
• Family Homelessness and Its Effects on Children
• The Link Between Mental Illness and Homelessness
• Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Lifetime Prevalence of Homelessness in the United States
• Analysis Homelessness Postmodernist and Feminist Perspective
• Homelessness and Substance Abuse
• Analysis Homelessness and the Effect It Has on Social Health
• Homelessness and Domestic Violence Awareness
• Child Abuse and Neglect, Homelessness, and Marital Problems
• Homelessness Among Formerly Incarcerated African American Men: Contributors and Consequences
• Overview City Life, Homelessness, Race, and Sociology
• Homelessness: Rates, Causes, Conflicts and Solutions
• General Information Abouthomelessness Among Those With Mental Illness
• Dealing With the Problem of Homelessness in the United States
• Features the Homelessness Among Youth in Canada
• Helping People With a Chronic Homelessness Problem
• Analysis Homelessness Amongst Marginalized LGBTQ Youth
• Homelessness, Property Rights and Institutional Logics
• Domestic Violence and Homelessness Among Women
• Why Has Homelessness Gained Worldwide Attention?
• Homelessness Is an Epidemic That Affects Everyone?
• What Are the Ways To Prevent Youth Homelessness?
• How Is Homelessness in Connecticut Fought With Supportive Housing?
• What Are the Consequences of Homelessness for Women?
• How Does Social Inequality Contribute to Homelessness in the United States?
• Can Symbolic Interactionism Help With Homelessness?
• How Aware of Homelessness and Domestic Violence in European Countries?
• What Are the Main Causes and Consequences of Homelessness?
• How Can People Help Solve the Problem of Homelessness?
• What Are the Social Justice Challenges for the Homeless?
• How Does New York Fight Homelessness?
• What Are the Problems and Consequences of Homelessness in New York?
• How Does Homelessness Affect Society?
• What Causes Homelessness Across America?
• How Can You Avoid Homelessness Using Rent Control?
• Why Is Domestic Violence Seen as a Cause of Homelessness Among Women?
• Does Public Housing Reduce Homelessness?
• What Are the Social Issues of the Size of Homelessness in Savannah, Georgia?
• How Does Homelessness Affect Children?
• What Are the Problems of Homelessness in America and Their Future Solutions?
• Homelessness and Why You Should Think Twice Before Aiding the Homeless?
• Why Are There So Many Homeless American Veterans?
• What Is Canada’s Homelessness Policy?
• How Do Denver Area Fight Homelessness?
• What Is the Relationship of Homelessness, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse?
• What Are the Reasons for Youth Homelessness?
• How Do You Fight Homelessness With Shelters?
• What Are the Problems and Consequences of Homelessness?
• How To Help Homelessness With Permanent Assisted Housing?
• Social Development Essay Topics
• Social Justice Essay Ideas
• Social Responsibility Topics
• Social Work Essay Titles
• Macroeconomics Topics
• Segregation Research Topics
• Urbanization Ideas
• Illegal Immigration Topics
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, February 29). 236 Brilliant Homelessness Essay Topics & Free Paper Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/homelessness-essay-examples/

"236 Brilliant Homelessness Essay Topics & Free Paper Examples." IvyPanda , 29 Feb. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/homelessness-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . (2024) '236 Brilliant Homelessness Essay Topics & Free Paper Examples'. 29 February.

IvyPanda . 2024. "236 Brilliant Homelessness Essay Topics & Free Paper Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/homelessness-essay-examples/.

1. IvyPanda . "236 Brilliant Homelessness Essay Topics & Free Paper Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/homelessness-essay-examples/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "236 Brilliant Homelessness Essay Topics & Free Paper Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/homelessness-essay-examples/.

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• HHS Author Manuscripts

Poverty, Homelessness, and Family Break-Up

This study examines the extent and correlates of family separations in families experiencing homelessness. Of 2,307 parents recruited in family shelters across 12 sites, a tenth were separated from partners and a quarter from one or more children. Additional separations before and after shelter entry and reasons, from parents’ perspectives, were documented in qualitative interviews with a subsample of 80 parents. Separations were associated with economic hardship, shelter conditions, and family characteristics.

