Homelessness: The Causes and Facts

Introduction

At a time when the economy is booming, unemployment is low; and the Dow Jones has set new records, the National Coalition for the Homeless estimates that as many as 3 million people are homeless in the U.S. during the course of a year.

 

The primary causes of homelessness are the lack of affordable housing, the lack of living wage jobs or sufficient income, and the lack of adequate health and supportive services. Local and national efforts to address homelessness often focus on emergency services, temporary shelter, food, clothing, and emergency healthcare rather than on the root causes.

 

While advocates are busy fighting for new affordable housing and creating new job opportunities, homelessness is outpacing them. While shelter beds are vitally important and life saving, but they are not a permanent solution. Until the root causes of homelessness are addressed and permanent solutions adequately funded, the problem will continue to worsen.

 

Who Are the Homeless?

• 22 percent of homeless people are veterans. There are more homeless veterans today than U.S. soldiers who died in Vietnam.¹

• The average age of a homeless person in the United States is 9 years old.²

• In the US, 29 percent of homeless families that have ever received TANF reported having their benefits cut or reduced in the last 6 months.³

• 16 percent of homeless people spent time in foster care, group homes, shelters, or welfare hotels before they were 18.⁴

• As many as 25-40 percent of homeless people work full- or part-time, but cannot afford to pay rent.⁵

 

National Homeless Demographics

45 percent - single men

38 percent - families with children

14 percent - single women

3 percent - unaccompanied

 

49 percent - African American

32 percent - White

12 percent - Latino

4 percent - Native American

3 percent - Asian

 

CAUSE: Lack of Affordable Housing

• The affordable housing shortage, once concentrated in the cities, has spread to the suburbs. The number of suburban households with critical housing needs jumped by 146,000 from 1991 to 1995 - a nine percent increase.⁶

• Nationally, 10.5 million renters compete for 6.1 million low-income units. This gap leaves 4.4 million people unable to find an affordable place to live.⁷

• More than 1 million families nationwide are on waiting lists for assistance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).⁸

• Nationally, requests for housing assistance have increased by 74 percent in the last year. Only 27 percent of eligible low-income households currently receive housing assistance.⁹

• In 1998, 44 percent of families nationwide lived doubled or tripled up with family or friends prior to entering homeless shelters.¹⁰

 

CAUSE: Lack of Living Wage Jobs

• Between 1982 and 1990, temporary employment grew by 300 percent.¹¹ In 1997, almost 30 percent of all U.S. workers were employed in part-time or temporary positions, even though many of these workers actively sought full-time work.¹²

• A person must work full time and earn at least $8.29/hour to reach the federal poverty level for a family of four ($16,588). According to the most recent Census Bureau report, 2.3 million people worked full-time in 1997 yet were below the poverty line.¹³

• A full-time worker at the minimum wage of $5.15/hr. earns an annual income of $10,300 before taxes. Minimum-wage jobs generally provide no benefits such as health insurance or daycare, nor do they provide opportunity for advancement. The real value of the minimum wage in 1997 was 18.1 percent less than in 1979.¹⁴

• Between 1980 and 1998, the average pay of working people increased just 68 percent, while CEO compensation grew by 1,596 percent. The average CEO of a major corporation made $10.6 million in 1998, 419 times more than an average blue-collar worker.¹⁵

• A 1998 welfare grant for a family of three was $377. The buying power of a 1998 welfare grant was less than 44 percent of a grant in 1973.¹⁶

 

CAUSE: Lack of Health and Supportive Services

• Approximately 38 percent of homeless people suffer from a substance abuse problem.¹⁷

• In 1996, Congress eliminated SSI and SSDI benefits for people diagnosed with an addiction.

• There are currently no federal programs that target funds for substance abuse programs for homeless people.¹⁸

• The mortality rate for a homeless person is 3-4 times higher than that of the general public.¹⁹

• A national study indicated that 13 percent of homeless individuals became homeless due to health problems.²⁰

• Homeless individuals are 10-15 times more likely to suffer from gangrene, gout and ulcerations resulting in amputation; 2-3 times more likely to suffer from gastro-intestinal disorders; and 2-4 times more prone to hypertension.²¹

• 20-25 percent of homeless people suffer from serious mental illness.²²

• Many mentally ill people are inappropriately discharged from hospitals to the streets. Nevertheless, only 5-7 percent of homeless people with mental illness need to be institutionalized. As many as 95 percent could live in community settings if appropriate supportive services and housing were available.²³

• Eight percent of homeless people suffer from AIDS or are HIV-positive.²⁴

 

Impact of Homelessness on Children

Families with children are the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population. Homelessness has a particularly devastating impact on children. One problem that often arises is a disruption in schooling as homeless children are forced to change schools repeatedly and miss many days in the school year.

