The Nature of Homelessness - Public Interest In Homelessness

Interest in and attitudes towards homelessness in America have changed over time. The mid- to late 1980s was a period of relatively high concern about homelessness. In 1986 the American public demonstrated concern over the plight of the homeless by initiating the Hands Across America fundraising effort. Some six million people locked hands across 4,152 miles to form a human chain across the country, bringing an outpouring of national attention and concern to the issue. In 1986 popular comedians Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, and Billy Crystal hosted the Home Box Office (HBO) comedy special Comic Relief to help raise money for the homeless. The show was a success and became an annual event. Magazines, art shows, books, and songs turned the nation's attention toward homelessness. Well-funded research studies came out by the dozens. The country was awash in statistical information regarding the homeless. All of these activities pointed to the widely held belief that people became homeless because of circumstances outside of their control.

By 2005, however, national concern about homelessness had faded somewhat. One could only see Comic Relief in reruns. The annual fundraiser ran out of steam in 1996 with the exception of a revival show two years later. No resurgence of public interest in the homeless problem appeared in the twenty-first century, although the problem remained, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors reported in 2004 that the demand for services continued to increase. "The Real Face of Homelessness," in the January 20, 2003, issue of Time, explored a change in the national mood about homelessness. In New Orleans, for instance, park benches in certain areas had been removed in order to prevent street people from sleeping on them. A campaign was launched in Philadelphia to discourage giving money to panhandlers. In Orlando, Florida, people could be jailed for sleeping on the sidewalk. In San Francisco, Proposition N ("Care Not Cash") reduced county housing support payments from $395 to $59 a month. According to a Time /Cable News Network (CNN) poll, also cited in the article, 36% of the 1,006 adults polled favored making panhandling illegal, and 47% thought it should be illegal to sleep in public places.

When asked, Americans still stated that they were troubled by the existence of homelessness. A February 2005 survey of 1,001 adults by the Associated Press/Ipsos-Public Affairs found that nine out of ten adults considered homelessness a very serious or somewhat serious problem. However, only half of adults surveyed believed that chronic homelessness was caused by external circumstances (56%), and more than a third (38%) believed that homeless people were responsible for their homelessness.

Research studies, once so plentiful, were outdated by 2005, but some well-funded research centers and organizations continued to study the homeless population. A look at leading organizations follows.

The Urban Institute

The Urban Institute is a nonprofit policy research organization located in Washington, D.C. The Institute conducts research projects, publishes newsletters and books regarding social issues, and evaluates government programs. It is dedicated to examining society's problems and developing methods to solve them. The Institute's work is designed to help improve government decisions and increase citizens' awareness of important social issues. Funding comes from a variety of government, corporate, and private organizations and people.

The Urban Institute study Homelessness: Programs and the People They Serve, published in December 1999, was a landmark in homelessness research. The program was designed specifically to update a 1987 Institute study. The survey was based on a statistical sample of seventy-six metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, including small cities and rural areas. It provided relevant information about homeless service providers and examined the characteristics of people who use the services. The analysis presented information about homelessness in national, urban, suburban, and rural areas. It was still one of the most comprehensive research studies available on the subject of homelessness in America in 2005.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors

The U.S. Conference of Mayors organization includes more than 1,000 cities with populations of at least 30,000. Since 1982 the U.S. Conference of Mayors has conducted and published an annual survey that assesses emergency services—food, shelter, medical care, and income assistance—in the nation's largest cities. The survey tracks the increases or reductions in the demand for emergency services from year to year, including services for the homeless. This study has become one of the leading sources of homelessness research today.

The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH)

The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) is an advocacy group of homeless persons, activists, service providers, and people dedicated to ending homelessness. NCH serves as a national clearinghouse for information and works as a referral resource to enhance the public's understanding of homelessness. NCH believes that homelessness can be eliminated through public education, legislative advocacy, and grassroots movements.

Other Organizations

Homes for the Homeless (HFH) is a New York City–based program designed to find long-term solutions for homeless people in New York. HFH created an innovative and successful program—a network of residential, educational, and employment training centers called the American Family Inns—which has been used as a model for permanent solutions to homelessness. HFH is affiliated with the Institute for Children and Poverty, and together they conduct research studies to uncover strategies for fighting poverty and homelessness.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) is a nationwide federation of public, private, and nonprofit organizations operating on the assumption that homelessness can be ended. Alliance members work to advance the implementation of practical, community-based solutions to homelessness.

The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty states that its mission is "to alleviate, ameliorate and end homelessness by serving as the legal arm of the nationwide movement to end homelessness," and works to protect the rights of homeless people and to end homelessness in America. It uses three main strategies to achieve this goal: impact litigation, policy advocacy, and public education. The Law Center conducts research studies and distributes the results by publishing fact sheets and a monthly newsletter.