Poverty and homelessness are associated with the break-up of families. A number of studies have documented that children in families who experience homelessness frequently become separated from their parents. In a national sample in 1996, Burt et al. (1999) found that three fifths of women served by homeless programs had children under 18, but only 65% of the mothers lived with any of their children. Park et al. (2004) found that 24% of over 8,000 children who entered shelter with a parent for the first time in New York City in 1996 received child welfare services within five years of shelter entry; three quarters of them after the family became homeless. Many smaller, local studies document associations of housing problems and homelessness with elevated rates of foster care placements and far higher rates of informal child separations unknown to child welfare authorities (for reviews see Barrow & Lawinski, 2009 ; Courtney, McMurty, & Zinn, 2004 ).

Fewer studies have sought to explain these separations. In studies of the general population, poverty is related to child maltreatment, especially neglect ( Sedlak et al., 2010 ) and to “substandard” parenting ( Berger, 2007 ). Among families experiencing homelessness, Park et al. (2004) found that recurrent and longer shelter episodes and domestic violence predicted child welfare services. They suggest that families in shelters are subject to stress and lack of privacy, and also heightened scrutiny: a “fishbowl effect” may lead staff to report to child protective services. Similarly McDaniel and Slack (2005) suggest that life events, such as a move, may make low-income parents more visible, leading to protective service reports. Cowal et al. (2002) compared mothers who entered shelter with continuously housed mothers using public assistance and found that drug abuse, domestic violence, and any institutional placement of the mother predicted separation for both groups, but homelessness was by far the strongest predictor. Barrow and Lawinsky (2009) found the same factors along with children’s needs were important in a sample of mothers experiencing homelessness, but described precarious housing as “a constant backdrop.” In the face of crises that came “in twos and threes,” mothers negotiated with fathers, maternal and paternal kin, and agencies to find “better choices among troubling alternatives” (pp. 166–167) for themselves and their children.

The current mixed-methods study uses survey data to document the extent of child separations in a large multi-site sample of 2,307 families recruited in homeless shelters and uses both quantitative and qualitative data to examine explanatory factors posited in the literature. In particular in the survey data we examine associations of separations with the parent’s prior homelessness, substance abuse, domestic violence, felony conviction (a proxy for institutional placement), and foster care placement in childhood, along with parent and child demographic characteristics. The quantitative data also allow examination of the extent to which separations vary by site and shelter, suggesting policy differences in the homeless service and child welfare systems that may affect separations. Qualitative interviews with a subsample of 80 families elucidate from parents’ perspectives how poverty, housing problems, and the homeless service system contribute to separations.

Although our primary focus is on child separation, we additionally examine the extent to which partners are separated from each other. Families experiencing homelessness are often headed by single parents ( Rog & Buckner, 2007 ), but this is partly a consequence of shelter and housing program policies that exclude men ( U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2006 ). Thus we examine how separations of parents from partners they consider a part of their family varies by site and shelter, and reasons families give in qualitative interviews.

Participants

The Family Options study enrolled 2,307 families with children fifteen years of age and under who had spent at least one week in one of 57 emergency shelters in 12 sites, 1 drawn from all regions of the United States and varying housing and labor markets, from September, 2010 to January, 2012. Families were recruited into an experiment in which they received priority access to housing and service interventions. Very few families (n = 13) declined to participate, although 183 who failed to pass eligibility screening for available interventions were not enrolled. (Common reasons for exclusion included insufficient income or lack of employment, family composition, size of available units, poor credit history, criminal convictions, lack of sobriety.) We interviewed one adult at study enrollment, prior to random assignment, giving preference to mothers in two-adult families, because when parents are separated, children more frequently stay with the mother.

The adult respondents were predominantly female (91.6%), with a median age of 29. Over a quarter (27.4%) had a spouse or partner with them in family shelter. A plurality (43.7%) had one child with them in shelter but 11.1% had four or more. In half of the families (49.9%), at least one child was under 3. Study families were 41% African American, 21% white, non-Hispanic, 20% Hispanic (all races), 7% Asian/Pacific Islander and 11% mixed or other (with Hispanics excluded from all remaining categories). Families were deeply poor – median annual household income was $7,440 – and many came from poverty: during childhood 15.9% of respondents had been homeless and 27.1% had lived in foster care, a group home, or an institution. Poverty was also longstanding: 62.8% had experienced a prior episode of homelessness and 84.6% had been doubled up (living in the same unit with another family) as an adult because they could not pay the rent (for details see Gubits, Spellman, Dunton, Brown, & Wood, 2013 ).

