In the course of this discussion the issues relating to the prevalence of health and mental health problems inevitably arise, but these are reviewed in greater detail in Chapter 3, Health Problems of Homeless People.Įven within the framework of a relatively straightforward definition, there is considerable uncertainty about the number of people who are homeless at any given time in the United States. The chapter continues by examining the socio-demographic characteristic s of homeless people, with emphasis on adult individuals, families and children, runaway and throwaway youths, 1 the elderly, and people in rural areas. It begins by defining homelessness, assessing methodologies used to count homeless people, and reviewing recent scholarly literature on the subject. This chapter briefly describes homelessness in the United States.

Growing public awareness of homelessness is also connected to changes in the geographic dispersion of homeless people, who are becoming more visible in neighborhoods and communities that would not have imagined their presence in the past. Not only has the number of homeless people increased dramatically within the last several years but the composition of the homeless population has also changed appreciably during that period: For example, middle-aged men make up a shrinking fraction of all homeless people, and families with young children are the fastest growing component of the homeless population (U.S. In the past decade, however, the problem of homelessness has increasingly captured public attention. As economic circumstances and demographic forces have fluctuated, so have the size and composition of the homeless population, although relatively permanent skid rows where homeless people congregate have long been a feature of many large cities. There have always been homeless people in the United States.

1985 anthony burgess lexile level