Data
Homelessness is a very complex and multi-faceted issue that touches many different people.
Contributing Causes of Homelessness
The major reasons and lack of causes for homelessness as documented by many reports and studies include:
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Unavailability of employment opportunities.
Unavailability of employment opportunities.•Lack of affordable healthcare.
Lack of affordable healthcare.•War or armed conflict.
War or armed conflict.•Lack of affordable housing.
Lack of affordable housing. •Prison release and re-entry into society.
Prison release and re-entry into society.•The mass deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill institutions.
The mass deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill institutions.•Forced eviction - In many countries, people lose their homes by government order to make way for newer upscale high rise buildings, roadways, and other governmental needs. The compensation may be minimal, in which case the former occupants cannot find appropriate new housing and become homeless.
Forced eviction - In many countries, people lose their homes by government order to make way for newer upscale high rise buildings, roadways, and other governmental needs. The compensation may be minimal, in which case the former occupants cannot find appropriate new housing and become homeless.•Mortgage foreclosures where mortgage holders see the best solution to a loan default is to take and sell the house to pay off the debt. The popular press made an issue of this in 2008; the real magnitude of the problem is undocumented.
Mortgage foreclosures where mortgage holders see the best solution to a loan default is to take and sell the house to pay off the debt. The popular press made an issue of this in 2008; the real magnitude of the problem is undocumented.•Property taxes. Even after the house is paid for, it still belongs to the city/county/state government and the owner must continue to pay the property taxes for as long as he/she resides on the property.
Property taxes. Even after the house is paid for, it still belongs to the city/county/state government and the owner must continue to pay the property taxes for as long as he/she resides on the property.
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A substantial percentage of the U.S. homeless populations are individuals who are chronically unemployed or have difficulty managing their lives effectively due to prolonged and severe drug and/or alcohol abuse. Substance abuse can cause homelessness from behavioral patterns associated with addiction that alienate an addicted individual's family and friends who could otherwise provide support during difficult economic times. Increased wealth disparity and income inequality causes distortions in the housing market that push rent burdens higher, making housing unaffordable.
Problems Faced by Homeless People
The basic problem of homelessness is the human need for personal shelter, warmth and safety, which can be literally vital. Other basic difficulties include:
•personal security, quiet, and privacy, especially for sleeping
personal security, quiet, and privacy, especially for sleeping•safekeeping of bedding, clothing and possessions, which may have to be carried at all times
safekeeping of bedding, clothing and possessions, which may have to be carried at all times•hygiene and shaving facilities
hygiene and shaving facilities•cleaning and drying clothes
cleaning and drying clothes•obtaining, preparing and storing food in small quantities
obtaining, preparing and storing food in small quantities•keeping contacts, without a permanent location or mailing address
keeping contacts, without a permanent location or mailing address•hostility and legal powers against urban vagrancy.
hostility and legal powers against urban vagrancy.Homeless people face many problems beyond the lack of a safe and suitable home. They are often faced with many social disadvantages and reduced access to private and public services such as:
•Reduced access to health care.
Reduced access to health care.•Limited access to education.
Limited access to education.•Increased risk of suffering from violence and abuse.
Increased risk of suffering from violence and abuse.•General rejection or discrimination from other people.
General rejection or discrimination from other people.•Not being seen as suitable for employment.
Not being seen as suitable for employment.•Reduced access to banking services to save money.
Reduced access to banking services to save money.•Reduced access to communications technology, such as telephones and the internet.
Reduced access to communications technology, such as telephones and the internet.Such difficulties will often be exacerbated by the circumstances in which someone has become homeless, and consequential vulnerabilities such as health problems or alcohol and drug dependence.
Quest Partnership to End Homelssness and partnering organizations have and continue to be a vital partners in the Ten Year Plan to end homelessness.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) Ten Essentials on How To End Homelessness
STEP 1: PLAN
Your community has a set of strategies focused on ending homelessness. A wide range of players has made funding and implementation commitments to these strategies.
STEP 2: DATA
Your community has a homelessness management information system that can be analyzed to assess how long people are homeless, what their needs are, what the causes of homelessness are, how people interact with mainstream systems of care, the effectiveness of interventions, and the number of homeless people.
STEP 3: EMERGENCY PREVENTION
Your community has in place an emergency homelessness prevention program that includes rent, mortgage, and utility assistance, case management, landlord or lender intervention, and other strategies to prevent eviction and homelessness.
STEP 4: SYSTEMS PREVENTION
Mainstream programs that provide care and services to low-income people consistently assess and respond to their housing needs. Ensuring that public institutions (hospitals, prisons, jails, mental health facilities) are discharging people into housing is equally important.
STEP 5: OUTREACH
Your community has an outreach and engagement system designed to reduce barriers and encourage homeless people to enter appropriate housing linked with appropriate services.
STEP 6: SHORTEN HOMELESSNESS
The shelter and transitional housing system in your community is organized to minimize the length of time people remain homeless, and the number of times they become homeless. Outcome measures are a key component of this effort.
STEP 7: RAPID RE-HOUSING
Your community has housing search and housing placement services available to rapidly re-house all people losing their housing or who are homeless and who want permanent housing.
STEP 8: SERVICES
Once households are re-housed, they have rapid access to services. Mainstream programs―TANF, SSI, Medicaid, and others― provide the bulk of these services.
STEP 9: PERMANENT HOUSING
Your community has a sufficient supply affordable housing and permanent supportive housing to meet the needs of extremely low-income households and chronically homeless people.
STEP 10: INCOME
When it is necessary in order to obtain housing, your community assists homeless people to secure enough income to afford rent, by rapidly linking them with employment and/or benefits. It also connects them to opportunities for increasing their incomes after housing placement (opportunities provided primarily by mainstream programs).
