Housing

This study builds on previous research to understand longer term housing experiences in late adolescence and early adulthood for vulnerable college students. Using a biographical, qualitative method, we study high school and college housing and family circumstances for 27 students with homelessness or foster care experience enrolled in 4-year colleges in Georgia. We identified three different housing pathway types in high school—family homelessness, unaccompanied youth and foster care. Housing instability and frequent moves were common in high school among all housing pathway types. In college, students who were able to find low or no-cost housing and those who identified a foster care pathway in high school achieved greater housing stability. Others students experienced a continuation of housing instability that began in high school. Additional funding to cover the cost of on-campus housing would likely contribute to increased stability. Additional strategies, such as rental assistance programmes tailored for college students, may be needed to address housing instability for vulnerable college students. More research on the unmet housing needs and the consequences of housing instability during college for homeless and foster youth is needed to further a housing policy agenda that focuses on practical solutions.

Homelessness represents an enduring public health threat facing communities across the developed world. Children, families, and marginalized adults face life course implications of housing insecurity, while communities struggle to address the extensive array of needs within heterogeneous homeless populations. Trends in homelessness remain stubbornly high despite policy initiatives to end homelessness. A complex systems perspective provides insights into the dynamics underlying coordinated responses to homelessness. A constant demand for housing assistance strains service delivery, while prevention efforts remain inconsistently implemented in most countries. Feedback processes challenge efficient service delivery. A system dynamics model tests assumptions of policy interventions for ending homelessness. Simulations suggest that prevention provides a leverage point within the system; small efficiencies in keeping people housed yield disproportionately large reductions in homelessness. A need exists for policies that ensure reliable delivery of coordinated prevention efforts. A complex systems approach identifies capacities and constraints for sustainably solving homelessness.

Between 5–9% of American adolescents experience 1+ episode of independent homelessness. Although multiple stressors have consistently been shown to precede runaway behavior, sampling homeless populations fails to capture variation between juveniles who run/do not run. This research uses Waves I and II of the Add Health public use data to examine conditions likely to result in a first-time run among males vs. females. Specifically, we argue that strains/negative emotion derived from Agnew’s general strain theory and social controls derived from Hirschi’s social bond theory will act as positive and negative motivations, respectively, to predict first-time runs. We find significant, main effects on running for multiple strain and control measures. However, results of our integrated models suggest that, while composite strain and depression increase the odds of running across gender, composite social control is associated with lower odds of running for females only. This finding underscores prior research suggesting that social bonds may have a stronger protective impact on females considering a first-time run.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer (LGBTIQ+) people’s experiences of homelessness is an under-explored area of housing and homelessness studies, despite this group making up 20–40% of homeless populations. Despite this, much of the existing literature focuses on specific elements of LGBTIQ+ homelessness, and often does not consider the intersections of these elements, instead placing them into individual siloes. Our approach is an intersectional one; this paper identifies the key themes in the existing research, and analyses how these themes interact to reinforce the discrimination and stigma faced by LGBTIQ+ people who experience homelessness. This intersectional-systems thinking approach to LGBTIQ+ homelessness can be used to develop well-informed, culturally sensitive support programes.

Objectives The purpose of this study is to explore main and interaction effects of minority and multiple minority statuses on exits from homelessness and the stability of homelessness exits over time.
Methods This study utilized the Homeless Management Information System administrative data of 10,922 youth experiencing homelessness collected from a convenience sample of 16 geographically diverse communities across the USA between 2015–17. Using multinomial logistic regression analyses and logistic regression, main effects and interaction effects of racial/ethnic minority identity and sexual/gender minority identity were examined on various homelessness exits (n = 9957) and housing sustainability (n = 5836).
Results Black youth, relative to White youth, were disproportionately exiting homelessness through incarceration (P < 0.001). Black and Latinx youth were less likely to successfully self-resolve their homelessness (both P < 0.05). Black heterosexual and Black and Latinx non-heterosexual youth were most frequently lost to the homeless system (all P < 0.01). Black youth, relative to White youth, were approximately half as likely to remain stably housed after returning to family (P < 0.01).
Conclusions With respect to housing exits and exit stability, Black and Latinx heterosexual youth are consistently at a disadvantage. Homelessness/housing systems and programs need to conduct a deeper investigation into how they implement and develop equitable outreach and engagement practices.

One of the hardest parts about working with youth experiencing homelessness is coping with the loss of young people to violence, suicide, accidents, and illness. While each agency within the Hollywood Homeless Youth Partnership has developed their own rituals to support consumers and staff in the aftermath of a tragedy, we believe that a coordinated response across our service network will result in a more effective and trauma-informed response. This document was inspired and liberally adapted (with their generous permission) from Portland’s Homeless Youth Continuum’s “Best Practices: Workplace Tragedy,” a document produced in collaboration with Trauma Informed Oregon. This protocol is designed to provide a foundational philosophy and action steps around our collective response to tragedy and to offer best practices to agencies that are part of our network.