We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with a non-random subsample of 80 families – 77 mothers and 3 fathers – from four geographically dispersed sites (Alameda County, Connecticut, Kansas City, and Phoenix) an average of 6.4 months after random assignment. Demographic characteristics of the subsample were similar to those of the full sample (for detail see Mayberry, Shinn, Benton, & Wise, 2014 ).

The adult respondent (in the full sample) reported on all family members who were with her in shelter and also about spouses, partners, and minor children “who are part of the family but are not living with you right now in [shelter name].” Additional variables are shown in Table 1 and described in detail in Gubits et al. (2015) .

Logistic regression predicting child separations from parent and family characteristics (N=5,165 children)

Note. OR = odds ratio; CI = confidence interval. 231 observations excluded due to missing values. Chi-square indicates joint significance of categorical variables in the full model. Standard errors adjusted for clustering of children in families.

The qualitative interviews covered family composition, housing decisions, family routines and rituals, and social supports. The family composition section that is the focus here asked the respondent about separations from children (for any reason) and from partners (if associated with housing or housing programs). Additional questions probed for reasons for separation and how it unfolded, how long the respondent expected the separation to last, whether the respondent had reunified with the child and on what that depended, and whether the respondent felt the separation was the best option for the child. Respondents who had never separated from a child were asked whether there was ever a time when they had considered doing so, and why. Interviews averaged about an hour, with interviews where respondents reported separations taking longer than others. Interviews were recorded and transcribed.

Quantitative predictors of child separation (listed in Table 1 ) were analyzed in SAS using logistic regression at the level of the child, with standard errors corrected for clustering of children within families. Because we were interested in separations from partners only if they were related to housing, we did not examine individual level predictors but tested only whether the proportion of families with a spouse or partner living elsewhere at the time of study enrollment differed by site and shelter. Analyses for shelter included the 42 shelters with at least 20 enrollments.

Qualitative interview transcripts were analyzed using NVivo9. Research team members each read a subset of the interviews. The team then developed a thematic coding scheme inductively for each section of the interview. Next, two analysts refined the coding scheme for a specific section of the interview and examined inter-rater reliability. Reliability for existence of and reasons for separation for children (across 32 interviews) and partners (across 20 interviews) were kappa = .85 and .91 respectively. Discrepancies were resolved by consensus. One analyst completed the remaining coding, but both discussed difficult-to-classify cases. We coded all instances of separation of the respondent from children, including normative separations (e.g. due to custody after divorce). For partner separations, we considered only separations related to housing and housing programs.

The quantitative interviews provide data on the extent of separations among families experiencing homelessness. In the full sample of families who had spent seven days in shelter, 10.1% of adult respondents reported that a spouse or partner was living elsewhere. Nearly a quarter (23.9%) had a minor child who was not in the shelter with the family (living with other relatives, friends, in foster care, or in other living situations). Only 0.7% of respondents reported that a child was in foster care. Rates of separation in the quantitative data for the qualitative subsample of 80 were similar (10% for partners, 25% for children).

The quantitative interviews also allow for the identification of adult and child characteristics associated with child separations. Table 1 shows the results of a logistic regression predicting child separation. Child age (categorical variable) was strongly associated with the likelihood of separation. A third (33.7%) of children age 13 to 17 were separated compared to 22.2% of children age 8 to 12, 13.4% of children age 3 to 7, and only 4.5% of children age 0 to 2. There was little variation in separations by child gender, with 15.5% of girls and 16.7% of boys being separated, and no interaction between child age and gender (p=.86). Younger parents and those with more children, previous experiences of homelessness, and prior felony convictions were more likely to be separated from their children. Race and income (categorical variables) also mattered. Households that reported less than $5,000 in annual income had 2.6 times higher odds of having a separated child compared to households with incomes of $25,000 or more. White non-Hispanic respondents had 1.5 times the odds of having a separated child compared to black non-Hispanic respondents, with no differences between black non-Hispanics and other groups. Interestingly, alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence at any time in adulthood, and having been in foster care as a child were not predictive of separations.

