Introduction
Homelessness can be defined as the predicament of a person, family, or community lacking access to or the capacity to immediately get a secure, safe, permanent, and adequate home. Understanding the underlying causes of homelessness and developing viable remedies for it depend heavily on the study of those who are without a place to live. According to Hungaro et al. (2020), approximately 90.7% of males, with an average age of 37.7, had experienced homelessness for around 5.39 years on average. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2018) report projected those 8.5 million individuals had experienced homelessness in the previous five years and that 26 million people (14 percent of the country’s population) had self-described homelessness during their careers. This startling number emphasizes the urgent need for a more thorough investigation of the factors contributing to homelessness, including the shortage of low-cost housing and other socioeconomic difficulties.
Researchers have looked at the histories and experiences of those who are unhoused in several studies to better understand the causes that create homelessness. One such research carried out by the National Coalition for the Homeless concluded that the leading cause of homelessness was a lack of affordable housing. The survey discovered that many people who were homeless had previously gone through financial difficulties, job loss, or eviction, making it difficult for them to secure housing.
It is important to research those without a place to live. Policymakers, supporters, and service providers may create more effective strategies for tackling the problem of homelessness by having a greater grasp of its underlying causes. To avoid financial hardship and eviction, these solutions can include expanding access to affordable housing, offering employment training and support, and enhancing social safety nets.
Research Question
The main research question of this study is how prior experiences of a lack of affordable housing lead the unhoused to be homeless. Homelessness may result from unaffordable housing in several ways. People may find it difficult to make rent or mortgage payments when housing expenses are excessively high, which might result in eviction or foreclosure. As a result, people can be left without a place to reside.
Unaffordable housing can also make it necessary for people to choose between paying for housing and other essentials like food and healthcare, which can worsen their financial instability and raise their risk of homelessness. Therefore, the design of this research will take a qualitative approach, where the participants will be interviewed and asked questions on how their previous lack of access to affordable housing made them homeless.
Annotated Bibliography
Aldridge, R. W., Menezes, D., Lewer, D., Cornes, M., Evans, H., Blackburn, R. M., Byng, R., Clark, M., Denaxas, S., Fuller, J., Hewett, N., Kilmister, A., Luchenski, S., Manthorpe, J., McKee, M., Neale, J., Story, A., Tinelli, M., Whiteford, M … Hayward, A. (2019). Causes of death among homeless people: A population-based cross-sectional study of linked hospitalization and mortality data in England. Wellcome Open Research, 4. Web.
There has been tremendous growth in the number of homeless people in England since 2010, with those affected experiencing a high mortality rate. The study aimed to investigate the factors that led to the death of homeless people. The authors examined connected data of hospital admission and death rates for individuals participating in any one of 17 SIHHC schemes, hence a quantitative study approach.
Their main result was death, which they divided into subgroups of fatalities that were particular to the ICD-10 categorization of diseases and deaths that might have been prevented. They contrasted our findings with a sample of individuals residing in very socially deprived locations. The findings showed that 21.7% of the deaths were caused by external causes, cancer (19%), and digestive disease (19%).
Demakakos, P., Lewer, D., Jackson, S. E., & Hayward, A. C. (2020). Lifetime prevalence of homelessness in housed people aged 55–79 years in England: Its childhood correlates and association with mortality over 10 years of follow-up. Public Health, 182, 131–138. Web.
Housed people who previously lived homeless lives can provide very insightful information on the situation of homelessness. This study aimed to examine older people’s lifetime prevalence of homelessness and its relationships with trauma in childhood and death. The authors conducted a longitudinal cohort study, hence a qualitative approach.
They applied logistic regression to develop the relationship between traumatic childhood experiences and life experiences of homelessness. The study findings showed a strong correlation between adverse childhood experiences and life experiences of homelessness. Those who had two ACEs were 5.35 times more likely to have been homeless than those who had none.
Fraser, B., Pierse, N., Chisholm, E., & Cook, H. (2019). LGBTIQ+ homelessness: A review of the literature. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(15), 2677. Web.
This study aimed to highlight the primary themes in the literature and examine how they interact to perpetuate the stigma and prejudice that LGBTIQ+ individuals who are homeless encounter. The authors conducted a literature review of existing studies obtained from PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar, hence a qualitative research. The study applied regression analysis and Pearson’s correlation to analyze the data. The study found that the leading cause of homelessness among LGBTQ+ members is poverty. Other factors included ethnicity and racism, substance abuse, mental health, sexual abuse, and foster care.
Gentil, L., Grenier, G., Bamvita, J. M., Dorvil, H., & Fleury, M. J. (2019). Profiles of quality of life in a homeless population. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10, 10. Web.
Planning for mental health, assessing programs, and evaluating patient results all depend on the quality of life (QOL). The study concentrated on QOL in the demographics of homeless people and utilized cluster analysis to develop profiles of homeless people based on their QOL. The total participants in the study was 455 homeless individuals who were obtained from 27 different communities and organizations in Quebec, Canada.
The authors used questionnaires to obtain data on socio-demographics and the history of places of residence. The study found that the cluster of older women with modest functional impairment and few experiences of homelessness had the best quality of life. Those who were in temporary housing and had very few mental health or drug use issues were included in the second grouping with high QOL ratings. Lastly, women who had been involved in crimes, lived in temporary housing, and had behavior problems were classified in the third cluster.
