Place and Environment Commons^™

“It’S Real”: Experiences Of Family Homelessness In Fort Worth, Texas, Bernd Scheffler, Dale Brooker Phd.

Pursue: Undergraduate Research Journal

Introduction: Despite the common public image of homelessness (read: a single “vagrant” person), families with children represent one-third of the homeless population—an especially-serious social problem since family homelessness has long-term negative impacts on two generations simultaneously. This interdisciplinary study examined the complexities of family homelessness in Fort Worth, Texas.

Methods: A literature review outlined pathways into family homelessness, shared experiences, and common intervention strategies. An original qualitative study followed, employing a phenomenological approach to interview families in a local rapid-rehousing program. Open-ended questions allowed free descriptions of personal realities. Audio-recorded responses were analyzed for relevant themes, commonalities, and variations.

Results: …

2019/2020 Lrsp: Lindsay M. Cutler, Lindsay M. Cutler

Library Research Scholars Program

The incidence rate of homelessness in the United States has been trending positively over the last decade. The Department of Housing and Urban Development attributes this growth primarily to the West-Coast. States in this region particularly responsible for the rise in rates have significantly large concentrations of both homelessness and high-paying innovation-sector jobs in major cities–known as superstars for the extreme demand to live there. Dispersion between higher and lower-income residents is noted to be significantly higher in superstar cities. In light of the recent interference of an unprecedented pandemic, COVID-19, economists predict a significant increase in the incidence rate …

Homeless Individuals’ Social Construction Of A Park: A Symbolic Interactionist Perspective, Reuben Addo

The Qualitative Report

Individuals experiencing homelessness and housed residents have increasingly been in conflict over the use of public spaces, which has led to efforts to regulate how individuals experiencing homelessness use public spaces. However, the discourses around the use of public parks seem to value housed residents over homeless individuals. How individuals experiencing homelessness construct meanings of public spaces has not been given adequate attention in the literature. Drawing on a symbolic interactionist theoretical framework and grounded theory methodology, the researcher conducted 10 semi-structured interviews on how individuals experiencing homelessness construct meanings of a public park. Participants ascribed instrumental and intangible meanings …

Public Perceptions Of Homelessness In Humboldt County, John Thomas Krapf

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Homelessness is a social and political issue of great importance in the United States. For every 10,000 people in the U.S. 17 are experiencing homelessness (Bishop et al. 2017). Despite being a consequence of structural factors in the economy such as a lack of affordable housing and livable wages, the news media often frames the issue as an outcome of individualistic factors such as deviant characteristics, criminality, and personal flaws like drug addiction and mental illness. This study examines public perceptions of homelessness in Humboldt County. To explore this question, I conducted a content analysis of 94 articles on homelessness …

Challenging Homelessness, Elizabeth D. Marshall

SURGE

I had been homeless for about 28 hours. I sat on a sidewalk in Georgetown with a friend holding a cardboard sign that read, “Put a Smile on Our Faces” with a Dunkin Donuts cup at our feet. In the two and a half hours we sat there, hundreds of people passed, hundreds of people avoided eye contact, hundreds of people detoured around the lamppost on the street side of the sidewalk. A few people glanced at our sign. [excerpt]