Urban Homelessness: Psychological Outcomes for Mothers and Children

Abstract

Homelessness is a phenomenon that has been a part of the American lifestyle since colonial times. The meaning of homelessness has changed many times since the early years of the colonial settlements with different definitions emerging in response to national and regional situations. Since the mid-eighteenth century, homelessness has increased in times of economic difficulty and declined during periods of prosperity or with the outbreak of war. In previous centuries, the homeless poor were supported by family members. This system of relief usually remedied breaks in the family structure. Since poverty was virtually uncommon, the community regarded these people as their wards and assumed responsibility for those in distress. Little stigma was attached to homelessness because it was generally felt to be due to circumstances beyond one's control.CURRENT STATUS OF THE HOMELESSOver the last century, an increase in homelessness has been largely attributed to an increase in unemployment, underemployment, and poverty in general. Currently, the nature and scale of homelessness differs depending on the definition used. While the U. S. Bureau of the Census does not define homelessness, it has adopted the definition of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). A person is considered homeless if his or her nighttime residence is in either (a) public or private emergency shelters (schools, church basements, governmental buildings, former firehouses) or where temporary vouchers are provided by private or public agencies (hotels, apartments, or boarding homes); or (b) streets, parks, subways, bus terminals, railroad stations, airports, abandoned buildings without utilities, cars, trucks, under bridges or aqueducts, or in any other public or private space that is not designed as shelter (HUD, 1984). HUD's definition excludes residents of halfway houses and long-term detoxification centers. However, it does include those individuals temporarily detained in a local jail who would normally be on the street or in emergency shelters. Also included as homeless are battered women housed in temporary shelters.National estimates of homelessness continue to fluctuate greatly. The 1990 Census found that approximately 400,000 Americans were homeless, while advocacy groups have put the figure between 700,000 and 3 million. More current data suggest that there may be as many as over a million actual homeless individuals at any given time in the continental United States--with as many as three million people experiencing homelessness at some time each year. According to recent estimates, some 13.5 million Americans have been homeless for at least a few days sometime during their lives; and an additional 12.5 million have stayed off the street only by moving in with friends at some point in their lives, for periods that ranged from a few days to a year (Link, 1994). These data minimize current beliefs that homelessness is an aberration affecting Americans who have distinct personal histories or who are situated on the fringes of society.HOMELESSNESS IN DETROITThe Detroit area, with a population of approximately 2.2 million residents, represents approximately 25% of Michigan's 9.1 million residents. The Detroit area ranks sixth in population size among major urban areas in the United States. Generally, the rate of homelessness is higher in larger cities than in smaller cities (Hopper & Hamberg, 1990). However, until recently there has been very little formal data on Detroit's homeless population.Unlike other cities in the U. S. where many of the homeless sleep on streets or in parks, the homeless of Detroit most often sleep in abandoned buildings. It has been estimated that over 27,000 people are homeless each year in the Detroit metropolitan area alone, with an average of 500 in need of shelter daily (Mobray, Solarz, Johnson, Phillips & Combs, 1986; Solarz, 1988). In 1989, there were over 1,500 emergency shelter beds in the city of Detroit. …