The Duration of Homeless Careers: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Twenty homeless people were interviewed about the nature and frequency of their victimization experiences and fear of crime along with their past and current criminal justice involvement. Although this is an exploratory project we have preliminary results which form the basis for more rigorous evaluative studies in the future.

A Journey Home: What Drives How Long People Are Homeless?

“…Interestingly U.S. studies of homelessness, many of which are based on shelter populations, often find that the duration of homelessness is significantly longer for men than for women (Piliavin et al 1993;Culhane and Kuhn 1998;Allgood and Warren 2003), but that women are more likely to return to homelessness (Piliavin et al 1996).…”

“…2 Unfortunately, data constraints -and the inherent econometric difficulties in achieving identification -imply that those studies that do examine the dynamics of homelessness have been unable to shed light on the effect of any duration dependence (Allgood & Warren 2003;Culhane & Kuhn 1998;Piliavin et al 1993;.…”

What leads to homeless shelter re-entry? An exploration of the psychosocial, health, contextual and demographic factors

“…1-3 Unfortunately, repeated episodes of housing instability are common and serve to increase the overall duration of homelessness. [4][5][6] Health is influenced by a variety of social factors beyond our individual control and homeless people are especially vulnerable in this regard.…”

“…1-3 Unfortunately, repeated episodes of housing instability are common and serve to increase the overall duration of homelessness. [4][5][6] Health is influenced by a variety of social factors beyond our individual control and homeless people are especially vulnerable in this regard.7 For example, compared to the general population, the homeless population has higher rates of mental illness, 2,8,9 experiences more victimization, 10 and has higher rates of incarceration and legal issues, 11 poverty, 12 unemployment 13 and social isolation.14 For a variety of reasons, little research has been done to rigorously analyze the relative effect of these social determinants of health on returns to homelessness. While some studies have explored factors contributing to long-term homelessness, [15][16][17] few have controlled for a comprehensive list of psychosocial vulnerabilities in their analysis.…”

“…[1][2][3] Unfortunately, repeated episodes of housing instability are common and serve to increase the overall duration of homelessness. [4][5][6] Health is influenced by a variety of social factors beyond our individual control and homeless people are especially vulnerable in this regard. 7 For example, compared to the general population, the homeless population has higher rates of mental illness, 2,8,9 experiences more victimization, 10 and has higher rates of incarceration and legal issues, 11 poverty, 12 unemployment 13 and social isolation.…”