The Rise of Homeless in the United States
Homeless is a situation in which a person lacks the resources to obtain or maintain a safe and decent place to sleep. A wide range of circumstances can cause homelessness, including but not limited to, a loss of employment, eviction from a rental property, domestic violence, or a medical crisis. In addition, many people who are homeless experience poor mental health and substance use issues that may contribute to their lack of housing stability. These difficulties often feed off each other, and result in a vicious cycle of long-term homelessness.
Homelessness in the United States has a long history, and it is one of our nation’s most challenging problems. As such, there is a growing recognition that our country’s unhoused population has specific and complex needs that cannot be addressed with the same approach as other public concerns such as poverty or drug abuse. The scholarly community is beginning to understand that homelessness is an issue in its own right, and that it must be tackled with a multidisciplinary approach.
The most visible part of this movement is the increase in the number of local, state, and federal government-funded agencies that focus on preventing homelessness. These programs include emergency shelters, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless individuals. Many of these organizations are staffed by highly dedicated and skilled professionals who work tirelessly to break down stereotypes about homeless people and improve the quality of services offered.
A growing number of individuals are homeless because of a lack of affordable housing. This includes families with children, people with a disability, and formerly incarcerated individuals. Increasingly, there are also people who have lost their jobs and have been forced to find new living arrangements due to economic forces such as globalization and the changing of workforce demographics.
Another important factor in the rise of homelessness is a decline in incomes. Since 2001, the median income of renter households has increased by just four percent after adjusting for inflation. People who are sheltered or unsheltered and receive assistance from social service agencies often struggle to make ends meet. They may become homeless if they are discharged from a system of care or support such as out-of-home care or child protection systems, hospital discharge planning, inpatient or outpatient mental health services, disability services, corrections, or addiction recovery programs (Rossi, 1990).
Other causes of homelessness include a lack of affordable and available jobs and personal or family trauma, such as a divorce or a loved one’s death. Homeless people also face significant challenges in accessing healthcare, which is more difficult to obtain without adequate housing and stable incomes. Finally, people who are homeless can be more vulnerable to infectious diseases like the flu or a COVID-19 outbreak. All of these factors have contributed to a significant rise in the prevalence of homelessness in recent years. This has also led to a resurgence in interest in studying the problem from a variety of perspectives, with an emphasis on understanding subpopulations, such as homeless families and runaway and throwaway youth.