Rates of child separations ranged across sites from 9% to 24% of children (leading to a significant site effect controlling for parent and child characteristics). Separations were most common (exceeding 20% of children, 39% of families) in Salt Lake City, and Baltimore, and least common (below 10% of children, 13% of families) in Boston and Connecticut. Child separation rates differed by shelter (F(1, 41) = 4262.90, p<.0001) without other controls. Partner separations were also associated with site (F(1, 11) = 70.60, p<.0001) and shelter (F(1, 41) = 119.53, p<.0001), with separations highest in Baltimore (24% of all families; 88% of those with a spouse or partner) and lowest in Honolulu (4% of all families and 5% of those with a spouse or partner). Spousal (but not child) separations were generally higher in the East than in the Midwest or West.

The qualitative interviews help to explain the circumstances of these separations and others that occurred before and after the survey and how separations were influenced by poverty, housing, and housing programs. Of the 80 participants, 43 (54%) reported 57 instances in which they had been separated from a total of 78 minor children; if a family separated from two or more children at the same time, under the same circumstances, we considered this one instance. If a family separated from the same child on two occasions, we coded each instance separately. Most separations occurred during periods of homelessness or housing instability.

Reasons for child separations

Table 2 displays reasons for separation coded into eight categories with combinations of reasons coded into the uppermost category (row) on the list, because we deemed this more central. Thus, for example, if a respondent attributed her inability to feed her children adequately to lack of money for food, we coded this as hardship rather than inability to parent to own or family standards, or if protective service removed a child upon a respondent’s arrest, we coded this under arrest rather than protective services. Most of the children stayed with their other parent or another relative during the separations, but we coded these separations as normative (six families and instances) only if they were unrelated to the other reasons on the list. Half of the non-normative separations (24 families and instances) were related to economic and housing hardship, or shelter.

Reasons for separation of parent from minor children (with multiple reasons for a single instance counted in uppermost category on the list)

Economic hardship unrelated to shelter was the most common reason for separations (15 families and instances). In most cases, the family was experiencing housing instability, living in motels or doubled up with others because they could not afford their own place, or moving from place to place. Respondents described wanting their child to have stability and a sense of normalcy. In four instances parents were unable to provide the children’s basic needs.

At the time I was pregnant, and we were living in motels. I found myself getting broke. We were eating fast foods. I got paid from my job and I called their dad, and I said, “[Ex-Partner], I love my boys, I know you love them too, but I need help right now.” We met and he took the boys… I didn’t have a refrigerator or nothing like that, so I don’t want my boys to - - it was beginning to be too much.

Nine families separated from children either upon shelter entry or during a shelter stay (sometimes one occurring before the study), typically so that children could avoid exposure to shelter conditions:

…it took its toll on my children. They were going to sleep in class because of the babies waking up in the middle of the night at the shelter.

I was letting her grandmother take her out of the shelter because she was losing weight and she was getting bad. She hearty but she was getting bad like the other kids.

In two cases, the shelter could not accommodate all minor children. Nor would shelters typically take extended families. When a three-generational family was evicted the mother and grandmother each took a child so both could go to family shelters. In another instance (not in Table 2 ), an adult child, age 20, was excluded from a shelter but later rejoined his mother and siblings in housing.

Parenting or child safety

Several categories of reasons for separation reflect the parent’s inability to care adequately for the child or to maintain a safe environment. Six respondents (eight instances) were arrested (all before study entry), and five (five instances) were unable to parent according to their own standards, or those of their family, most commonly due to substance abuse. Several of these parents sought treatment, and some were reunited with children afterwards. In three cases, relatives took the child from the parent because of the parent’s youth or substance abuse. Four respondents (five instances) cited child safety due to the environment inside or outside of the household. Typically, separations coded under Safety were related to hardship and housing instability but safety was the proximal issue. For example, one respondent had to move somewhere she deemed unsafe after an eviction; another left an unsafe area and moved in with a violent boyfriend. Three families (six instances) were separated by a protective services agency due to parental substance abuse and neglect. In all but two other instances, both involving arrest, the respondent arranged for family members to take the child without formal agency involvement.

