Abstract
Homelessness is a common problem with severe consequences that those affected face. This laboratory experiment aimed to understand this issue better by analyzing the experience of those affected. The study used the Grounded Theory Approach, where qualitative data from selected case studies was used. A total of eight people who found themselves homeless for various reasons were analyzed. Inducting reasons where each case was explicitly analyzed and the commonalities among these cases drawn when making conclusions were used. It was found that there was a high correlation between challenges a victim faces when young, like abuse, economic hardships, divorce and being homeless. The results of this study were supported by previous research that found a high correlation between childhood difficulties and homelessness. The limitation of this study is that no quantitative data analysis was conducted. Therefore, further study should be conducted to find the causes of homelessness among people using a mixed-method approach.
Summary
Many forces influence homelessness, most of which are collaborative by nature. According to Rukmana (2020), many planning scholars view homelessness as a factor in housing problems. The argument is that a decrease in affordable housing units has forced family members and friends to live together while others have been pushed out to the streets. Sociologists, on the other hand, believe that social forces, including addictions, poor economic conditions, mental health problems, and family issues compounded together, contribute mainly to homelessness (Peterie et al., 2020; Ghosh, 2019). Most people consider homelessness a severe problem that governments should address (Tsai et al., 2018).
Statistics show that the number of homeless people continues to increase by 2% between 2019 and 2020 (Heimer et al., 2020). People experiencing homelessness are one of the most vulnerable in society (Kaur et al., 2021). However, governments struggle to deal with homelessness since it is hard to define, resulting in uncertainties when implementing policies. Therefore, relevant stakeholders should understand what factors contribute to homelessness if they are to have control over it.
This study used a qualitative research design where the affected parties were encouraged to discuss their problem using open-ended questions. Qualitative research is essential to figure out something because it addresses a given phenomenon, why, and when (Haradhan, 2018). Qualitative research explores concepts and provides meaning to phenomena, while qualitative research uses numbers and statistics to apprehend scenarios.
Qualitative research opens the room for quantitative analysis, which deals with mathematical and statistical models to understand behavior. Therefore, after this study is conducted, further study will need to confirm the qualitative results obtained here using quantitative methods. The main aim of this study will be to explore the causes of homelessness and see if different cases are interrelated.
Method
Participants
A total of 57 case studies were analyzed in this research. The case studies were included if the participant was homeless at any point in their lives. To be included, the participant also had to prove that they understood what caused their homelessness.
Procedure
The Grounded theory approach and inductive reasoning was used to develop the theme under discussion and better explain how people end up homeless. This was done by reading each case study and recording why they were homeless. The main reasons for homelessness were then compared, and similarities were identified. These similarities were used to create a theme for the lab experiment. Data in this procedure was conducted until saturation, a condition where no further insights could be drawn (Saunders et al., 2018). Prior studies and experiments did not influence this collection and analysis.
Results
The case studies that showed substantive evidence for a clear cause for homelessness were included in the lab experiment and analyzed using inductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning was used to identify an iterative theme contributing to the problem under analysis. It was discovered that the theme of poverty was evident in all the case studies that fit the inclusion criteria. Poverty, in this case, was defined as the inability of a person to afford essential commodities such as food, shelter, and clothing. People from low-income families were also more susceptible to other factors contributing to homelessness, such as domestic violence and drug abuse.
Poverty was demonstrated in fourteen-year-old Ella, who, after running from her home in Kings Cross, had to rely on a drug dealer for protection. When the dealer got tired of using her for sex, he issued her an ultimatum to “pay back the debt in three days or go to work in a brothel to work off the debt” [Ella,3,6,2]. When Ella could not pay the drug dealer, she had to run away to avoid being forced into prostitution. Ella’s story is like Stephanie’s, who, after leaving her home, was unable to find a job and ended up relying on an abusive man for financial protection.
The man later left her with a child, and she had no other option but to live with her three-year-old daughter in a car [Stephanie, 9,1,1]. Likewise, Shane was brought up by drug addicts and had to endure poverty. At 14, Shane “left home and started living on the streets” [Shane,11,3,3]. In this case, although alcoholism and drug use contributed to homelessness, the precedent for homelessness was poverty.
Analysis showed specific trends and behaviors that people from poor backgrounds were likely to show, all related to one eventually being homeless. These behaviors include sexual and physical abuse by the guardian, drug use, health-related problems, and criminal actions. Sexual abuse is demonstrated in Rebecca’s story when her mother found a new partner who raped her regularly and abused her sister too. One day Rebecca told her mother, “You have to get rid of this guy; either he goes or I go” [Rebecca, 1, 1, 5].
The mother opted for the husband, so Rebecca had to go out and endure being homeless. Physical abuse was demonstrated in Erin’s case, who said “First my stepdad was a child molester, and my mom seems to think that is fuckin’ okay or something [Erin,67,1,2]. Therefore, she found him totally out of control, and at the age of fourteen left home only to become homeless.
