How to Measure the Leading Cause of Homelessness

Although homelessness is a nationwide issue, most citizens cannot honestly claim to know a homeless person as a close relative or friend. In reality, this is why homeless families have such difficulty in receiving help -- by trying to bear up in the absence of close relationships, low-income individuals are severly challenged to overcome financial, emotional and even medical stressors. While the United States' national unemployment rate and volumes of poverty statistics may suggest causes for homelessness, the only way you can measure the leading cause of homelessness is to carefully examine the data yourself.

Things You'll Need

• Inductive Reasoning
• Accesss to Relevant Statistics
• Willingness to Volunteer at a Local Homeless Shelter

Instructions

1. Define the Word "Home". Homelessness is a term that is meaningful only when considered in relationship to the concept of home. While home is an simple concept that everyone is familiar with, many different ideas exsist about what constitutes a home. For instance, if a low income female is living in a woman's shelter to secure protection from an abusive spouse, is this woman homeless? Certain sociologists would argue that she is. Some arguments rely not only on poverty statistics to identify someone as homeless, but contend that homeless families exist when they have no established residence or means of support outside of their family unit. Following this reasoning, even if you live in a hotel yet still have no close relatives who are able to assist you in securing an established residence, then you are homeless.

2. Understand What Resources are Available to Help People to Survive Poverty. In some respects, homelessness can be described as a state of mind. Although official poverty statistics may classify a certain type of low income individual as homless, in truth this person may have access to a variety of resources that make this condition of "homelessness" as comfortable as middle-class lifestyle. Some researchers, including New York Times reporter Nicholas Dawidoff, have suggested that homeless beggars commonly generate earnings equivalent to -- if not greater than -- a middle-class income simply from begging. Furthermore, shelters, churches and government-funded temporary housing programs provide the homeless with a viable network of resources.

3. Study Available Statistics, & Analyze Them Carefully. Most of the poverty statistics you will encounter in your research--and even the national employment rate--are established on the basis of educated guesses. For example, in the mid-80's Ronald Reagan's administration attempted to measure rates of homelessness in America, and the results of the study were controversial. They were much more conservative than results offered by activists. The reason for the gap in these results was due to interpretation. While both studies probably made use of similar data, the Reagan study defined low income & homeless situation in different terms than the study conducted by the activists. Therefore, while statistics are useful to refer to, they must be analyzed for bias (whether this bias is intentional or unnintentional).

4. Recognize the Relationship Between National Economic Trends and Opportunites for Low Income Individuals. Upheavals in the economy can cause the government to constrict its measures of assistance for low income individuals. For instance, during the Great Depression, the national unemplyment rate rose to record proportions and the United States become a haven for homelessness. Nevertheless, for several years following the onset of the Depression, the government did little to alleviate the problems faced by homeless families. In some ways, today is no different. Some families who struggle to survive in low income situations have the deck stacked against them by larger powers beyond their control.

5. Visit a Homeless Shelter to Speak With People Firsthand. Nothing can teach you more about homelessness than to visit and speak with homeless families in person. Low income families arrive at homeless shelters for a variety of reasons, but the more you speak with a range of individuals the more you will notice the presence of certain commonalities in their histories. What you will receive by visiting a shelter in person is a perspective that poverty statistics and rhetoric cannot match. A national unemployment rate may be an issue discussed by political experts on television or in journals, but when you meet up close people who are themselves experiencing unemployment, you are certain to receive a different impression of this widely-discussed issue.

Tips & Warnings

• If you intend to volunteer at a local homeless shelter, be prepared to complete a background check in addition to a volunteer application. You may also be asked to make a time commitment beyond just a simple visit. If you will not be able to spare enough time for a full-fledged commitment, perhaps you can simply tour the facility with a guide.

• Be sure to review recent statistics when you attempt to measure the leading cause of homelessness, due to the fact that causes of the homelessness phenomenon will always be changing. For example, during the Great Depression, the leading cause of homelessness was related to the economic collapse the nation. Similarly, when the Black Plague ravaged Europe during the 14th century, many families were left homeless as a result. Today, homelessness is primarily caused by a completely separate set of factors.