A History of Homelessness

in America

Homelessness 101

Why is this topic important?

Hubert H. Humphrey George Santayana Albert Einstein

It was once said that the moral test of Government is how that Government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.
Hubert H. Humphrey (1911- 1978)

The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them

Albert Einstein

Society Section of Homelessness

Causes of homelessness Attitudes toward homelessness Responses to homelessness

At your table
Introduce yourselves
Name Agency and what it does with respect to assisting homeless persons Your role

Then, identify what you consider your top three causes of homelessness

Underlying Cause of Homelessness

Socio-economic & political factors That there is homelessness is a factor of these conditions, who becomes homeless is a result of environmental & constitutional factors.
Down and out in America, Peter Rossi

The most vulnerable become homeless

Environmental Constitutional

Characteristics of LTH
Three things in common
No fixed abode Poor Loss of social safety net

Difficult start in life (58%)

Institutionalized Education - special ed, dropped out Birth to child before age 18

Multiple disabilities History of abuse & neglect

Self report 26% - 38% (Wilder Survey) 97% women with SMI (Goodman, 91)

Stressful life events

(Munoz, 99)

Five distinct periods of homelessness

Colonial Period Urbanization Industrialization The Great Depression Contemporary Period

Colonial Period Beliefs & Attitudes

Puritan culture & work ethic, rugged individualism
Wandering beggars & rogues are a plague to civil society. They should be taken as enemies of this ordinance of God
William Perkins

Primary causes of homelessness

Agricultural society required skilled and unskilled worker mobility Continuing territorial skirmishes Beginnings of business cycles Immigration

Urbanization (1820 1850)

Homelessness increases sharply

Chicago

1850 50,000 people

1898 1,500,000 people

Attitudes toward the homeless

Tread Mill (1822 1826)

Primary causes of homelessness

Railroads and telegraph introduce pervasive societal changes Mills, mines, and dock work offered employment but low job security Bumpy business cycles

Response by government
Minimalist policy Tramp room 1853
25,000 used in six month period in NY

Public Outdoor Relief Strict vagrancy laws

Civil War and Industrialization (1870 1900)

Homelessness dips significantly during the Civil War then spikes during subsequent economic depressions

Slavery
General Sherman promised 40 acres and a mule to freed slaves. In the end less than 1%, about 3,500, received their allotment. With very few African Americans able to gain land and assets to give to their children, there is now a home ownership gap where 27% more whites have homes than African Americans (up from 23% in 1940).
Sources: Freedmen, The Freed Slaves of the Civil War. www.civilwarhome.com/freedmen.html.
Centre on Housing Rights and Eviction (COHRE) and The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) www.cohre.org/store/attachments/Human-Rights-Resource-Manual.doc

Institutionalized Racism as a cause of homelessness

The U.S. government has broken land treaties with Native Americans and put them into reservations without sufficient resources and opportunities to find jobs, housing, and a better life. In Minnesota there is a lack of shelter and housing that is culturally appropriate for Native Americans.

Unregulated capitalist economy

Changes in
the nature of work types of jobs

Deskilling Demeaning Dangerous 1913

25,000 deaths 700,000 injured

Face of homeless after the Civil War The Great American Hobo
The hobo and true American ideals verses emerging capitalistic values Hobos labeled as political agitators

Main causes of homelessness

Veterans from Civil War Institutionalized racism ~ Unequal access to jobs Two severe economic downturns, unemployment near 40% Immigration Railroad penetration allowed for a subculture of train hoppers

The Great Depression

Black Thursday, October 24, 1929

Breadline No One Has Starved by Reginald Marsh, 1932

From tramp to transient

Homelessness increases significantly 25% unemployment Families on the move in search of work Migrant workers from drought-ridden Midwestern States

Skid Row & Affordable Housing

Veterans People with physical & mental illness Chronic inebriates Displaced persons Unemployed & casually employed

