A History of Homelessness in America

Homelessness 101

Why is this topic important?

• Hubert H. Humphrey

• George Santayana

• Albert Einstein

“It was once said that the moral test of Government is how that

Government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the

shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”

Hubert H. Humphrey (1911- 1978)

“The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with

which we created them”

Albert Einstein

Society Section of Homelessness• Causes of homelessness

• Attitudes toward homelessness

• Responses to homelessness

At your table• Introduce yourselves

– Name– Agency and what it does with respect to

assisting homeless persons– Your role

• Then, identify what you consider your top three causes of homelessness

Underlying Cause of Homelessness

Socio-economic & political factors

That there is homelessness is a factor of these conditions, who becomes homeless is a result of environmental & constitutional factors.

“Down and out in America,” Peter Rossi

The most vulnerable become homeless

Environmental Constitutional

Characteristics of LTH• Three things in common

– No fixed abode– Poor– Loss of social safety net

• Difficult start in life (58%)– Institutionalized – Education - special ed, dropped out– Birth to child before age 18

• Multiple disabilities• History of abuse & neglect

– Self report 26% - 38% (Wilder Survey)

– 97% women with SMI (Goodman, 91)

• Stressful life events (Munoz, 99)

Five distinct periods of homelessness

• Colonial Period

• Urbanization

• Industrialization

• The Great Depression

• Contemporary Period

Colonial Period Beliefs & Attitudes Puritan culture & work ethic,

rugged individualism

“Wandering beggars & rogues are a plague to civil society. They should be taken as enemies of this ordinance of God”

William Perkins

Primary causes of homelessness• Agricultural society required skilled and

unskilled worker mobility

• Continuing territorial skirmishes

• Beginnings of business cycles

• Immigration

Urbanization (1820 – 1850)

Homelessness increases sharply

185050,000 people

Chicago

18981,500,000 people

Attitudes toward the homelessTread Mill (1822 – 1826)

Primary causes of homelessness

•Railroads and telegraph introduce pervasive societal changes

•Mills, mines, and dock work offered employment but low job security

•Bumpy business cycles

Response by government

• Minimalist policy• Tramp room – 1853

– 25,000 used in six month period in NY

• Public Outdoor Relief• Strict vagrancy laws

Civil War and Industrialization (1870 – 1900)

Homelessness dips significantly during the Civil War then spikes during subsequent economic depressions

Slavery

General Sherman promised “40 acres and a mule” to freed slaves. In the end less than 1%, about 3,500, received their allotment.

With very few African Americans able to gain land and assets to give to their children, there is now a home ownership gap where 27% more whites have homes than African Americans (up from 23% in 1940).

Sources: Freedmen, The Freed Slaves of the Civil War. www.civilwarhome.com/freedmen.html. Centre on Housing Rights and Eviction (COHRE) and The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) www.cohre.org/store/attachments/Human-Rights-Resource-Manual.doc

Institutionalized Racism as a cause of homelessness

– The U.S. government has broken land treaties with Native Americans and put them into reservations without sufficient resources and opportunities to find jobs, housing, and a better life.

– In Minnesota there is a lack of shelter and housing that is culturally appropriate for Native Americans.

Unregulated capitalist economy

• Changes in – the nature of work

– types of jobs

• Deskilling• Demeaning• Dangerous – 1913

– 25,000 deaths

– 700,000 injured

Face of homeless after the Civil War“The Great American Hobo”

• The hobo and “true” American ideals verses emerging capitalistic values

• Hobo’s labeled as “political agitators”

Main causes of homelessness• Veterans from Civil War

• Institutionalized racism ~ Unequal access to jobs

• Two severe economic downturns, unemployment near 40%

• Immigration

• Railroad penetration allowed for a subculture of “train hoppers”

The Great DepressionBlack Thursday, October 24, 1929

“Breadline – No One Has Starved” by Reginald Marsh, 1932

From tramp to transient

• Homelessness increases significantly

• 25% unemployment • Families on the move

in search of work• Migrant workers from

drought-ridden Midwestern States

Skid Row & Affordable Housing –Veterans–People with physical & mental illness–Chronic inebriates–Displaced persons–Unemployed & casually employed

Responses to homelessness

• FDR’s New Deal

– CCC

– Federal Transient Service

• Charities in conflict about nature of homelessness

• Citizens involved – “Impulsive almsgiving”

Transient Home KitchenWisconsin, 1933

Home Ownership

– New Deal programs helped white people become homeowners, but African Americans were considered financial risks and not given loans and federal money to become suburban homeowners. Of the $120 billion of government backed loans to new homeowners between 1934-1962, 98% went to white people.

