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Lifetime and five-year prevalence of homelessness in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Link, B.G.
  • Susser, E.
  • Stueve, A.
  • Phelan, J.
  • Moore, R.E.
  • Struening, E.

Abstract

Objective. Intense debate exists concerning the number of homeless people in the United States. Previous studies, counting currently homeless people, have provided point-prevalence estimates of homelessness but have been criticized on methodological grounds. This study reports lifetime and 5-year prevalence estimates of homelessness using a different methodological approach. Methods. Random-digit dialing was used to interview 1507 adults living in households with telephones in the 48 contiguous states in the fall of 1990. Respondents were asked whether they had ever been homeless and if so, where they had slept while homeless. Results. Lifetime and 5-year prevalence of all types of homelessness combined were 14.0% (26 million people) and 4.6% (8.5 million people), respectively. Lifetime 'literal homelessness' (sleeping in shelters, abandoned buildings, bus and train stations, etc.) was 7.4% (13.5 million people). Five-year (1985 through 1990) prevalence of self-reported homelessness among those who had ever been literally homeless was 3.1% (5.7 million people). Conclusions. The magnitude of the problem of homelessness is much greater than most previous attempts to enumerate homeless people have led us to believe. This finding requires reconsideration of inferences about the causes of homelessness that were derived from point-prevalence studies of currently homeless people.

Suggested Citation

  • Link, B.G. & Susser, E. & Stueve, A. & Phelan, J. & Moore, R.E. & Struening, E., 1994. "Lifetime and five-year prevalence of homelessness in the United States," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 84(12), pages 1907-1912.
    • Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:1994:84:12:1907-1912_9
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    Cited by:

    1. Castaneda, Ernesto, 2017. "A Geographically-aware Multilevel Analysis on the Association between Atmospheric Temperature and the Emergency and Transitional Shelter Population," OSF Preprints 8a264, Center for Open Science.
    2. Peter D. Killworth & Christopher McCarty & H. Russell Bernard & Gene Ann Shelley & Eugene C. Johnsen, 1998. "Estimation of Seroprevalence, Rape, and Homelessness in the United States Using a Social Network Approach," Evaluation Review, , vol. 22(2), pages 289-308, April.
    3. repec:pri:crcwel:wp12-03-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Marah A. Curtis & Hope Corman & Kelly Noonan & Nancy E. Reichman, 2012. "Life Shocks and Homelessness," Working Papers 1374, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    5. O’Flaherty, Brendan, 2012. "Individual homelessness: Entries, exits, and policy," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 77-100.
    6. Rosanna Scutella & Guy Johnson, 2012. "Locating and Designing 'Journeys Home': A Literature Review (Journeys Home: A Longitudinal Study of Factors Affecting Housing Stability)," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2012n11, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    7. Maryse Marpsat, 2008. "The ined research on homelessness, 1993-2008," Working Papers 156, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED).
    8. Moschion, Julie & van Ours, Jan C., 2019. "Do childhood experiences of parental separation lead to homelessness?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 211-236.
    9. Schwartz, Gabriel L. & Leifheit, Kathryn M. & Arcaya, Mariana C. & Keene, Danya, 2024. "Eviction as a community health exposure," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    10. David A. Kenny & Robert J. Calsyn & Gary A. Morse & W. Dean Klinkenberg & Joel P. Winter & Michael L. Trusty, 2004. "Evaluation of Treatment Programs for Persons with Severe Mental Illness," Evaluation Review, , vol. 28(4), pages 294-324, August.
    11. McVicar, Duncan & Moschion, Julie & van Ours, Jan C., 2015. "From substance use to homelessness or vice versa?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 136, pages 89-98.
    12. Allgood, Sam & Warren, Ronald Jr., 2003. "The duration of homelessness: evidence from a national survey," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 273-290, December.
    13. Robert F. Schoeni & Paul Koegel, 1998. "Economic Resources Of The Homeless: Evidence From Los Angeles," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 16(3), pages 295-308, July.
    14. Ayşe İmrohoroğlu & Kai Zhao, 2022. "Homelessness," Working papers 2022-17, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    15. Thomas Byrne & Travis Baggett & Thomas Land & Dana Bernson & Maria-Elena Hood & Cheryl Kennedy-Perez & Rodrigo Monterrey & David Smelson & Marc Dones & Monica Bharel, 2020. "A classification model of homelessness using integrated administrative data: Implications for targeting interventions to improve the housing status, health and well-being of a highly vulnerable popula," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-12, August.
    16. Padgett, Deborah K., 2007. "There's no place like (a) home: Ontological security among persons with serious mental illness in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(9), pages 1925-1936, May.
    17. James O'Donnell, 2020. "Estimating annual rates of homelessness," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 43(1), pages 1-34.
    18. O'Flaherty, Brendan, 2004. "Wrong person and wrong place: for homelessness, the conjunction is what matters," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, March.
    19. A. M. Coumans & M. Cruyff & P. G. M. Heijden & J. Wolf & H. Schmeets, 2017. "Estimating Homelessness in the Netherlands Using a Capture-Recapture Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 189-212, January.
    20. Vincent A. Fusaro & Helen G. Levy & H. Luke Shaefer, 2018. "Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Lifetime Prevalence of Homelessness in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2119-2128, December.
    21. Marah Curtis & Hope Corman & Kelly Noonan & Nancy Reichman, 2013. "Life Shocks and Homelessness," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(6), pages 2227-2253, December.

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