italian and foreign born homeless in a metropolitan area: challenges and opportunities. evidence...

EUROPEAN RESEARCH CONFERENCEHomelessness, Migration and Demographic Change in Europe

Pisa, 16th September 2011

Interdisciplinary Center 'Sciences for peace’

Italian and Foreign born Homeless in a metropolitan area: Challenges and

OpportunitiesEvidence from an Original Data

Collection in Italy.Michela Braga, Università Bocconi Milano

Mirella Cerniglia, Massimo De AlbertisServizio Adulti in Difficoltà – Comune di Torino



MOTIVATION Information on the number and characteristics of the homeless is

necessary for program planning Quantitative and qualitative data are necessary to quantify

economic resources to reduce homelessness and to prevent it with policies

Baseline survey for further studies => program evaluation

Cross countries analysis: gap between Italian and international research In US, systematic data collection year by year starting from the

early 80’s In Europe some attempts have been made in the last years Only one previous research in Italy Economic research on this topic is very scarse



MAIN CONTRIBUTION Quantitative and qualitative data collection:

First Census of homeless in Turin => count and localization Data collection to understand not only the number of homeless and the

concentration, but also to capture characteristics => questionnaire

Are homeless different according to their nationality? If yes in which dimension?



THE NETWORK OF TURIN The network of services and interventions against the acute marginality in Turin is

due to a strengthened partnership during the last years between the social services of the Municipality and:

• the Charity Work (christian and secular organisations) with its centuries-old and widespread presence throughout the city area;

• the Health Services (Mental Health, Addiction Service, Emergency Medical Service) with whom went in experimental projects in favor of homeless.

In this context, the Servizio Adulti in Difficoltà of the Municipality of Turin: • plans, projects interventions in favour of homeless throughout the whole city area;• arranges individual social including paths concerning the target users;• runs and coordinates services in favour of homeless through the private social

sector.



MUNICIPALITY OF TURINServices runned through the private social sector

Proximity services and first care centers with easy and direct access:

Health care service Shelters Street day time service (from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.) Street night time service (from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m.)

Second level housing services to accede through individual project worked

out by Social Services



THE SHELTERS OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF TURIN

The presence of immigrants 2001 – 2010

The graph considers only those who have used the night shelter for a period of at least seven nights.

In 2010, 1324 persons used the shelters of the Municipality for one night at least; 54% were immigrants.

Share of immigrants in sheltersof the Municipality of Turin

29%35%

43%47%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

anno 2001 anno 2004 anno 2007 anno 2010



METHODOLOGY: data collection

All individuals that in the reference night sleep in places not meant for human habitation = street homeless; emergency shelters = sheltered homeless;

45 small census blocks Reduce risk of double count (3/4 hours for each block) Simultaneous full census of the whole city

Localization and detection of observable characteristics Costs: monetary, human, time vs Benefits: accuracy, limit under estimates

Try to interview as many possible homeless Trade off between accuracy of the data collection and loss of observations

TARGET

COUNT

INTERVIEW

Point in time survey using the S - Night approach (Shelter and Street Night): January 18th 2010



THE POPULATION Street Shelters TotalN. of homeless counted (2010) 288 477 765

percentage 38% 62% 100%N. of homeless sampled (2010) 288 477 765Found 222 477 699Interviewed 83 315 398Refused 12 18 30Not found 66 66Who where sleeping 12 12Not interviewed due to time constraint 20 144 164

% found 77% 100% 91%% interviewed 29% 66% 52%% Refused 4% 4% 4%% not found 23% 9%% Who where sleeping 4% 2%% Not interviewed due to time constraint 7% 30% 21%



SOCIO DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS

Adults in the central part of their life (average age 39.9) => failures in individual life projects (lack/loss job, family relationships, divorces..)

Differently from the general population, the homeless are mainly men (80% vs. 48%) and immigrant (61% vs 5.8%) Geographical origin in line with general population (21% Maghreb, 15% Romania, 8% Somalia, 5% north Africa) Low level of education => almost primary education, 6.5% without formal education

Street Shelters Total

% Males 95.18 76.19 80.15% Immigrants 77.11 57.14 61.31Average age 39.6 40.13 40.02Average years of education 8.92 8.51 8.59N. of years as homeless 4.79 3.77 3.97



LEVEL OF EDUCATION Education distribution is in line with the one found in the general population Higher proportion of people with no education As in the general population, on average, immigrants are more educated than native born (9.1 vs 7.8) but it is not a

cohort effect since age structure is almost the same across the two groups

Total Street Shelters Italian Immigrant

No formal education 6.1 7.6 5.8 2.0 8.8Primary 17.9 13.9 18.9 23.7 14.2Lower secondary 43.2 35.4 45.2 57.9 33.9Professional (max 3 years) 11.5 17.7 9.9 8.6 13.4Upper secondary 15.4 21.5 13.8 6.6 20.9Tertiary 5.6 3.8 6.1 1.3 8.4Not answered 0.3 0.3 0.4



