Skip to main content

Currently Skimming:

1. Who Are The Homeless?
Pages 1-21

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 1...
... As economic circumstances and demographic forces have fluctuated, so have the size and composition of the homeless population, although relatively permanent skid rows where homeless people congregate have long been a feature of many large cities. In the past decade, however, the problem of homelessness has increasingly captured public attention.
From page 2...
... a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings. This definition refers specifically to homeless individuals, but it is equally applicable to homeless families.
From page 3...
... Assumes 20% growth in homelessness each year. aAdapted from Alliance Housing Council (1988)
From page 4...
... A substantial majority of the cities reported that families were the fastest growing component of the homeless population. One recent estimate of the number of homeless people in the United States, published in June 1988 by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, calculates that currently, on any given night, there are 735,000 homeless people in the United States; that during the course of 1988, 1.3 million to 2.0 million people will be homeless for one or more nights; and that these people are among approximately 6 million Americans who, because of their disproportionately high expenditures for housing costs, are at extreme risk of becoming homeless (Alliance Housing Council, 19881.
From page 5...
... Moreover, the characteristics of the homeless population differ dramatically from one community to another. Even the recent increase in homeless families is not uniform throughout the country.
From page 6...
... Of the 25 cities in the study, 7 reported recent increases in the numbers of homeless women. In 1963, homeless women represented only 3 percent of the homeless population (Bogue, 19634.
From page 7...
... and 23 percent from drug abuse. The most recent statistics on homeless veterans come from the Homeless Chronically Mentally Ill outreach program conducted by the Veterans Administration as mandated by P.L.
From page 8...
... 8 o 'e · 3 Cal o ._ _' ._ ._ ¢ Cal Cal o o o of m .o O ~ ._ ~ Cal ~ _ 3 o Ct o .
From page 10...
... Several authors have reported that between 5 and 10 percent of the homeless are employed full-time and between 10 and 20 percent are employed part-time or episodically (Brown et al., 1982,1983; Multnomah County, Oregon, Department of Human Services, 1984, 1985; Rossi et al., 19864. These people frequently perform unskilled labor; are on the bottom rung of the economic ladder; and often lack job security, health insurance, and the skills necessary to succeed in a high-tech economy.
From page 11...
... Homeless Families As mentioned previously, the fastest growing subgroup among the homeless population consists of families with children. In late 1986, the U.S.
From page 12...
... Bassuk and colleagues (1986) , in their study of 80 homeless families living in family shelters in Massachusetts, also described fragmented support networks.
From page 13...
... . A substantial proportion of homeless families using the sheltering system can be characterized as multiproblem families (Bassuk et al., 19861.
From page 14...
... indicate that of 163 families with 331 children in eight cities, only 57 percent of the homeless children attended school regularly. A study of 52 families residing in five New York City welfare hotels reported that, according to parents, 60 percent of their children missed less than 3 days of school per month, 30 percent missed between 4 and 10 days of school per month, and 10 percent missed more than 10 days a month, which is over half of the school days (Columbia University Masters of Public Administration Program, 19851.
From page 15...
... Additional issues regarding the throwaway youth population are discussed in successive chapters: the dynamics of the running away process as it relates to homelessness (Chapter 21; the health problems of runaway youths (Chapter 3~; and the current state of services for this population (Chapter 5~. Homeless Elderly People The percentage of elderly people among the homeless population is less than that among the general population.
From page 16...
... The homeless elderly are particularly reluctant to use certain sheltering facilities that they view as dangerous (Coalition for the Homeless/Gray Panthers of New York City, 19841. To quote Joseph Doolin, the director of the Kit Clarke Senior House, which operates the Cardinal Medeiros Day Center for the homeless elderly of Boston, "younger homeless people tend to 'squeeze out' older street people Efrom the shelters]
From page 17...
... Even those communities with previously adequate social service systems are finding it increasingly difficult to serve the growing numbers of homeless people, especially in areas where the decline of agriculture, forestry, and mining is severe. SUMMARY The homeless population is heterogeneous.
From page 18...
... 1986. Characteristics of sheltered homeless families.
From page 19...
... 1985. Homeless families living in hotels: The provision of publicly supported emergency temporary housing services.
From page 20...
... 1987. Progress Report on the Veterans Administration Program for Homeless Chronically Mentally Ill Veterans.
From page 21...
... 1987. Status Report on Homeless Families in America's Cities: A 29-City Survey.


This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More information on Chapter Skim is available.