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
185050,000 people
Chicago
18981,500,000 people
Attitudes toward the homelessTread 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
• Hobo’s 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 DepressionBlack 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
• FDR’s New Deal
– CCC
– Federal Transient Service
• Charities in conflict about nature of homelessness
• Citizens involved – “Impulsive almsgiving”
Transient Home KitchenWisconsin, 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 SRO’s at
$3.35 per week
• Successfully housed!• Given $5 and free
advice at demolition
Gateway District
Contemporary Period (1980–Present
• Homelessness no longer limited to skid row
• Homelessness increases sharply and continues to rise
• Multiple causes– Deinstitutionalization– Vietnam veterans
Wilder Research
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2000
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12000
14000
1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006 2009
Turquoise = Count Blue = Estimate
Main causes of homelessness1973: 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. Stephen’s Human Services. Holiday 2005. Minneapolis.
Union Strength Declines
• In 1981 the Federal Government broke the Air Traffic Controller’s 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
• Housing should cost no more than 30% of a household’s 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
Affordable Housing/Gentrification
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
•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
In 2012 & beyond