Homelessness Causes
"Being homeless is often defined as sleeping on the streets. Although
this
is the most visible and severe form of homelessness, there are many
other types
of acute housing need. These include living in temporary
accommodation, poor or
overcrowded conditions, or being in mortgage arrears
and under threat of
re-possession." (Hope 1986) It is a symptom of many
complex problems:
mental illness, emotional instability, illiteracy, chronic
substance abuse,
unemployment, and, most basic of all, breakdown of the
family structure. Anyone
can become homeless and the reasons that force
people into homelessness are many
and varied. The leading cause, however, of
homelessness in the United States is
the inability of poor people to afford
housing. "Housing costs have risen
significantly over the last decade, while
the incomes of poor and middle-class
Americans have stagnated." (Erickson
1991) The millions of Americans who
are unemployed or work in low-paying jobs
are among the most vulnerable to
becoming homeless. Therefore, homelessness,
housing and income are inextricably
linked. Low-income people are frequently
unable to pay for housing, food,
child-care, health care, and education.
Difficult choices must be made when
limited resources cover only some of
these necessities. Often it is housing,
which takes a high proportion of
income that must be dropped. Two major sources
of income are from employment
and public assistance. A decrease in either one of
them would certainly put
poor people at risk of homelessness. Additionally,
minimum wage earnings no
longer lift families above the poverty line. "More
than 3 million poor
Americans spend more than half of their total income on
housing, yet the
Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates families
should spend
no more than 30%." (Gilbert 1993) Although many homeless
adults are employed,
they work in day-labor jobs that do not meet basic needs,
while technological
acceleration excludes others from a competitive job market.
Many factors
have contributed to declining work opportunities for large segments
of the
workforce, including the loss of well-paying manufacturing jobs. The
decline
in relatively secure and well-paying jobs in manufacturing, which have
been
replaced by less secure and poorly-paid jobs in the service sector,
has
greatly limited the opportunities for poorly-educated and low-skilled
segments
of the population. This transformation has led to an unprecedented
incidence of
chronic unemployment and underemployment. (Hardin 1996)
"Underemployment is
an especially useful measure of the decline in secure
jobs since, unlike the
unemployment rate, measures of underemployment reflect
not only individuals who
are unemployed, but also involuntary part-timers and
those who have given up
seeking work." (Hardin 1996) In addition to
increasing underemployment,
"an estimated 29.4% of the workforce are employed
in nonstandard work
arrangements" (Economic Policy Institute, 1997) -- for
example, independent
contracting, working for a temporary help agency, day
labor, and regular
part-time employment. These kinds of work arrangements
typically offer lower
wages, fewer benefits, and less job security. "As
recently as 1967, a
year-round worker earning the minimum wage was paid
enough to raise a family of
three above the poverty line" (Sklar, 1995). From
1981-1990, however,
"the minimum wage was frozen at $3.35 an hour, while the
cost of living
increased 48% over the same period. Congress raised the
minimum wage to $5.15
per hour in 1996. This increase made up only slightly
more than half of the
ground lost to inflation in the 1980s" (Shapiro,
1995b). Thus, full-time
year-round minimum-wage earnings currently not equal
to the estimated poverty
line for a family of three. Unsurprisingly, the
decline in the value of the
minimum wage has been accompanied by an increase
in the number of people earning
poverty-level wages and the declining wages
have put housing out of reach for
many workers: in every state. Slashed
public assistance has also left many
people homeless or at risk of
homelessness. "Replacement of the Aid to
Families with Dependent Children
(AFDC) entitlement program-- a program that was
already inadequate in meeting
the needs of families -- with the non-entitlement
block rant program will
significantly increased the risk of homelessness for
many Americans."
(Foscarinas 1996) Furthermore, earned income and asset
limitations discourage
individuals and families from breaking the cycle of
homelessness and extreme
poverty. Several states have terminated or reduced
public assistance and food
stamps for individuals, while "Social Security
Income (SSI) is inadequate
-- and sometimes impossible to obtain -- for disabled
individuals."
(Foscarinas 1996) As a result, the number of poor Americans
is growing and
the poor are getting poorer. Across America, there has been a
substantial
decline in the number of housing units that low-income people and
those in
need of shelter assistance can afford. Those losses have resulted
primarily
from downtown urban renewal, gentrification, abandonment, and suburban
land
use controls. The elimination and reduction of federal low income
housing
programs has also dramatically reduced the supply of affordable
shelter.
