How to House the Homeless

by Ingrid Gould Ellen

Author	: Ingrid Gould Ellen
Publisher	: Russell Sage Foundation
Total Pages	: 201
Release	: 2010-06-24
Genre	: Social Science
ISBN	: 1610447298

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How to House the Homeless, editors Ingrid Gould Ellen and Brendan O'Flaherty propose that the answers entail rethinking how housing markets operate and developing more efficient interventions in existing service programs. The book critically reassesses where we are now, analyzes the most promising policies and programs going forward, and offers a new agenda for future research. How to House the Homeless makes clear the inextricable link between homelessness and housing policy. Contributor Jill Khadduri reviews the current residential services system and housing subsidy programs. For the chronically homeless, she argues, a combination of assisted housing approaches can reach the greatest number of people and, specifically, an expanded Housing Choice Voucher system structured by location, income, and housing type can more efficiently reach people at-risk of becoming homeless and reduce time spent homeless. Robert Rosenheck examines the options available to homeless people with mental health problems and reviews the cost-effectiveness of five service models: system integration, supported housing, clinical case management, benefits outreach, and supported employment. He finds that only programs that subsidize housing make a noticeable dent in homelessness, and that no one program shows significant benefits in multiple domains of life. Contributor Sam Tsemberis assesses the development and cost-effectiveness of the Housing First program, which serves mentally ill homeless people in more than four hundred cities. He asserts that the program's high housing retention rate and general effectiveness make it a viable candidate for replication across the country. Steven Raphael makes the case for a strong link between homelessness and local housing market regulations—which affect housing affordability—and shows that the problem is more prevalent in markets with stricter zoning laws. Finally, Brendan O'Flaherty bridges the theoretical gap between the worlds of public health and housing research, evaluating the pros and cons of subsidized housing programs and the economics at work in the rental housing market and home ownership. Ultimately, he suggests, the most viable strategies will serve as safety nets—"social insurance"—to reach people who are homeless now and to prevent homelessness in the future. It is crucial that the links between effective policy and the whole cycle of homelessness—life conditions, service systems, and housing markets—be made clear now. With a keen eye on the big picture of housing policy, How to House the Homeless shows what works and what doesn't in reducing the numbers of homeless and reaching those most at risk.

Housing First

by Deborah Padgett

Author	: Deborah Padgett
Publisher	: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages	: 249
Release	: 2016
Genre	: Medical
ISBN	: 019998980X

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This book provides a unique portrayal of Housing First as a 'paradigm shift' in homeless services. Since 1992, this approach has spread nationally and internationally, changing systems and reversing the usual continuum of care. The success of Housing First has few parallels in social and human services.

Homelessness Is a Housing Problem

by Gregg Colburn

Author	: Gregg Colburn
Publisher	: Univ of California Press
Total Pages	: 283
Release	: 2022-03-15
Genre	: Social Science
ISBN	: 0520383796

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Using rich and detailed data, this groundbreaking book explains why homelessness has become a crisis in America and reveals the structural conditions that underlie it. In Homelessness Is a Housing Problem, Gregg Colburn and Clayton Page Aldern seek to explain the substantial regional variation in rates of homelessness in cities across the United States. In a departure from many analytical approaches, Colburn and Aldern shift their focus from the individual experiencing homelessness to the metropolitan area. Using accessible statistical analysis, they test a range of conventional beliefs about what drives the prevalence of homelessness in a given city—including mental illness, drug use, poverty, weather, generosity of public assistance, and low-income mobility—and find that none explain the regional variation observed across the country. Instead, housing market conditions, such as the cost and availability of rental housing, offer a far more convincing account. With rigor and clarity, Homelessness Is a Housing Problem explores U.S. cities' diverse experiences with housing precarity and offers policy solutions for unique regional contexts.

Housing the Homeless

by Jon Erickson

Author	: Jon Erickson
Publisher	: Routledge
Total Pages	: 459
Release	: 2017-07-12
Genre	: Social Science
ISBN	: 135151492X

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Homelessness has become a lasting issue of vital social concern. As the number of the homeless has grown, the complexity of the issue has become increasingly clear to researchers and private and public service providers. The plight of the homeless raises many ethical, anthropological, political, sociological, and public health questions. The most serious and perplexing of these questions is what steps private, charitable, and public organizations can take to alleviate and eventually solve the problem. The concept of homelessness is difficult to define and measure. Generally, persons are thought to be homeless if they have no permanent residence and seek security, rest, and protection from the elements. The homeless typically live in areas that are not designed to be shelters (e.g., parks, bus terminals, under bridges, in cars), occupy structures without permission (e.g., squatters), or are provided emergency shelter by a public or private agency. Some definitions of homelessness include persons living on a short-term basis in single-room-occupancy hotels or motels, or temporarily residing in social or health-service facilities without a permanent address. Housing the Homeless is a collection of case studies that bring together a variety of perspectives to help develop a clear understanding of the homelessness problem. The editors include information on the background and politics of the problem and descriptions of the current homeless population. The book concludes with a resource section, which highlights governmental policies and programs established to deal with the problem of homelessness.

