Homelessness & Mental Illness

The project of Distinguishing Homelessness From Poverty: A Comparative Study is to analyze the studies surrounding the issues of homelessness and mental illness. Moreover, the article seeks to add to extant studies by including "comparison groups to separate the characteristics of homeless people from those of the broader group of poor, previously housed individuals" (284). In the last decade more than 50 studies on the homeless have been completed, while there are many others in progress (280). Most of these studies suggest high rates of pathology, mental illness, substance abuse, criminal behavior and health problems among the homeless (280); the studies, however, suffer from methodological failings because they often compare the homeless to the nonhomeless, they focus on the characteristics of homelessness, or they match inappropriate groups (280).

These sorts of comparisons cannot help but find the homeless "deviant" in relation to the nonhomeless, a conclusion that provides little insight into the factors which are unique to homelessness and which do not only apply to poverty. Thus "better comparison groups are necessary" to isolate these factors (280). Some argue that, in fact, homelessness is part of a "continuum of poverty and residential instability" (280).

Geographical comparisons or "matching," in the "era of gentrification" no longer provide reliable data on socioeconomic status since the rich are moving into neighborhoods once inhabited by the poor.

Related Essays

Mental Illness and Homelessness .... However, homelessness and mental illness mutually reinforce one another, which result in the long-term state of homelessness for the mentally ill individuals. .... (4335 17 )

Increase in Homelessness .... This paper will examine and discuss the different causes of homelessness in San Francisco, looking specifically at mental illness and substance abuse or drug .... (1172 5 )

Causes of Homelessness in San Francisco .... This paper will examine and discuss the different causes of homelessness in San Francisco, looking specifically at mental illness and substance abuse or drug .... (1172 5 )

Review of 3 Articles on the Homeless Bassuk, EL & Rosenberg, L. .... have to be obtained using a national sample and diverse definitions and operationalizations of the constructs of "homelessness" and "mental illness." Both .... (2813 11 )

The Soloist: The Mentally Ill and Homelessness by Steve Lopez The Mentally Ill and Homelessness Steven Lopez's (2008) book (and, later, film), titled .... of life on the streets and its direct link to severe mental illness. .... (1046 4 )

individual's history of housing to define the homeless." It compares the homeless with the nonhomeless groups" who can be termed precariously housed or at serious risk of homelessness (282). The participants in the study are 144 adults, sampled randomly and interviewed over an 11-month period: 56 were sampled from a soup kitchen, 58 from a food-pantry-soup kitchen, and 30 from a meal-providing shelter (282). Participants were on average about 34 years old--50 percent white and predominately male. Of the group, 50 percent had never been married, were currently divorced, separated or widowed (282). 59 were homeless when the interview was conducted, 31 had been homeless earlier, and 54 had never been homeless (282). In order to insure reliability, 31 of the 144 participants were reinterviewed one week later by a different graduate student (282). The measures for evaluation of the participants were diverse and substantive. HIST, the Housing, Income, and Services Timeline were used to evaluate a person's life history from employment and income to the utilization of social services. Also implemented were mental health status evaluations that determined the history of psychiatric hospitalization, and provided a checklist of s

Category: Psychology - H