Child behavior

In three families (three instances), separations began because of children’s behavior. In two cases children reacted badly to a move away from relatives, and the respondent sent them to those relatives; in the third the child was picked up by police and sent, briefly, to a mental health facility.

Best Option

Although many parents who were separated from a child described a sense of loss and reported that the child missed them, 34 of the 43 parents considered the painful decision to be the best option among difficult choices because the child was stable and better provided for. Separations enabled the child to remain in a good school or to develop a bond with extended family.

As much as it hurt me to be separated from my daughter, you know, sometimes you have to make sacrifices. You have to put them first. You have to think about what’s best for them for that time until things get better or you figure something out.

Other children had negative experiences, including one who was molested and another who was physically abused during the separation.

No Separations from Children

Among parents who had not been separated from children, 13 of 37 had considered a separation, typically for reasons associated with hardship or shelter:

Maybe before we got into the shelter, because it was hard to get into that shelter… So instead of taking my kids to a park, there was numerous shelters I had called. And there was one shelter where the woman said, “we can take your kids for the night so they don’t have to sleep outside. We’ll take them, but we can’t take you.” And I was like, well, if I have to sleep in a park, my kids are definitely going to go there. ‘Cause I don’t want them to do it. But – so yeah. I considered it then, but it didn’t happen. Thank god!

Partner Separations

Of the 80 respondents, 12 (14 instances) had been separated from a partner for housing-related reasons. Half of the partner separations had to do with rules of shelters or housing programs that excluded men, unmarried couples, or people with criminal convictions. Although respondents felt they had no housing options that would allow partners to stay together, many of them described the resulting strain:

[T]hen I had to move all the stuff out, and there wasn’t no help at the time, because it was just a shelter for women and children. He wasn’t with me … so it was like – if he was here, it would be so much easier, but they didn’t allow that.

Two respondents left doubled-up situations that had accommodated partners to obtain housing that they deemed better for themselves and their children. Two others moved into doubled-up situations that required separating from partners. One of these families was living in their car:

And it was just better for him (partner) to send me back to my family for me to get a support down there than it was for me to stay here. Because everybody was telling us that Children and Youth would come take my daughter if they found us in a car and all this. So we just wasn’t willing to risk that. So he just--we just sold the furniture and stuff that we had, and he bought us tickets and sent us back home.

Most respondents who experienced a housing-related separation from their partners reported negative impacts on their children.

…when [partner] did move in with us the baby was kind of like he knew who he was but it was kind of like hmm, I haven’t seen this guy in a while. Like where’d you come from? …. He didn’t really know who [partner] was and then he finally figured, oh yeah, this is my dad so he’s supposed to be around me.

Reunification with Children and Partners

All but five respondents anticipated that the separations from their children would be temporary. However, 20 of 57 separations (35%) lasted longer than the parent anticipated, often because it took her longer than expected to secure stable housing or to become financially able to care for the children.

Of the 57 incidences of separation from children, 34 had ended in reunification at the time of the qualitative interview. Respondents indicated that securing adequate housing permitted 14 of these reunifications. Nine parents reported that ongoing separations would continue until the parents secured housing. These parents were living in shelter or transitional housing (five), doubled up with other households in the same apartment (three), or in a subsidized apartment that was too small to accommodate all children (one). Thus the ending of nearly half of all separations (23/57) depended on housing.

Similarly, nine of the 14 separations from a partner had ended in reunification at the time of the qualitative interview, typically because the respondent or the partner was able to secure housing that could accommodate the entire family. Reunification in three additional cases depended on housing.

No parent indicated that shelters or other housing services attempted to reunite them with their families. Rather, shelter and housing programs tended to consider only members present with the respondent in evaluating housing needs, resulting in assignment to places too small for the full family. Respondents also reported that staff in shelters and transitional housing threatened to involve protective services if parents did not comply with shelter rules ( Mayberry et al., 2014 ), and this led to one removal (where the parent violated a shelter rule about substance use.)

