Ending Chronic Homelessness

Ending Chronic Homelessness
Author: Mya C. Perkins
Publisher: Nova Science Publishers
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: Homeless persons
ISBN: 9781634850629

Chronically homeless individuals are those who spend long periods of time living on the street or other places not meant for human habitation, and who have one or more disabilities, frequently including mental illnesses and substance use disorders. In the 2014 Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) point-in-time count of people experiencing homelessness, over 84,000 individuals met the definition of chronically homeless, down from more than 120,000 in 2008. In part the decline is due to the federal governments plan, announced in 2002, to end chronic homelessness within 10 years. The target date has since been extended to 2017. Among the federal programs focused on ending chronic homelessness are the HUD Homelessness Assistance Grants, the HUD and Veterans Affairs Supported Housing Program (HUD-VASH), and several HUD demonstration programs. One of the reasons that federal programs have devoted resources to ending chronic homelessness is studies finding that individuals who experience it, particularly those with serious mental illness, use many expensive services often paid through public sources, including emergency room visits, inpatient hospitalisations, and law enforcement and jail time. Even emergency shelter resources can be costly. In addition to potential ethical reasons for ending chronic homelessness, doing so could reduce costs in providing assistance to this population. This book summarises the research surrounding permanent supportive housing (PSH) for chronically homeless individuals. In doing so, it attempts to examine the nuance in the research to determine where PSH could be considered successful and where gaps may remain. The book discusses what it means to be chronically homeless, the way in which assistance for chronically homeless individuals has evolved, and how federal programs target assistance to individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. In addition, it summarises the research regarding chronically homeless individuals who move into PSH.

Permanent Supportive Housing

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

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

Homelessness, Health, and Human Needs
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 1988-02-01
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309038324

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.

Homelessness

Homelessness
Author: Ernest P. Todd
Publisher: Nova Publishers
Total Pages: 152
Release: 2006
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9781594546525

The rich continue to get richer - thank goodness. And in the 21st century the homeless do not exist. At least that is what the media leads us to believe. And if they should - they deserve what they get. Very nice - especially if it were true. This book sheds some light on a subject that society hates to hear about, that is 'homelessness'.

The Value of Homelessness

The Value of Homelessness
Author: Craig Willse
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2015-09-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1452945284

It is all too easy to assume that social service programs respond to homelessness, seeking to prevent and understand it. The Value of Homelessness, however, argues that homelessness today is an effect of social services and sciences, which shape not only what counts as such but what will?or ultimately won’t?be done about it. Through a history of U.S. housing insecurity from the 1930s to the present, Craig Willse traces the emergence and consolidation of a homeless services industry. How to most efficiently allocate resources to control ongoing insecurity has become the goal, he shows, rather than how to eradicate the social, economic, and political bases of housing needs. Drawing on his own years of work in homeless advocacy and activist settings, as well as interviews conducted with program managers, counselors, and staff at homeless services organizations in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle, Willse provides the first analysis of how housing insecurity becomes organized as a governable social problem. An unprecedented and powerful historical account of the development of contemporary ideas about homelessness and how to manage homelessness, The Value of Homelessness offers new ways for students and scholars of social work, urban inequality, racial capitalism, and political theory to comprehend the central role of homelessness in governance and economy today.

Homelessness in America

Homelessness in America
Author: Robert Hartmann McNamara
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 668
Release: 2008-08-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0275995569

Homelessness is one of the most compelling social problems in the United States. Dating from the early years in Colonial America to the current problems relating to homeless women and children, homelessness has been the topic of discussion of scholars, social activists, and policy makers. Many types of social problems are linked to homelessness, including poverty, substance abuse, foster care, and crime. As a result, unpacking the issues has proven to be a challenge for anyone interested in this topic. Homelessness in America offers an assessment of what is known about each segment of the homeless population, which contrary to conventional belief, is comprised of a wide variety of faces from many backgrounds. It explains linkages to other social issues and provides a balanced overview of homelessness in light of the varying perspectives on the topic. While much of what has been written about homelessness has come from the academic perspective, agendas often interfere with an accurate understanding of the problem. Clearly, there is a place for other types of perspectives, including those that view homelessness through political and legal lenses. These groups have provided us with a robust body of information within which we may better understand the questions relating to homelessness. McNamara has brought together the voices of these groups in order to reveal the numerous political, economic, and social constraints that beset current attempts to solve homelessness. In addition, the commonly held belief that homelessness is a result of laziness or a poor work ethic is turned on its head to reveal that homelessness is truly a multifaceted and complex issue.

Strategies for Improving Homeless People's Access to Mainstream Benefits and Services

Strategies for Improving Homeless People's Access to Mainstream Benefits and Services
Author: Martha R. Burt
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2010
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1437936814

In 2000, HUD, in recognition that any solution to homelessness must emphasize housing, targeted its McKinney-Vento Act homeless competitive programs towards housing activities. This policy decision presumed that programs such as Medicaid, TANF and General Assistance could pick up the slack produced by the change. This study examines how 7 communities sought to improve homeless people¿s access to mainstream services following this shift away from funding services through the Supportive Housing Program. Provides communities with models and strategies that they can use. Highlights the limits of what even the most resourceful of communities can do to enhance service and benefit access by homeless families and individuals.

Homelessness

Homelessness
Author: Martha R. Burt
Publisher: Nova Publishers
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2007
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781600212086

Homelessness prevention is an essential element of any effort to end homelessness either locally or nation-wide. To close the front door of entry into homelessness, the central challenge of prevention is targeting our efforts toward those people that will become homeless without the intervention. This book identifies elements of community homelessness prevention strategies that seem to lead to reductions in the number of people who otherwise would become homeless. The contributing elements include targeting through control of the eligibility screening process; developing community motivation; maximising mainstream and private resources; fostering leadership; and ensuring the availability and structure of data and information used to track progress, improve on prevention efforts, and facilitate outcome-based contracting. Evidence from the six communities studied indicates that those employing the most elements seem to be more successful at prevention and better able to document their achievements. This book also identifies four promising homelessness prevention activities that may be used alone or in combination as part of a coherent community-wide strategy: (1) supportive services coupled with permanent housing, particularly when combined with effective discharge from institutions, especially mental hospitals; (2) mediation in Housing Courts; (3) cash assistance for rent or mortgage arrears; and (4) rapid exit from shelter. This study provides insight into approaches that will help prevent homelessness. It is an important contribution to our understanding of how to help homeless Americans.