Predicting Chronic Homelessness: The Importance of Comparing Algorithms using Client Histories

Homelessness is a public health problem. From rising housing costs to discriminatory lending and leasing, natural disasters, and mental illness, homelessness has many different causes and many similar effects: serious adverse consequences for physical and mental health across the life course. This chapter makes the case for homelessness as a public health problem, with chronic homelessness as scope of focus for this book. This chapter then introduces the main question of the book: If municipalities are the site of the U.S. homeless epidemic, what are municipal governments doing to address homelessness, and why? This chapter then outlines the role of governance structures in shaping municipal approaches to chronic homelessness, describes the governance system responsible for designing and delivering solutions to homelessness and chronic homelessness in the United States, and the history of homeless policy in America. Finally, this chapter lays the roadmap for the book and subsequent chapters.

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Measuring Municipal Participation in Homeless Governance

Ungoverned and Out of Sight ◽

10.1093/oso/9780197548325.003.0004 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 52-66

Author(s):

Charley E. Willison

Keyword(s):

Housing Policy ◽

Urban Areas ◽

The United States ◽

Supportive Housing ◽

The Political ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Housing Policies ◽

Chronic Homelessness ◽

Data Set ◽

Municipal Level

Chapter 4 examines national variation in municipal responses to chronic homelessness, identifying the prevalence of municipal-level supportive housing policies among municipalities affected by homelessness in the United States and identifying and examining factors associated with the presence of a municipal-level supportive housing policy. The presence of municipal-level supportive housing policies is an indication of evidence-based policy adoption to address chronic homelessness effectively in urban areas. To date, there has been almost no research on the political predictors of the adoption of these evidence-based policies. Results demonstrate that most municipalities facing homelessness challenges do not have supportive housing policies. Of the municipalities in the data set, only 40% had a municipal-level supportive housing policy. These municipalities tend to be: more liberal; sanctuary cities; have fewer but better funded nonprofit health organizations; lower rates of municipal governmental fragmentation; and located in states without Medicaid expansion.

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The Invention of Chronic Homelessness

The Value of Homelessness ◽

10.5749/minnesota/9780816693474.003.0006 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 139-168

Author(s):

Craig Willse

Keyword(s):

Chronic Homelessness

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Understanding the Psychodynamics of Chronic Homelessness from a Self Psychological Perspective

Clinical Social Work Journal ◽

10.1007/s10615-012-0382-5 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 40 (3) ◽

pp. 337-347 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Daniel Farrell

Keyword(s):

Psychological Perspective ◽

Chronic Homelessness

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The Paradox of Chronic Homelessness: The Conscious Desire to Leave Homelessness and the Unconscious Familiarity of the Street Life

Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment ◽

10.1080/10911350903269872 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 239-254 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Daniel C. Farrell

Keyword(s):

Street Life ◽

Chronic Homelessness ◽

The Unconscious

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Cognitive-Affective Preparation for Homelessness: Quantitative and Qualitative Analyses of Childhood Out-of-Home Placement and Child Abuse in a Sample of Homeless Men

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1999.85.2.553 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 85 (2) ◽

pp. 553-573 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

John R. Sumerlin

Keyword(s):

Multivariate Analysis ◽

Case Histories ◽

Chronic Homelessness ◽

Homeless Men ◽

Out Of Home Placement ◽

Self Actualization ◽

Home Placement ◽

Main Effects ◽

A Current ◽

Qualitative Analyses

Patterns of homelessness were examined against histories of childhood out-of-home placement and abuse in a sample of 146 homeless men. It was speculated that out-of-home placement and abuse influenced needs for love and belonging and were related to preparation for adult homelessness. Main effects of a 2 × 2 (placement by abuse) multivariate analysis of variance were significant with longer periods of time since first homeless and greater lengths of a current episode of homelessness associated with childhood out-of-home placement. Homeless men who had experienced abuse as a child had more episodes of homelessness than those who had not experienced abuse. Mean Brief Index of Self-actualization scores were not different for those with out-of-home placement or abuse; however, self-actualization scores were minimally lower with greater number of homeless episodes but not with total time homeless. Case histories supported the quantitative findings that loss of feelings of belonging in childhood were preparatory for chronic homelessness.

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