Homelessness in rural areas: causes, patterns, and trends.
Social Work › Vol. 39 Nbr. 1, January 1994
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Homelessness in rural areas: causes, patterns, and trends.
Efforts to address the problem of homelessness with emergency responses during the 1980s have failed to stop the growth of this social condition. Although homelessness is not new to the United States (Hoch, 1987), the number of people without a home has risen dramatically during the 1980s (Burt & Cohen, 1989). Stereotypical portraits of homeless people as skid-row alcoholics and happy wanderers have been replaced by more accurate portrayals that show people who are homeless because of economic and social factors beyond their control (Hopper, 1986; U.S. Committee on Government Operations, 1985). Most prior studies on homelessness have focused on large urban areas (Hombs & Snyder, 1982; Rossi, Fisher, & Willis, 1985; U.S. Conference of Mayors, 1986, 1989); few studies have examined homelessness in rural communities (Redburn & Buss, 1986). Yet homelessness in rural areas appears to be growing (Frank & Streeter, 1987; Housing Assistance Council, 1987; Patton, 1987; Wilkerson, 1989). The lack of knowledge about the needs of people who are homeless in rural and other nonurban areas and about the causes of their homelessness has prevented social workers and policymakers from adequately addressing the problem. This article presents the results from the first major statewide study of rural and nonurban homelessness. During a sixth-month period in 1990, 919 homeless adults were interviewed in 21 randomly selected rural counties in Ohio. The results document the characteristics, needs, and resources of people who are unable to locate and afford a place to live in rural America.
Homelessness in Rural Areas Rossi (1989) noted that about 40 studies of homelessness have been completed in large and mid-sized cities in the United States. Estimates of the number of homeless people in the United States varied in the early 1980s from 250,000 to 3,000,000 (Hombs & Snyder, 1982; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1984). More recently, studies have estimated that between 500,000 and 735,000 individuals are homeless on any given night (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1989). In 1990 the U.S. Bureau of the Census attempted to cou...See the full content of this document
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