As in other studies in the literature, this study shows that separations from children are rampant in families who experience homelessness. In our large 12-site sample, nearly a quarter of families who had spent a week or more in shelter were living apart from one or more of their children, although fewer than one percent had a child in foster care. Including separations at other times, over half of the qualitative subsample had been separated. Other studies have found that both separations and foster care placements often increase in the months following shelter entry ( Cowal et al., 2002 ; Park et al., 2004 ), so the numbers may continue to grow.

Family demographic characteristics were associated with the likelihood of separations. Older children are much more likely to be separated from their families, with children age 13 to 17 being at particularly high risk. Mothers may be more likely to keep younger children with them, with older children more likely to stay with other relatives so that they are not exposed to shelter conditions or can maintain continuity in schooling. Despite some shelters having policies excluding older male children, no evidence of an interaction effect between age and gender was found. Larger households also faced greater difficulty staying intact or reunifying, perhaps in part due to constraints on unit size. White families are likely to have more resources to stay out of shelter than families of color; those who nonetheless become homeless may be more troubled, leading to higher rate of separations.

Both the quantitative and qualitative data point to the importance of extremely low incomes and resulting hardship in tearing families apart. Parents faced agonizing choices between keeping children with them and protecting them from shelter conditions or providing for their welfare. As in the study by Barrow and Lawinski (2009) , most separations involved parental agency in difficult circumstances, and most separations were arranged informally between parents and other relatives.

Parental behavior also mattered. Arrests and felony convictions were associated with separations in the qualitative and quantitative data respectively. Substance abuse, perhaps surprisingly given previous studies, figured only in the qualitative data, and having experienced domestic violence as an adult was not associated with separations, perhaps because of the long time frame. Relatives sometimes intervened when they thought the respondent was not parenting appropriately.

Local policies also influenced parental options and choices, as evidenced by the fact that rates of separation varied substantially by site and shelter. Partner separations contributed to, but did not fully explain, the lower numbers of two-parent families in the East (as has been found in other studies, c.f. Rog and Buckner, 2007 ). Although some shelter staff threatened to call protective services in order to induce compliance with rules and did so in one case, the additional visibility of parenting under the watchful eyes of service providers does not explain informal separations. Children were rarely taken into foster care.

This study is the first to document the extent to which poverty and homelessness lead partners to separate from one another. One in ten parents had a partner living elsewhere while the family was in shelter. The quantitative and qualitative data clearly implicate shelters in separations of partners, although the fact that over a quarter of families in shelter had two parents suggests improvements over past years in shelters’ ability to accommodate at least nuclear families. Housing voucher programs also separate parents where one has a criminal record. The interviews show that the forced separation of fathers from their families is hard on mothers and children.

Implications for research and policy

We recruited families who had spent at least a week in shelter, and it is possible that families who can resolve homelessness quickly would have lower rates of separation than the families surveyed here. Nevertheless, results are troubling with implications for both research and policy. With respect to research, the fact that studies of children who experience homelessness exclude those who are separated from their parents means that samples are seriously biased. Whether child separations reflect hardship, parental behavior, or child behavior, children who are separated are likely to be faring worse than children who remain with their families. Estimates of effects of homelessness on children may be underestimates. Shelter policies excluding men may have led researchers to exaggerate the role of single parenthood in homelessness.

With respect to policy, programs that work with poor families, from income support and housing programs to shelters and transitional housing programs to correctional institutions to substance abuse treatment programs, should pay more attention to preserving families Separations are hard on both parents and children, and separation from parents in the family of origin is a predictor of future homelessness in adults ( Rog and Buckner, 2007 ).

Family preservation may conflict with other policy goals. For example, in a congregate shelter or transitional housing program, one family’s husband and father may be seen as a potential danger to the next family’s child, and public housing rules designed to preserve the safety of the community by excluding criminals separate parents from their families. Welfare time limits may encourage adults to work, but lead to hardship, hunger, and ultimately separations for families. Prisons are designed to isolate and punish inmates – but the separation also punishes children and partners. Naming and quantifying the problem at least allows it to be taken into consideration in policy choices. Scatter-site homeless and housing programs, alternative sentencing, and substance abuse treatment programs that permit children to stay with parents may be able to reduce family separations. Housing programs should take family members living elsewhere into account in assigning units, to permit reunification. Child welfare authorities in particular should serve as advocates for minimizing separations of children from parents, and reunification when separations cannot be avoided.