Poverty resulting in homelessness could be caused by drug and substance abuse. Andy had more money, and at 27, he became “addicted to heroin, penniless and going to prison” [Andy,46,1,2]. Andy returned to normal, but drugs made him unable to afford housing again at 31. Anitra states that “it took over 40 years before he was diagnosed to be manic depressive” [Anitra,18,1,1]. She explains that people did not know she had a health problem; therefore, her inability to keep a job made her rely on a friend for accommodation. When the friend had some family members coming to visit, Anitra said she was okay and would be able to afford accommodation.
Unfortunately, as she explains, she wasted the money and found herself homeless. Criminal actions were exhibited in Teresa’s story, which narrates that she “pulled a knife in the house” [Teresa,23,1,1], and police were called to arrest her. In the few months that followed, the parents continued to call the police to arrest her whenever she committed a minor crime, and therefore, she opted to leave the house.
Although all these types of abuses differed, they all could be linked to poverty and contribute to homelessness. As the case studies prove, both males and females were affected by poverty, although the youth were more likely to go homeless as a result of poverty in comparison to adults. Homelessness left the victims feeling unworthy, needing to use drugs, in pain, and lacking the motivation to live. Elle states that as a homeless girl, she had to use drugs because “when she was high, all her worries slipped away” [Elle,3,9,1].
Shane states, ” to escape the pain of being homeless, and he started using alcohol” [Shane,11,3,1]. Most of the victims in the case study, however, got help and got shelters. Data saturation occurred after all eight cases were identified and analyzed, and no further insights and themes could be identified by looking at more cases.
Discussion
This study aimed to understand the leading cause of homelessness from the perspective of those affected. Through using inductive reasoning, the study found the tentative theme that causes homelessness among many people in poverty. Several reasons contributed to the participants’ homelessness in all cases, and all identified the main reason. This study found four main reasons for homelessness: abuse by family and relatives, drug addiction, poverty, and health issues. This finding was supported by many other recent studies on related issues, i.e. (Steen, 2018; Radcliff et al., 2019; Rukmana., 2020; Susser et al., 2021; Timmer et al., 2019).
All other main reasons that did not fit into this category were classified as others. The fact that poverty is the leading cause of homelessness was confirmed in the eight case studies analyzed (Beard, 2020; Giano et al., 2019). However, these previous studies used data from one particular region, mainly the United States, while the current study utilized case studies from different parts of the world.
As previously discussed, the factors leading to homelessness are interactive. The respondents, whose main reason was joblessness and poverty, confessed to having drug and mental issues. There was also a confirmation of the arguments that joblessness contributed to the significant five personality trait changes since those affected also experienced mental health issues (Giano et al., 2019). Drug use was also identified among the major factors contributing to homelessness.
Other factors were also found to contribute to homelessness in the eight case studies. These included Jail time, eviction, family problems, house fires, divorce, death, and relocation, among others. Six of the participants listed these other factors to be the main reason why they were homeless. The case studies show that becoming homeless is a continuous process influenced by many choices. There have been many studies conducted that support the findings of this paper. Stone et al. (2018) found that cognitively impaired people were more likely to be homeless. Nilsson et al. (2019) found 116 predictors for people to be homeless, among them those discovered in this study. Qualitative research in this study also found that a person was more likely to be homeless due to difficulties in their teenage years. It is, therefore, essential for the relevant stakeholders to ensure this demographic is well protected.
Both private and public institutions need to know how to deal with housing shortages so that poor people can access affordable housing. The finding in this lab report has implications for the overall well-being of many individuals, especially the youth from low-income families. The case studies show that adequate shelters are available for homeless people, but most residents hate living there. Therefore, measures should be put in place to ensure that people living in camps for homeless people are made capable of working and affording their housing. Furthermore, intervention measures should be put in place to ensure that all people, especially those from poor backgrounds, are protected from physical abuse, which makes people relocate without planning.
Although this research provides much insight into what causes homelessness, it has its limitations. The first limitation is that the case studies were conducted in the form of interviews, and the interviewers could have influenced the direction of the responses. Secondly, participants were asked to respond to what caused them to be homeless, and personal biases could have influenced their answers. Thirdly, since being homeless is not something a person is proud of, the response could have been biased to blame another person for their troubles when they were the main problem. It would have been better for the victim to be interviewed in the perpetrator’s presence for this error to be corrected. The person to conduct the interview will be used as the moderator.
It can be argued that a future study that uses a mixed-method approach would be necessary based on the depth and nature of the topic. This would mean that quantitative data will support the qualitative data found in this or similar studies. It would also be good for the researchers to use the traditional deductive reasoning method, where a hypothesis is formulated and research is conducted to find whether it is true.
This method would use questionnaires designed with the Likert point scale where a scale of 1-4 would be used with one strongly disagree and four strongly agree. When dealing with quantitative data, the Likert scale presents several advantages, including easy drawing conclusions, results, and graphs from the respondents (Henninger & Plieninger, 2020). Therefore, analysts and statisticians would have data that is quantifiable, thus making it easy to do descriptive statistics and generate visualizations for relevant users.
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