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A journey home: What drives how long people are homeless?

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  • Cobb-Clark, Deborah A.
  • Herault, Nicolas
  • Scutella, Rosanna
  • Tseng, Yi-Ping

Abstract

This paper uses survival analysis to model exits from two alternative forms of homelessness: sleeping on the streets (‘literal homelessness’) and not having a home of one's own (‘housing insecurity’). We are unique in being able to account for time-invariant, unobserved heterogeneity. Like previous researchers, we find results consistent with negative duration dependence in models which ignore unobserved heterogeneity. However, controlling for unobserved heterogeneity, we find that duration dependence has an inverted U-shape with exit rates initially increasing (indicating positive duration dependence) and then falling. Exit rates out of both literal homelessness and housing insecurity fall with age. Women are more likely than men to exit housing insecurity for a home of their own, but are less likely to exit literal homelessness. Persons with dependent children have higher exit rates. Finally, education seems to protect people from longer periods of housing insecurity.

Suggested Citation

  • Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Herault, Nicolas & Scutella, Rosanna & Tseng, Yi-Ping, 2016. "A journey home: What drives how long people are homeless?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 57-72.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:91:y:2016:i:c:p:57-72
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2015.11.005
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    Cited by:

    1. Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Anna Zhu, 2017. "Childhood homelessness and adult employment: the role of education, incarceration, and welfare receipt," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(3), pages 893-924, July.
    2. Budría, Santiago & Betancourt-Odio, Alejandro & Wirth, Eszter, 2023. "Does internal locus of control get you out of homelessness?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    3. Saerim Kim & Andrew A Sullivan, 2021. "Complementary policies for multidimensional problems: Does the low-income housing tax credit complement homeless services in the USA?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(5), pages 903-921, April.
    4. Herault, Nicolas & Ribar, David C., 2017. "Food insecurity and homelessness in the Journeys Home survey," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 52-66.
    5. 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.
    6. Riku Laine & Mikko Aaltonen & Mikko Myrskylä & Pekka Martikainen, 2023. "Sociohistorical context and post-prison life course," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2023-037, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    7. Timothy M. Diette & David C. Ribar, 2018. "A Longitudinal Analysis Of Violence And Housing Insecurity," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(3), pages 1602-1621, July.
    8. Johnson, Guy & Ribar, David C. & Zhu, Anna, 2017. "Women's Homelessness: International Evidence on Causes, Consequences, Coping and Policies," IZA Discussion Papers 10614, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. David C. Ribar, 2017. "Early Research Findings from Journeys Home: Longitudinal Study of Factors Affecting Housing Stability," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 50(2), pages 214-219, June.
    10. 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.
    11. Parkinson, Sharon & James, Amity & Liu, Edgar & Hayward, Richard Donald, 2018. "Navigating a changing private rental sector: opportunities and challenges for low-income renters," SocArXiv f3h4s, Center for Open Science.
    12. Huang, Donna & Parkinson, Sharon & James, Amity & Liu, Edgar, 2018. "Navigating a changing private rental sector: opportunities and challenges for low-income renters," SocArXiv 4yjsw, Center for Open Science.
    13. O'Flaherty, Brendan, 2019. "Homelessness research: A guide for economists (and friends)," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-25.
    14. Budría, Santiago & Betancourt-Odio, Alejandro & Wirth, Eszter, 2023. "Does Internal Locus of Control Get You Out of Homelessness?," IZA Discussion Papers 16242, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Homelessness; Housing insecurity; Survival analysis; Duration dependence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • R2 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis
    • C4 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics

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