Permanent Supportive Housing

by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Author	: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher	: National Academies Press
Total Pages	: 227
Release	: 2018-08-11
Genre	: Social Science
ISBN	: 0309477042

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Chronic homelessness is a highly complex social problem of national importance. The problem has elicited a variety of societal and public policy responses over the years, concomitant with fluctuations in the economy and changes in the demographics of and attitudes toward poor and disenfranchised citizens. In recent decades, federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, and the philanthropic community have worked hard to develop and implement programs to solve the challenges of homelessness, and progress has been made. However, much more remains to be done. Importantly, the results of various efforts, and especially the efforts to reduce homelessness among veterans in recent years, have shown that the problem of homelessness can be successfully addressed. Although a number of programs have been developed to meet the needs of persons experiencing homelessness, this report focuses on one particular type of intervention: permanent supportive housing (PSH). Permanent Supportive Housing focuses on the impact of PSH on health care outcomes and its cost-effectiveness. The report also addresses policy and program barriers that affect the ability to bring the PSH and other housing models to scale to address housing and health care needs.

Homelessness, Health, and Human Needs

by Institute of Medicine

Author	: Institute of Medicine
Publisher	: National Academies Press
Total Pages	: 257
Release	: 1988-02-01
Genre	: Medical
ISBN	: 0309038324

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There have always been homeless people in the United States, but their plight has only recently stirred widespread public reaction and concern. Part of this new recognition stems from the problem's prevalence: the number of homeless individuals, while hard to pin down exactly, is rising. In light of this, Congress asked the Institute of Medicine to find out whether existing health care programs were ignoring the homeless or delivering care to them inefficiently. This book is the report prepared by a committee of experts who examined these problems through visits to city slums and impoverished rural areas, and through an analysis of papers written by leading scholars in the field.

Designing for the Homeless

by Sam Davis

Author	: Sam Davis
Publisher	: Univ of California Press
Total Pages	: 174
Release	: 2004-11-29
Genre	: Architecture
ISBN	: 0520235258

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"An eye opener. The subject of homelessness has often been discussed, but no one before has cut such a broad swath through the subject. There is no other book that deals with the architecture of homelessness."—Robert Gutman, author of Architectural Practice: A Critical View "Davis lays out a compelling case for us all, especially designers, to get involved in solutions for the problem of homelessness. He discusses the plight of the homeless in terms that make them real, and his chapter on the costs of homelessness lays out the argument for involvement in very practical terms."—Michael Underhill, Professor, School of Architecture at Arizona State University

In the Midst of Plenty

by Marybeth Shinn

Author	: Marybeth Shinn
Publisher	: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages	: 231
Release	: 2020-01-24
Genre	: Psychology
ISBN	: 1119104750

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Foreword by Nan Roman, President and CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness This book explains how to end the U.S. homelessness crisis by bringing together the best scholarship on the subject and sharing solutions that both local communities and national policy-makers can apply now. In the Midst of Plenty shifts understanding of homelessness away from individual disability to larger contexts of poverty, income inequality, housing affordability, and social exclusion. Homelessness experts Shinn and Khadduri provide guidance on how to end homelessness for people who experience it and how to prevent so many people from reaching the point where they have no alternative to sleeping on the street or in emergency shelters. The authors show that we know how to end homelessness—if we devote the necessary resources to doing so. In the Midst of Plenty: Homelessness and What to Do About It is an excellent resource for policy-makers, professionals in the homeless services system, and anyone else who wants to end homelessness. It also can serve as a text in undergraduate or masters courses in public policy, sociology, psychology, social work, urban studies, or housing policy. "The knowledgeable and thoughtful authors of this book—two brilliant women who know as much as anyone in the country about the nature of homelessness and its solutions—have done a great service by taking us on a journey through the history of homelessness, how our responses have changed, and how we can end it." —Nan Roman, President and CEO National Alliance to End Homelessness. "Shinn and Khadduri's new book is a thorough yet concise examination of what we know about the nature and causes of homelessness, and the crucial lessons learned. This critically important work provides a roadmap to restoring basic housing and income security as viable policy options, in the face of our daunting inequality divide that otherwise threatens millions with destitution and homelessness." —Dennis Culhane, Dana and Andrew Stone Professor of Social Policy, University of Pennsylvania "Marybeth Shinn and Jill Khadduri have combined their significant expertise to create an essential guide about the history of modern homelessness and to offer a clear path forward to end this American tragedy. Their policy recommendations on ending homelessness are culled from the best about what we know works." —Barbara Poppe, Executive Director US Interagency Council on Homeless, 2009-2014

Homeless Advocacy and the Rhetorical Construction of the Civic Home

by Melanie Loehwing

Author	: Melanie Loehwing
Publisher	: Penn State Press
Total Pages	: 211
Release	: 2018-10-30
Genre	: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN	: 0271083069

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Homeless assistance has frequently adhered to the “three hots and a cot” model, which prioritizes immediate material needs but may fail to address the political and social exclusion of people experiencing homelessness. In this study, Loehwing reconsiders typical characterizations of homelessness, citizenship, and democratic community through unconventional approaches to homeless advocacy and assistance. While conventional homeless advocacy rhetoric establishes the urgency of homeless suffering, it also implicitly invites housed publics to understand homelessness as a state of abnormality that destines the individuals suffering it to life outside the civic body. In contrast, Loehwing focuses on atypical models of homeless advocacy: the meal-sharing initiatives of Food Not Bombs, the international competition of the Homeless World Cup, and the annual Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day campaign. She argues that these modes of unconventional homeless advocacy provide rhetorical exemplars of a type of inclusive and empowering civic discourse that is missing from conventional homeless advocacy and may be indispensable for overcoming homeless marginalization and exclusion in contemporary democratic culture. Loehwing’s interrogation of homeless advocacy rhetorics demonstrates how discursive practices shape democratic culture and how they may provide a potential civic remedy to the harms of disenfranchisement, discrimination, and displacement. This book will be welcomed by scholars whose work focuses on the intersections of democratic theory and rhetorical and civic studies, as well as by homelessness advocacy groups.