Moreover, construction of low income and assisted housing has
essentially
stopped (Newsweek 1984). Due to the increased demand and
diminished supply of
housing or shelter, the problem of homelessness is
further deteriorated. The
amount of housing available in the private sector
rental stock is diminishing
rapidly. As more and more landlords abandon
apartment buildings and houses
rather than repair them, the housing supply
for the poor has declined at an
accelerating pace in some cities in the
nation (Donwall 1985). The growth of
service-sector employment in central
business districts has attracted
white-collar professionals, many of whom
prefer to live in accessible central
city neighborhoods, where they compete
with poor, indigenous residents for
private market housing (Noyelle 1983).
The result is frequently gentrification
of inner city housing which
traditionally has been the major source of low-
income housing. At the same
time, downtown service sector expansion has created
jobs for many low-waged
workers, which increases the demand for low cost shelter
readily accessible
to the downtown. It makes the homeless in downtown even
harder to rent a
place to live. Downtown development also diminishes the supply
of low-income
housing for poor people. As the City raises more new office
towers, the
vacancy for housing is getting less. In Seattle, for instance,
office space
in downtown grew from 13 million square feet in 1981 to about 24
million
square feet in 1990. On the other hand, the downtown low-income housing
stock
declined from about 11,000 units in 1980 to less than 6,000 units in
1987.
"With the passage of the new housing levy, the City will try to regain
some
low income units, but today low-income units vanish faster than they can
be
built." (Arcade 1987) and there is still a shortage in housing supply
in
downtown areas. Besides, the qualities of temporary shelters for homeless
people
are terrible that they think staying on streets is a better choice.
"Not
only have the lost bed-spaces not been made up, but the new hostels are
not as
readily accessible to the homeless coming directly off the street.
They tend to
cater for special needs groups and access tends to be through
referral"
(Housing Review 1988). Planners can play an important role in the
search for
solutions to homelessness. And homelessness is an extensive,
complex process.
Different kinds of intervention are needed to deal with
the problem. But the
most widely accepted approach is a three-tier system,
"beginning with
emergency shelters and moving through transitional
accommodations to long-term
housing" (Urban Land 1986). Rehabilitation of old
buildings by minimal
funding are common projects to provide shelters for the
homeless people.
However, some observers suggests that making "the
renovation of buildings
for low-income housing attractive, that is,
profitable, for developers or
investors" (Urban Land 1986) can be the
solution to the homeless problem.
Our examination makes it clear that
piecemeal intervention can alleviate
emergency shelter crises, but such
action will not resolve the long-term problem
of finding permanent shelter
for the homeless and returning them to the
mainstream of society wherever
possible, which we regard as the ultimate goal of
intervention. Equally
obvious is that while long-term intervention strategies
are vital, they do
not address the problems of survival for those presently
without shelter and
support. We conclude that both long-term and short-term
measures are
necessary, but that all the solutions should be based on
integrated,
comprehensive understanding of the homelessness problem. Only such
a
comprehensive approach will allow planners to develop workable strategies
with
any chance for success.
Bibliography
Baldwin, Shelly.
1987. The Hidden Cost of Downtown Development. Arcade 6 6
February: 7.
Dolny, Michael. 1991. Scapegoating Rent Control -- Masking the
Causes of
Homelessness. Journal of the American Planning Association 57 2
Spring:
153-164. Dowall, David. 1985. The Suburban Squeeze. Berkeley: University
of
California Press. Economic Policy Institute, 1997. Nonstandard
Work,
Substandard Jobs: Flexible Work Arrangements in the U.S.
Foscarinas, Maria.
"The Federal Response: The Stewart B. McKinney. Erickson,
Jon. 1986.
Housing the Homeless. New Brunswick, NJ: Urban Research.
Foscarinas, Maria.
1996. The Federal Response: The Stewart B. McKinney
Homeless Assistance Act.
Homelessness in America. Oryx Press. Gilbert,
April. 1993. Employing Homeless
Job Seekers: A Primer for Businesses.
Homeless Assistance Act. Oryx Press.
Hardin, Bristow. 1996. Why the Road
Off the Street Is Not Paved with Jobs.
Homelessness in America. Oryx
Press. Hope, Marjorie. 1986. The Faces of
Homelessness. Lexington, MA:
Lexington Books. Housing Review. 1988.
Homelessness: causes and
responses. Housing Review 37 5 September: 182-185.
Newsweek. 1984.
Homeless in America. Newsweek 103 2 January: 20-29. Noyelle,
Thierry.
1983. The Rise of Advanced Services. Journal of the American
Planning
Association 49: 280-90. Shapiro, Isaac. 1995. Assessing a
$5.15-An-Hour Minimum
Wage. Sklar, Holly. 1995. Jobs, Income, and Work:
Ruinous Trends, Urgent
Alternatives. Tucker, William. 1991. How housing
regulations cause homelessness.
Public Interest 102 Winter: 78-88. Urban
Land. 1996. Homelessness: Demographics,
Causes, and Cures In a Nutshell.
Urban Land 45 5 May: 32-33.