REASONS FOR HOMELESSNESS Different paths lead to homelessness natives and foreign born

Essential step of individual migration project (limited language proficiency, scarce knowledge of the bureaucracy and the law, difficulties to entry in the labor and housing markets)

psychological/mental disorders or drug/alcohol abuse not essential => crucial role of housing and migration policies, welfare regimes and labour market institutions to weak or reinforce the thin line between urban poverty and homelessness



PAST and FUTURE EXPECTATIONS

"How long did you expect to stay on the street when you first arrived?" "How much longer do you expect to sleep on the street?" => upwards revision of expectations as the time elapses

All sample Street Shelter Italian Immigrant

Past expectations when starting homeless lifeLess than 1 month 26.6 26.32 27.16 21.77 29.691 - 3 months 14.89 15.31 14.2 10.2 17.93 - 6 months 2.66 2.39 3.09 5.44 0.876-12 months 6.38 3.83 9.88 10.2 3.93More than 1 year 6.91 7.66 6.17 10.2 4.8Forever 2.93 4.31 1.23 6.8 0.44Don't know 39.63 40.19 38.27 35.37 42.36

Current expectations when starting homeless lifeLess than 1 month 13.83 19.72 12.46 14.29 13.541 - 3 months 16.22 18.31 15.74 12.93 18.343 - 6 months 8.51 1.41 10.16 7.48 9.176-12 months 10.37 2.82 12.13 10.88 10.04More than 1 year 4.79 1.41 5.57 9.52 1.75Forever 3.46 7.04 2.62 6.12 1.75

Don't know 42.82 49.3 41.31 38.78 45.41



PAST and FUTURE EXPECTATIONS

Past expectations are different form the sum of the number of months from their first time on the street until the date of the survey and future expectations => homeless duration not have been forecasted correctly.

Only for 32 percent of the sample the initial forecast was correct and this percentage is higher for italian than immigrants (36 % vs 30%)=> homelessness is a totally unexpected shock and individuals are completely unprepared to face it.



LABOUR MARKET BEHAVIOUR

Small fraction of working individuals, with a very low wage=> extremely lower than the poverty line threshold in Italy and insufficient to afford everyday life expenditures

High fraction of irregular workers Significant exclusion from the labour market

All sample Italian Immigrant

Currently working 15.56 21.57 11.72No contract 40.98 30.3 53.57

Dependent worker 4.92 3.03 7.14Freelance 3.28 6.06

Cococo 3.28 3.03 3.57Temporary contract 14.75 15.15 14.29Permanent contract 8.2 6.06 10.71

Borsa lavoro / training/stage 24.59 36.36 10.71Monthly wage - € 395 360.5 435.9Start the job after becoming homeless 47.46 51.61 42.86



INCOME 56% have at least one source of income (47% of italians and

68% of immigrants) . Monthly income is 375€: higher for italians (414 vs 339)

Low take up rate to social assistance programs and welfare state

Monthly average income from welfare 357 €, higher for italian => not lower than the poverty line threshold in Italy (246.5€ for a two person household) but not sufficient to afford everyday expenditures

Take up rate decreases when excluding pension Informal sources of income are relevant (friends, relatives,

charity, illegal activities) All sample Italian Immigrant

Income from welfare system 20.85 35.06 11.89Monthly amount - € 357 373 327Income from welfare system - specific for homeless 18.84 30.52 11.48Monthly amount - € 344 357 322Income sorces different from job and welfare system 20.1 22.08 18.85Monthly amount - € 180 106 235



Dependent variable = N. of months from the first night as homeless (1)

In - kind help -3.794

[7.050]Female -20.264***

[6.947]Age 4.500***

[1.473]Age sq, -0.054***

[0.018]Italian 29.848***

[8.767]Years of education -1.724***

[0.644]Currently employed 1.726

[8.192]Welfare benefits 23.284**

[9.914]Money from other sources 20.300**

[9.475]Shelter -19.190**

[9.462]

Observations 330R-squared 0.186Robust standard errors in brackets*** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1

DURATION OF INDIVIDUAL HOMELESS SPELL



EMPLOYMENT PROBABILITYDependent variable = 1 currently employed (1)

Duration (in months) 0.000

[0.000]In - kind help -0.130***

[0.042]Female 0.143**

[0.065]Age 0.011

[0.009]Age sq, -0.000

[0.000]Italian 0.127**

[0.055]Years of education -0.000

[0.005]Welfare benefits 0.046

[0.058]Money from other sources -0.072*

[0.039]Shelter -0.106*

[0.062]Loan -0.094**

[0.042]Lend -0.080*

[0.042]

Observations 330Pseudo R-squared 0.12Robust standard errors in brackets*** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1



CONCLUSION Homeless population similar in many dimensions to the Italian general

population

Variables affecting homeless duration spell and homeless people's labor market behavior are in line with the underlying theory

italian and foreign born homeless in a metropolitan area: challenges and opportunities. evidence...

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