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Institute of Child and Human Development, grant # 5R01HD066082. Survey data collection was funded by contract C-CHI-00943, Task Orders T-0001 and T-0003 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to Abt Associates. We thank Abt Associates, Inc., Emily Holt and Meghan Henry for conducting the interviews and Lindsay S. Mayberry and Chase Darmstadter for contributions to coding.

1 Sites were Alameda County, California – Oakland, Berkeley, Haywood, Alameda; Atlanta Georgia; Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Connecticut – New Haven, Bridgeport, Norwalk, Stamford; Denver, Colorado; Honolulu, Hawaii; Kansas City, Missouri; Louisville, Kentucky; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Phoenix, Arizona; and Salt Lake City, Utah.

• Barrow SM, Lawinski T. Contexts of mother-child separations in homeless families. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy. 2009; 9 (1):157–176. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-2415.2009.01171.x. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Berger LM. Socioeconomic factors and substandard parenting. Social Service Review. 2007; 81 (3):485–522. doi: 10.1086/520963. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Burt MR, Aron LY, Douglas T, Valente J, Lee E, Iwen B. Homelessness: Programs and the people they serve: Findings of the National Survey of Homelessness Assistance Providers and Clients. Washington, DC: US Interagency Council on Homelessness and The Urban Institute; 1999. [ Google Scholar ]
• Courtney ME, McMurtry SL, Zinn A. Housing problems experienced by recipients of child welfare services. Child Welfare. 2004; 83 (5):393–422. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cowal K, Shinn M, Weitzman BC, Stojanovic D, Labay L. Mother-child separations among homeless and housed families receiving public assistance in New York city. American Journal of Community Psychology. 2002; 30 (5):711–730. doi: 10.1023/A:1016325332527. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gubits D, Spellman B, Dunton L, Brown S, Wood M. Interim report: Family options study. Washington D.C: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; 2013. [ Google Scholar ]
• Gubits D, Shinn M, Bell S, Wood M, Dastrup S, Solari CD, … Spellman BE. Family Options Study: Short-term impacts of housing and services interventions for homeless families. Washington, D.C: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; 2015. http://www.huduser.org/portal//portal/sites/default/files/pdf/FamilyOptionsStudy_final.pdf . [ Google Scholar ]
• Mayberry LS, Shinn M, Benton JG, Wise J. Families experiencing housing instability: The effects of housing programs on family routines and rituals. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 2014; 84 (1):95–109. doi: 10.1037/h0098946. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• McDaniel M, Slack KS. Major life events and the risk of a child maltreatment investigation. Children and Youth Services Review. 2005; 27 (2):171–195. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2004.08.015. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Park JM, Metraux S, Brodbar G, Culhane DP. Child welfare involvement among children in homeless families. Child Welfare. 2004; 83 (5):423–436. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Rog DJ, Buckner JC. Homeless families and children. Paper presented at the 2007 National Symposium on Homelessness Research.2007. [ Google Scholar ]
• Sedlak AJ, Mettenburg J, Basena M, Petta I, McPherson K, Greene A, Li S. Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4): Report to Congress. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families; 2010. Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/opre/nis4_report_congress_full_pdf_jan2010.pdf . [ Google Scholar ]
• The United States Conference of Mayors. Hunger and homelessness survey: A status report on hunger and homelessness in America’s cities: A 27-city survey. Washington, D. C: Author; 2006. [ Google Scholar ]

An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. A lock ( ) or https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Keyboard Navigation