Hungaro, A. A., Gavioli, A., Christóphoro, R., Marangoni, S. R., Altrão, R. F., Rodrigues, A. L., & Oliveira, M. L. F. D. (2020). Homeless population: Characterization and contextualization by census research. Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem, 73. Web.
This study aimed to examine the traits of the homeless and the elements that contribute to living on the streets. The authors conducted a census-type sectional survey within the town of Maringa-Parana between 2015 and 2018. This type of research is a quantitative approach since it involves closed-ended questions. The total number of respondents for the study was 701 homeless individuals.
The data collected included sociodemographic information, conditions of living, and cases of drug abuse. The authors used Pearson’s correlation test to analyze the association of the variables. The study found that 90.7% of men of an average age of 37.7 years had lived a homeless life for an average of 5.39 years. 54% had low levels of education, 47.2% were homeless due to drug use, and 38.9% — due to family conflicts.
Morton, M. H., Chávez, R., & Moore, K. (2019). Prevalence and correlates of homelessness among American Indian and Alaska Native youth. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 40(6), 643-660. Web.
This article discusses the issue of homelessness among American Indians and Alaskans. The main goal of this study was to identify the frequency, characteristics, and correlates among the American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) youth who are homeless. The authors conducted a nationally representative survey among adolescent youths between the ages of 13 and 25 to come up with the findings. The total number of respondents involved in the study was 25,492 people.
It found that 10.2% of the total participant households, which had youths between 13 and 17 years old, had experienced homelessness or runaways for at least one night. The prevalence was 12.2% amongst youths between the ages of 18 and 25. The study also found that the majority of youths experiencing homelessness live in urban cities. Furthermore, the findings showed that high rates of homelessness are associated with low levels of education and parenting.
Peterie, M., Bielefeld, S., Marston, G., Mendes, P., & Humpage, L. (2020). Compulsory income management: Combatting or compounding the underlying causes of homelessness? Australian Journal of Social Issues, 55(1), 61-72. Web.
Compulsory income management is a system where a portion of the social security benefits of welfare claimants must be quarantined as conditional welfare. The study aims to examine whether compulsory income management has a positive or negative effect on reducing homelessness by addressing the issue of housing security. The authors conducted a review of the existing research on the issue, hence a qualitative study approach. The study found that CIM may worsen home insecurity since it has deeper effects, such as economic disadvantage and social shame, in addition to technical problems like rental transfer failures. The article concludes that CIM has exacerbated the systemic reasons for homelessness rather than alleviating them.
Rukmana, D. (2020). The causes of homelessness and the characteristics associated with a high risk of homelessness: A review of intercity and intracity homelessness data. Housing Policy Debate, 30(2), 291–308. Web.
According to the author, there are two levels of data that are used to study homelessness: intercity data and intracity data. The main aim of the study was to identify the factors that lead to homelessness and the traits linked to its high risk. The author conducted a literature review of the existing data on intercity and intracity homelessness. The study found that both intercity and intracity homelessness are influenced by demographic, socioeconomic, housing, and other local factors.
Strobel, S., Burcul, I., Dai, J. H., Ma, Z., Jamani, S., & Hossain, R. (2021). Characterizing people experiencing homelessness and trends in homelessness using population-level emergency department visit data in Ontario, Canada. Health Rep, 32(1), 13-23. Web.
This study aims to describe homeless people and identify current issues regarding the lack of housing in Ontario, Canada. The authors used a secondary data set from the emergency department visits at the population level to enumerate and identify the changes in homelessness in Ontario province from the year 2010 to 2017. This is a quantitative method since the data was obtained from a reliable source, which is the health department of the government of Canada.
The findings showed that over the seven years, 39,408 people were homeless. Increases in working-age homelessness came first, followed by rises in total homelessness. Urban areas were the primary locations for ED presentations. Throughout the research, the overall percentage of homeless patients decreased from 60% to 40% in Toronto, with a shift toward EDs outside the city.
Zhao, E. (2023). The key factors contributing to the persistence of homelessness. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 30(1), 1–5. Web.
This article offers insightful information on the persistence of homelessness. The main aim of the study was to answer the question of how to help homeless people live independent lives. The study employed a qualitative approach that involved two steps. The first step involved conducting a literature review of existing studies obtained through Google Scholar, while the other step involved information obtained from the personal experiences of homeless people.
The findings indicated that domestic violence, mental illness, and drug addiction were the three main factors contributing to homelessness. According to the study, these factors trigger the first homelessness, which in turn makes these issues much worse. Effective policies and community interventions are needed to prevent and reduce homelessness, including drug treatment centers, housing for the homeless, aid in finding jobs, and homeless camps in approved places that serve as bases for homeless persons to reconstruct their lives.
Conclusion
The lack of affordable housing is the main contributor to the high prevalence of homelessness. However, there is inadequate research to show how it leads to this. Therefore, this proposal proposes an interview study of unhoused people to better understand how prior experiences and a lack of affordable housing led to their homelessness. The study will assist policymakers, supporters, and service providers with insights on how to develop more successful methods to address the issue of homelessness.