Responses to homelessness
FDRs New Deal

CCC Federal Transient Service

Charities in conflict about nature of homelessness Citizens involved
Impulsive almsgiving
Transient Home Kitchen Wisconsin, 1933

Home Ownership
New Deal programs helped white people become homeowners, but African Americans were considered financial risks and not given loans and federal money to become suburban homeowners. Of the $120 billion of government backed loans to new homeowners between 1934-1962, 98% went to white people.
Source: Racial Preferences for Whites: The Houses that Racism Built. Larry Adelman, San Francisco Chronicle, June 29, 2003

Causes of Homelessness Severe economic instability Immigration Migration from Dust Bowl
Grapes of Wrath

WWII homelessness decreases

Skid row community

Camaraderie Story telling Casual labor

Lobby of cheap lodging house, 1962

Minneapolis skid row demolition

In 1958 men aging out
50% over 60 22% over 70

In 1962
42% lived in SROs at $3.35 per week

Successfully housed! Given $5 and free advice at demolition

Gateway District

Contemporary Period (1980Present

Homelessness no longer limited to skid row Homelessness increases sharply and continues to rise Multiple causes
Deinstitutionalization Vietnam veterans

Wilder Research
14000 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006 2009

Turquoise = Count Blue = Estimate

Main causes of homelessness

1973: Wages Peak
In 1973, the average private, non-supervisory, non-agricultural wage reached an all time high of $9.72. By 1983, adjusting for inflation, the same worker was paid $8.76 per hour. (1)
Source: The Alliance Report. March April, 1989. Volume #1, Issue #1. Minneapolis

Source: Western Regional Advocacy Program, 2007.

1980-1983: Federal programs for poor people are cut

Between 1980 and 1983 alone, $140 billion in domestic spending was cut. HUD, unemployment, disability, food stamps, and Family welfare programs all received cuts.
Source: Open House. A news update from St. Stephens Human Services. Holiday 2005. Minneapolis.

Union Strength Declines

In 1981 the Federal Government broke the Air Traffic Controllers Strike by firing over 11,000 employees, beginning a trend of unions losing leverage to demand fair wages and benefits. Lack of unions and more service sector jobs make people spend more of their income on healthcare, daycare, etc.
[i] USA Today. 2004. Fired air-traffic controller still feels the sting decades later. www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-06-10-taylor-vignette_x.htm

1981-1986: Factories Close

From January 1981 to January 1986, 10.8 million workers lost their jobs due to plant closures, abolition of positions or shifts, or slack work.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. As cited by Rachel Kamel in The Global Factory. 1990. American Friends Service Committee.

The Worker/CEO Pay Gap

In 1980, the gap between the highest and average paid worker was 42:1. By 2000, the ratio spiked to 531:1.
Source: Chuck Collins & Felice Yeskel, Economic Apartheid in America .

Rental Rates and Income

Minimum Wage in Minnesota is $7.25/hour which equals $15,080/yr Annual income needed to afford a one bedroom FMR apt: $27,960. A two bedroom: $33,920. 1-Bedroom:
$27,960-15,080 = $12,880 unmet need

2-Bedroom
$33,920-15,080 = $18,840 unmet need
Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition

Affordable Housing/Gentrification
Housing should cost no more than 30% of a households annual income 1973-1993: 2.2 million low-rent units disappeared from the market 1991-1995: median rental costs rose 21% HUD has stopped building public housing and housing projects are being demolished across US
Source:National Coalition for the Homeless (2008). Why are people homeless? Retrieved October 19th, 2008 from, http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/facts/why.html

Per night costs of Homelessness

Adult shelter $32 Youth shelter $125 Jail $363 Hospital $2800 Detox $192 Camping $16 (annual car sticker $28) Supportive housing $21

In 2012 & beyond

Collaboration of agencies

Creativity in spectrum of housing options

Public will - Educate the public about the systemic causes of homelessness

Increase affordable housing stock

Lobbying for government legislation