Source: Racial Preferences for Whites: The Houses that Racism Built. Larry Adelman, San Francisco Chronicle, June 29, 2003

Causes of Homelessness•Severe economic instability•Immigration•Migration from “Dust Bowl”

•“Grapes of Wrath”•WWII – homelessness decreases

Skid row community

• Camaraderie• Story telling• Casual labor

Lobby of cheap lodging house, 1962

Minneapolis skid row demolition

• In 1958 men aging out– 50% over 60– 22% over 70

• In 1962– 42% lived in SRO’s at

$3.35 per week

• Successfully housed!• Given $5 and free

advice at demolition

Gateway District

Contemporary Period (1980–Present

• Homelessness no longer limited to skid row

• Homelessness increases sharply and continues to rise

• Multiple causes– Deinstitutionalization– Vietnam veterans

Wilder Research

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1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006 2009

Turquoise = Count Blue = Estimate

Main causes of homelessness1973: Wages Peak

• In 1973, the average private, non-supervisory, non-agricultural wage reached an all time high of $9.72. By 1983, adjusting for inflation, the same worker was paid $8.76 per hour. (1)

Source: The Alliance Report. March – April, 1989. Volume #1, Issue #1. Minneapolis

Source: Western Regional Advocacy Program, 2007.

1980-1983: Federal programs for poor people are cut

• Between 1980 and 1983 alone, $140 billion in domestic spending was cut.

• HUD, unemployment, disability, food stamps, and Family welfare programs all received cuts.

Source: Open House. A news update from St. Stephen’s Human Services. Holiday 2005. Minneapolis.

Union Strength Declines

• In 1981 the Federal Government broke the Air Traffic Controller’s Strike by firing over 11,000 employees, beginning a trend of unions losing leverage to demand fair wages and benefits.

• Lack of unions and more service sector jobs make people spend more of their income on healthcare, daycare, etc.

[i] USA Today. 2004. Fired air-traffic controller still feels the sting decades later. www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-06-10-taylor-vignette_x.htm

1981-1986: Factories Close

• From January 1981 to January 1986, “10.8 million workers lost their jobs due to plant closures, abolition of positions or shifts, or slack work”.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. As cited by Rachel Kamel in The Global Factory. 1990. American Friends Service Committee.

The Worker/CEO Pay Gap

• In 1980, the gap between the highest and average paid worker was 42:1.

• By 2000, the ratio spiked to 531:1.

Source: Chuck Collins & Felice Yeskel, Economic Apartheid in America .

Rental Rates and Income

• Minimum Wage in Minnesota is $7.25/hour which equals $15,080/yr

• Annual income needed to afford a one bedroom FMR apt: $27,960. A two bedroom: $33,920.

• 1-Bedroom: $27,960-15,080 = $12,880 unmet need

• 2-Bedroom$33,920-15,080 = $18,840 unmet need

Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition

• Housing should cost no more than 30% of a household’s annual income

• 1973-1993: 2.2 million low-rent units disappeared from the market

• 1991-1995: median rental costs rose 21%

• HUD has stopped building public housing and housing projects are being demolished across US

Affordable Housing/Gentrification

Source:National Coalition for the Homeless (2008). Why are people homeless? Retrieved October 19th, 2008 from,http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/facts/why.html

Per night costs of Homelessness

• Adult shelter $32

• Youth shelter $125

• Jail $363

• Hospital $2800

• Detox $192

• Camping $16 (annual car sticker $28)

• Supportive housing $21

•Collaboration of agencies

•Creativity in spectrum of housing options

•Public will - Educate the public about the systemic causes of homelessness

•Increase affordable housing stock

•Lobbying for government legislation

In 2012 & beyond