• It takes an average of 4-6 months for a child to recover academically from a change in schools.²⁵

• 66 percent of students who missed 20 or more school days during first, second or third grade will drop out of school.²⁶

• 50 percent of all children in shelters show signs of anxiety and depression.²⁷

• Children in shelters show as high as 70 percent rate of delay in immunizations, compared to 22 percent among low-income children who are housed.²⁸

 

Shelter Types

Overnight Shelters: Located in churches or other larger buildings, these shelters are open only at night. Most overnight shelters simply serve the immediate needs of homeless people by providing a warm place to sleep and some food to eat.

Warming Centers: Similar to overnight shelters, but they are open only between October and April.

Transitional Shelters: These shelters are often geared toward a specific population, such as battered women. They attempt to break the cycle of homelessness by providing a structured, homelike environment and helping people transition to more permanent housing. The standard length of stay is 120 days.

Second-Stage Housing: These programs provide alternative, low-income housing in individual apartments, usually for up to two years. Social services and case management are provided to help people make a transition to more stable permanent housing. Housing fees are often charged, usually at about one-third of the person's income.

 

Targeting Treatment for Homeless People

Most drug and alcohol addicts never become homeless, but people who are poor and addicted are more susceptible to homelessness. Many homeless people develop an addiction after becoming homeless. The challenge of controlling addiction, regardless of when it arises, coupled with a lack of proper treatment programs, makes moving beyond homelessness extremely difficult.

 

Of the 38 percent of homeless people who suffer from an alcohol or drug addiction, less than half receive proper treatment.²⁹ The National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors has identified homeless people as a group with specific needs they are unable to meet, but little is done to improve access to treatment for homeless people.³⁰

 

Several studies have shown that treatment is a more cost-effective and helpful way to address substance abuse that the usual alternative of incarceration. A national study found that, following treatment, clients who reported being homeless dropped by 43 percent while the employment rate increased by 19 percent.³¹ In California, a 1991 study showed that for every dollar spent on treatment $7 were saved by the taxpayers.³²

 

Recently, the increasing number of people incarcerated for drug-related crimes has prompted several states, including New York and Arizona, to cease mandatory prison sentences in favor or treatment programs. In addition, more than two-thirds of U.S. prison wardens favor the increased use of correctional treatment options, such as residential drug treatment programs and halfway houses.³³

 

Domestic Violence and Homelessness

Domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness among women and children. Half of all homeless women cite domestic violence as their primary cause for becoming homeless. Many women who leave their abusers have no other option but the streets. Leaving an abusive relationship often means leaving property and family income behind.

 

Of women who become homeless due to abuse, 40 percent are not able to find room in a domestic violence shelter. There are nearly three times as many animal shelters in the U.S. as shelters for battered women.³⁴

 

The lack of decent affordable housing and childcare compounds their already desperate situation. In some cases, the painful experience of being homeless causes women to return to their abusers. For others, relentless batterers-those who show up at a woman's new job and harass her-make regaining stability and independence a difficult task.

 

Welfare Reform and Family Homelessness

Welfare Reform has added to the problem of family homelessness. Welfare recipients need to move from welfare to work within five years or they will lose their benefits. Many families are already becoming homeless when they are sanctioned due to stricter work requirements.

 

Despite widespread publicity about reduced welfare rolls, only 27 percent of welfare cases in 1998 were closed due to increased income, while 50 percent were closed due to failure to keep an appointment or provide paperwork.³⁵ Without any support many families that are sanctioned, even when the sanction is caused by a state error, end up in a shelter.

 

Even families that do find work and move off welfare have difficulty maintaining housing. Nationally, families leaving welfare make an average of just $5,000 in the first year and $9,000 after five years.³⁶ These incomes put families under 30 percent of national median income and at high risk of homelessness. Families that leave welfare for very low-paying jobs may end up in worse financial situations and at a higher risk of homelessness than when they were on welfare-especially with the loss of medical assistance and increased costs associated with working such as childcare and transportation.

