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International Homelessness: Policy, Socio‐Cultural, and Individual Perspectives
Author(s) -
Shinn Marybeth
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.2007.00529.x
Subject(s) - social exclusion , subsidy , psychological intervention , inequality , economic inequality , social capital , social policy , public economics , socioeconomic status , income distribution , distribution (mathematics) , social inequality , poverty , development economics , economic growth , sociology , political science , economics , psychology , social science , mathematical analysis , population , demography , mathematics , psychiatry , law
This article draws on other papers in the special issue and additional literature to offer a multi‐level framework for understanding the causes of homelessness in the developed world and efforts to reduce or end it. Social policies that reduce inequality and provide income and other supports to those at the bottom of the income distribution are associated with lower levels of homelessness across nations. The allocation of subsidies, patterns of social exclusion, and individual levels of economic, social, and human capital interact to influence who becomes homeless. Interventions to reduce homelessness at one level (e.g., social policy) can counteract vulnerabilities at a different level (e.g., individual risk factors) .