2.1. Overview.

According to the United States Conference of Mayors, in 2008 the three most commonly cited causes of homelessness for persons and families were a lack of affordable housing, cited by 72 percent, poverty (52%), and unemployment (44%).The suggestions to alleviate homelessness included providing more housing for persons with disabilities (72%), creating more employment opportunities (68%), and building more assisted housing units (64%).

Over the past decades, the availability and quality of data on homelessness has improved considerably, due, in part, to initiatives by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development  (HUD), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and several nongovernmental organizations working with homeless populations. Since 2007, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued an Annual Homeless Assessment Report, which revealed the number of individuals and families that were homeless, both sheltered and unsheltered. It standardized the data collection processes and created more opportunities for government officials and service providers to remedy the problem of homelessness in the United States.

Homeless American.

2.2. Who are the Homeless?

According to the Stewart B. McKinney Act, 42 U.S.C. § 11301, et seq. (1994), a person is considered homeless if he or she "lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence and ... has a primary nighttime residency that is: (A) a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations... (B) an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized, or (C) a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings." Human Rights Watch (2010) identified emancipated teenagers in California as a new homeless population.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 5th Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress  estimated that 1.56 million people, or one in every 200 Americans, experienced homelessness and found shelter between Oct. 1, 2008 and Sept. 30, 2009 (p. iii). On a single night in January 2009, 643,000 people were homeless. Nearly two-thirds stayed in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program and the other third were living on the street, in an abandoned building, or another place not meant for human habitation (p. 19). A typical sheltered homeless person is a single, middle-aged man and a member of a minority group. Of all those who sought emergency shelter or transitional housing during 2009, the following characteristics were observed:

• 78 percent of all sheltered homeless persons are adults.

• 61 percent are male.

• 62 percent are members of a minority group.

• 38 percent are 31-to-50 years old.

• 64 percent are in one-person households.

• 38 percent have a disability.

2.3. Definitions and Categories

The United States government acknowledges four categories of people who qualify as legally homeless: (1) those who are currently homeless, (2) those who will become homeless in the imminent future, (3) certain youths and families with children who suffer from home instability caused by a hardship, and (4) those who suffer from home instability caused by domestic violence.

1. CURRENT HOMELESSNESS: An individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, meaning any of the following three (3) situations:

   • Homeless Without Shelter: The individual or family uses a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for—or ordinarily used as—a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings (e.g., car, park, abandoned building, bus or train station, airport, camping ground).

   • Homeless With Shelter: The individual or family lives in a supervised, publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangements (e.g., congregate shelters, transitional housing, hotels and motels paid for by charitable organizations or by federal, state, or local government programs for low-income individuals).

   • Homeless Due to Institutional Release: The individual is exiting an institution where he or she resided for no more than 90 days, and the individual resided in an emergency shelter or place not meant for human habitation immediately before entering that institution.

2. IMMINENT HOMELESSNESS: An individual or family who will imminently lose their primary nighttime residence, meaning that each of the following three (3) conditions are met:

   • Imminence of Loss: The primary nighttime residence will be lost within 14 days.

   • Lack of Alternate Housing: The individual or family has not arranged for a new primary nighttime residence after the current residence is lost.

   • Lack of Support: The individual or family lacks the resources or support networks needed to obtain other permanent housing (e.g., family, friends, faith-based or other social networks).

3. YOUTH/FAMILY HOME INSTABILITY CAUSED BY HARDSHIP: An unaccompanied youth under 25 years of age, or family with children, who is not currently or imminently lacking a primary nighttime residence, but who nevertheless suffers from unreliable housing. To qualify as homeless under this category, the youth or family must meeteach of the following four (4) conditions:

   • Qualification as Homeless Youth or Family: must meet one of the definitions of homeless under any of the following seven (7) federal statutes:

     1. Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, §5732a(3)

     2. Head Start Act, §9832(11)

     3. Violence Against Women Act, §14043e-2(6)

     4. Public Health Service Act, §254b(h)(5)(A)

     5. Food and Nutrition Act, §2012(m)

     6. Child Nutrition Act, §1786(b)(15)

     7. McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, §11434a(2)

   • Lack of Permanent Housing: must have not had a lease, ownership interest, or occupancy agreement in permanent housing at any time during the last 60 days.

   • Persistence of Housing Instability: must have moved primary nighttime residences at least twice during the last 60 days.

   • Presence of an Ongoing Hardship: the lack of permanent housing and persistence of housing instability are expected to continue for an extended period of time due to any of the following six (6) reasons:

     1. Chronic disabilities

     2. Chronic physical or mental health conditions

     3. Substance addiction

     4. Histories of domestic violence or child abuse (including neglect)

     5. The presence of a child or youth with a disability

     6. The presence of at least two (2) barriers to employment, which include any of the following five (5) barriers:

        • Lack of a high school diploma or GED

        • Illiteracy

        • Low English proficiency

        • History of incarceration or detention for criminal activity

        • History of unstable employment.

4. HOME INSTABILITY CAUSED BY DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: Any individual or family who meets each of the following four (4) conditions:

   • Flight from Violence: The individual or family is fleeing or attempting to flee from violence, which includes any of the following:

     1. Domestic violence

     2. Dating violence

     3. Sexual assault

     4. Stalking

     5. Any other dangerous or life-threatening condition that relates to violence against the individual or a family member (including a child).

   • Connection with Housing: The violence or dangerous condition has either:

• taken place within the individual’s or family’s primary nighttime residence, or

• made the individual or family afraid to return to their primary nighttime residence.

• Lack of Alternate Housing: The individual or family has no other residence to flee to.

• Lack of Support: The individual or family lacks the resources or support networks to obtain other permanent housing (e.g., family, friends, faith-based or other social networks).