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Homelessness, Politics, and Policy: Predicting Spatial Variation in COVID-19 Cases and Deaths

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  • Hilary Silver

    (Department of Sociology, Columbian College of Arts & Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA)

  • Rebecca Morris

    (Department of Health Policy and Management, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA)

Abstract

When COVID-19 began to spread in the United States, the first public health orders were to hunker down at home. But for the vulnerable people experiencing homelessness, especially those sleeping outdoors, retreating to a private dwelling was not possible. This suggests that places with greater homelessness would also have elevated COVID-19 infections. This paper examines how spatial variation in unsheltered homelessness was related to the cumulative number of cases and deaths from COVID-19. Although Continuums of Care (CoCs) with more households receiving welfare, without internet service, and more disabled residents had a higher rate of COVID-19-related cases and deaths, CoCs with more unsheltered homelessness had fewer COVID-19-related deaths. More research is needed to explain this counterintuitive result, but it may reflect the bicoastal pattern of homelessness which is higher where government intervention, community sentiment, and compliance with rules to promote the common welfare are greater. In fact, local politics and policies mattered. CoCs with more volunteering and a higher share of votes for the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate also had fewer COVID-19 cases and deaths. Yet, other policies did not matter. Having more homeless shelter beds, publicly assisted housing units, residents in group quarters, or greater use of public transportation had no independent associations with pandemic outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Hilary Silver & Rebecca Morris, 2023. "Homelessness, Politics, and Policy: Predicting Spatial Variation in COVID-19 Cases and Deaths," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-13, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:4:p:3265-:d:1066675
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jacob Wallace & Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham & Jason Schwartz, 2022. "Excess death rates for Republicans and Democrats during the COVID-19 pandemic," Papers 2209.10751, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2022.
    2. Desmet, Klaus & Wacziarg, Romain, 2022. "JUE Insight: Understanding spatial variation in COVID-19 across the United States," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    3. Dave, Dhaval & Friedson, Andrew & Matsuzawa, Kyutaro & Sabia, Joseph J. & Safford, Samuel, 2022. "JUE Insight: Were urban cowboys enough to control COVID-19? Local shelter-in-place orders and coronavirus case growth," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    4. Corinth, Kevin & Lucas, David S., 2018. "When warm and cold don’t mix: The implications of climate for the determinants of homelessness," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 45-56.
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