 

Homelessness and Mental Illness

Nationwide, 20-25 percent of homeless people suffer from some form of serious mental illness.³⁷ Solutions for this population are not "one size fits all." Only 5-7 percent of homeless persons with mental illness need to be institutionalized, while most others could live in community settings with appropriate supportive services and housing.³⁸ Despite this fact, many homeless people that are mentally ill are not able to obtain the supportive services, such as case management, treatment, and supportive housing, that they need to find and maintain housing.

 

In the meantime, homeless people with severe mental illness tend to suffer more: they remain homeless for longer periods of time, have less contact with family and friends, encounter more barriers to employment, tend to be in poorer physical health, and have more contact with the legal system than other homeless people.³⁹ Without more treatment and rehabilitation services, many mentally ill homeless people will remain on the streets and not regain their independence and find stable housing.

 

Information taken from: The Facts Behind the Faces - A Fact Sheet From the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

 

¹ US Conference of Mayor's Report on Hunger and Homelessness, 1998.

² Homes for the Homeless, New York.

³ See note 1.

⁴ Ten Cities: A Snapshot of Family Homelessness Across America, Homes for the Homeless and the Institute for Children and Poverty, 1997-1998.

⁵ National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, 1999.

⁶ HUD press release, April 28, 1998.

⁷ Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, In Search of Shelter: The Growing Shortage of Affordable Rental Housing, June 1998.

⁸ See note 6.

⁹ See note 1.

¹⁰ See note 4.

¹¹ Jobs That Pay, The Work Poor Project, Northern Illinois University, 1995.

¹² Jobs Picture: Unemployment Steady, but Growth Slows, Economic Policy Institute, 1998.

¹³ US Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports. Poverty in the United States: 1997 U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1998.

¹⁴ National Coalition for the Homeless, February 1999.

¹⁵ AFL-CIO Executive Pay Watch, 1999.

¹⁶ www.jsc.nasa.gov/bu2/inflateCPI.html

¹⁷ See note 1.

¹⁸ National Coalition for the Homeless, Homelessness and Chemical Dependency: Needs, Services, Funding.

¹⁹ Barrow S., D. Herman, P. Cordova, E. Strueing Mortality among Homeless Shelter Residents in New York City, April 1999.

²⁰ Life and Death on the Streets, National Coalition for the Homeless, 1993.

²¹ Ibid.

²² National Coalition for the Homeless, Fact Sheet #5, 1997.

²³ Ibid.

²⁴ See note 1.

²⁵ Dr. Joy Rogers of the Loyola University Department of Education, Education Report of Rule 706 Expert Panel, presented in B.H. v. Johnson, 1991.

²⁶ Against the Odds: Early Identification of High School Drop Outs, Chicago Panel on School Policy Study, 1989.

²⁷ Bassuk, El, and L. Rosenberg, Psychological Characteristics of Homeless Children and Children with Homes, Pediatrics 1990.

²⁸ Fierman AH, Dreyer BP, Acker PJ, Legano L. Status of Immunization and Iron Nutrition in New York City Homeless Children. Clinical Pediatrics, 1993 (March).

²⁹ National Law Center on Homelessness and Pverty, http://www.tomco.net/_nlchp/health.htm. See note 13.

³⁰ See note 13.

³¹ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), National Treatment Improvement Study (NTIES), http://www.health.org/nties97/employ.htm.

³² National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD), http://www.nasadad.org/treatment1.htm.

³³ U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, 19974, from http://www.jointogether.org/sa/

³⁴ Senate Judiciary Committee, 1990.

³⁵ IDHS Caseload Activity Reports.

³⁶ Daniel R. Meyer and Maria Cancia. Life After Welfare: The Economic Well-Being of Women and Children Following Exit from AFDC, Institute for Research and Poverty, University of Wisconsin, 1996.

³⁷ Koegel, Paul, et al. The Causes of Homelessness, 1996.

³⁸ Federal Task Force on Homelessness and Severe Mental Illness, 1992.

³⁹ Kleppner, Paul and Theodore Nikolas. Working After Welfare: Is Illinois' Booming Economy Creating Enough Jobs, Midwestern Job Gap Project, Chicago, 1997.

(614) 280-1984 Voice
(614) 463-1060 Fax

cohhio@cohhio.org