• Agriculture and Food Security
• Anti-Corruption
• Conflict Prevention and Stabilization
• Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance
• Economic Growth and Trade
• Environment, Energy, and Infrastructure
• Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment
• Global Health
• Humanitarian Assistance
• Innovation, Technology, and Research
• Water and Sanitation
• Burkina Faso
• Central Africa Regional
• Central African Republic
• Côte d’Ivoire
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• East Africa Regional
• Power Africa
• Republic of the Congo
• Sahel Regional
• Sierra Leone
• South Africa
• South Sudan
• Southern Africa Regional
• West Africa Regional
• Afghanistan
• Central Asia Regional
• Indo-Pacific
• Kyrgyz Republic
• Pacific Islands
• Philippines
• Regional Development Mission for Asia
• Timor-Leste
• Turkmenistan
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• North Macedonia
• Central America and Mexico Regional Program
• Dominican Republic
• Eastern and Southern Caribbean
• El Salvador
• Middle East Regional Platform
• West Bank and Gaza
• Dollars to Results
• Data Resources
• Strategy & Planning
• Budget & Spending
• Performance and Financial Reporting
• FY 2023 Agency Financial Report
• Records and Reports
• Budget Justification
• Our Commitment to Transparency
• Policy and Strategy
• How to Work with USAID
• Find a Funding Opportunity
• Organizations That Work With USAID
• Resources for Partners
• Get involved
• Business Forecast
• Safeguarding and Compliance
• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
• Mission, Vision and Values
• News & Information
• Operational Policy (ADS)
• Organization
• Stay Connected
• USAID History
• Video Library
• Coordinators
• Nondiscrimination Notice and Civil Rights
• Collective Bargaining Agreements
• Disabilities Employment Program
• Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey
• Reasonable Accommodations
• Urgent Hiring Needs
• Vacancy Announcements
• Search Search Search

Title XII Report to Congress, FY 2023

Overall Summary of Fiscal Year 2023 Progress Across Feed the Future Innovation Labs

USAID partners with Title XII universities on a wide range of topics to leverage the advanced capacities of U.S. universities, including on agricultural research and development, analytics, climate change, and nutrition. Many of these partnerships are within the Feed the Future Innovation Labs (FTFILs), which focus on research to reduce hunger, poverty, and malnutrition as part of the U.S. government’s Global Food Security Strategy. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, the 22 FTFILs, supported by 83 U.S. colleges and universities in 39 states and U.S. territories, partnered with over 130 international institutions of higher education in 39 countries. These partnerships include both research and degree programs.

The FTFILs provide degree training to support the sustainability of food systems, agricultural and nutrition research, and development activities while helping develop the next generation of scientists. In FY 2023, the 22 FTFILs supported food security degree training for 305 individuals (47 percent female). Innovation Labs also provided 611 people with nutrition-related professional training (50 percent female), including 19 nutrition-related degrees.1 Innovation Labs hosted 33 exchange visitors in food and agriculture at U.S. universities, including doctoral and master’s degree candidates, research scholars, non-degree students, and short-term scholars.2 In FY 2023, the FTFILs reported production of 178 peer-reviewed scientific publications.

A FTFIL partners meeting was held in Nairobi, Kenya on May 15–19, 2023. The purpose of the meeting was to understand geographic differences, priorities, and trade-offs of climate change and embrace opportunities for local leadership and international collaboration.

A FTFIL annual meeting was convened in Washington, D.C., on September 12–14, 2023. The purpose of the meeting was to understand differing contextual approaches, priorities, and implications of inclusive gender research in agricultural innovation and development; spotlight systems and scaling obstacles while promoting transformative, equitable solutions; and seize opportunities for gender-focused leadership and global collaboration in driving inclusive innovation for improved livelihoods. Sessions included presentations on FTFIL approaches to innovate for social transformation, mainstream gender into traditional research agendas and scaling formulas, redirect innovation that could exacerbate inequality, and partner with minority-serving institutions (MSIs) for improved innovation, scaling, and local engagement.

Reports to Congress

Every year Congress asks the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to submit a series of reports on various matters of concern. In an effort to provide a maximum of transparency to the general public, these reports are now being made available at this web site.

Related Reports

Child wasting, fy 2024.

• August 30, 2024

Food Security, FY 2024

• July 23, 2024

International Food Assistance Report, FY 2023

• July 18, 2024

Global Malnutrition Prevention and Treatment Act, 2023

• December 14, 2023

Share This Page