Family Homelessness Case Study

Amber Benton
Social Welfare 110
December 5, 2015

Family Homelessness

I. Problem Statement In 2013, 2,483,539 million children were without a place to call home in the United States -- a historically high rate in this country (Bassuk et al., 2014). Unfortunately this social problem isn?t showing signs of slowing. The number of homeless families is steadily increasing with a shocking eight percent increase from 2012 to 2013 (Bassuk et al., 2014). Even more troubling is the increase in homeless children, specifically. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, children account for 37% of the overall homeless population. This number saw an increase from 1.6 million to 2.5 million from 2010 to 2013, an increase of almost
a million children in the course of only three years (NCFH, 2014). Up to 20 percent of U.S. citizens are at risk of becoming homeless at any given time, making this social problem an epidemic that must be addressed (Gould, 2010). This paper will define family homelessness as a serious social issue, identify those that are affected by it and explain the ways in which it impacts its victims. It will pose two interventions that have the potential to help lesson the number of families that are currently homeless and prevent families from becoming homeless in the future and, finally, weigh the possible positive and negative outcomes. In order to discuss homelessness we must first define what it specifically means for one to be considered homeless. A. Definitions
For our purposes, an individual or family is homeless when they experience one or a combination of the following circumstances: living in shelter provided by an agency, including provision of housing and/or financial support, living in the streets or other places not meant for human dwelling and, finally, living with relatives, friends or in other non permanent situations. Furthermore, homelessness can be broken into three sub categories, those categories include: chronically homeless, episodically homeless, and transitionally homeless. Chronically homeless is characterized by a person spending a substantial amount of one?s life time in unstable living arrangements, episodically homeless individuals may eventually find stable housing or become move into the chronically homeless category, and transitionally homeless individuals and families are homeless for a short time before transitioning into stable living arrangements (Burt et at., 1999). Homeless families have most often fallen into the category of transitionally homeless but a fast growing number are experiencing episodic homelessness (Gould, 2010). Families become homeless for a variety of reasons many of which are not individual but communal. B. Affected Populations (Indicators and Outcomes) It is widely believed that homelessness is primarily a result of factors such as drug or alcohol addiction and mental illness, however, there is research that provides evidence that homelessness also creates the aforementioned ailments in a substantial number of those it affects, creating the conclusion that the causation isn?t as linear as previously believed. The causation is ambiguous especially in dealing with families (Gould, 2010). Large scale, or macro/mezzo indicators for family homelessness include: community (mezzo) and economic (macro) factors, for example, lack of adequate affordable housing throughout the country, low minimum wage and scarcity of employment paying a living wage that would allow for rental payments at market value rates and high unemployment rates. Individual or micro indicators include: chronic substance abuse, a large variety of mental illnesses and limited access to higher education. Its reach is widespread and diverse affecting a variety of people from a variety of backgrounds. This devastating social problem isn?t discriminatory in those it affects; however, the vast majority of families who become homeless are African American or Caucasian. 43% of the homeless population is made up of blacks, 38% are white and only 18% of the population represents those who identify as Hispanic or ?other??depicting a very disproportionate ratio (NCFH, 2014). Individuals experiencing homelessness often lack higher education, in fact, over half of homeless mothers do not have a high school diploma, creating a barrier to gainful employment and therefore difficulty maintaining housing and often times resulting unstable housing conditions, and their eventual homelessness. It is no surprise that single mother?s and their children are at the highest risk of becoming homeless, they make up the poorest population of the country. Homeless mothers and their children experience substantial trauma during the course of being without stable housing. An outstanding 42% of children in homeless families are of ages birth to 5, accounting for crucial and formative years of child?s life. Trauma and uncertainty in these years can cause negative long-term consequences?a statistic that should be of concern to the entire population (NCFH, 2014). C. Negative Effects on Victims Homelessness in children can cause permanent changes to their brain architecture resulting in negatively impacted learning skills, impaired self regulation, trouble creating and maintaining social relationships and poor cognitive skills (NCFH, 2014). Children without homes are also much more likely to suffer from poor health, some specifics include: they four times more likely to experience respiratory infections, they have twice as many ear infections, and five times as many gestational problems then children with homes, even those who are impoverished (NCFH, 2014). However, their psychical health isn?t solely impacted. A discouraging 30% of homeless children between the ages of 12 months to 19 years old are diagnosed with a or a combination of developmental or psychiatric disorders (Grant et al., 2013). One could theorize that this may be the result of exposure to violence and abuse-- experienced and witnessed, as these things are rampant against homeless families. The vast majoring of homeless mothers and children are victims of violence, domestic or otherwise, 92% of homeless mothers have experienced sexual and/or physical abuse during their lifespan. Their children do not fare much better-- by the young age of 12 years old 83% of homeless children have been exposed to a serious violent event. Family homelessness causes serious stress on the entire family, with the brunt of that stress taken by the parents- parents in homeless families are likely to be unemployed, suffer from serious mental illness, poor health and practice poor parenting skills. Additionally, many homeless shelters do not accept men, causing families that become homeless to be forced to separate, increasing burden on mothers and damage to familial construct (NCFH, 2014). Thus far I have focused this paper on the devastating statistics that describe the nature of family homelessness, a necessary evil in order to understand the urgency in which this country must act in order to combat this epidemic, its affects are vast and resonating. Next, I will propose interventions that would serve to combat homelessness and decrease the number of families who because victim to it.
II. Interventions It is clear that our current system in not enough. Too many families are falling through the cracks; we must alter and reorganize our efforts to better combat this problem. My first strategy would be to implement and organize a system of direct intervention?a micro level intervention that would create a system in which families who are at risk or are currently homeless get referred directly from an eligibility worker to a social worker in order for a comprehensive needs assessment to take place and a social worker can create a case plan that tends to each individual?s needs. According to research published in Science Direct conducted by Tatjana Meschede and Sara Chaganti, families are less likely to experience repeat homelessness if underlying issues are addressed (Mechede & Chaganti, 2015). Issues such as unemployment, poor education, mental health and depression must be addressed in order for parents to be able to provide stable housing to their families permanently. Social workers would access families using a strength-based approach?identifying strengths and exploiting those in order to maximize the individual?s and consequently the family?s ability to be successful in the long term. A social worker would first assist in locating housing, this is based of the Housing First Model, which provides housing and follows with intensive services in order to be capable of sustaining their housing. This model has proven to be affective and can allow the family and social worker to focus on creating longevity in terms of the family?s ability to remain housed (Mechede & Chaganti, 2015). The social worker would create a detailed case plan and search for and identify resources for homeless families based on their specific and individual needs reviewing and reassessing this plan as successes and hurdles present themselves- following progress and making alterations as needed. The social worker would be an integral part of making this system effective. The intervention of a Comprehensive Needs Assessment is compliant to the social workers values because it is service based.
According to the NASW code of ethics, a social worker?s primary goal is to help those in need and address social problems. This intervention uses Mary Richmond?s theory of one on one practice?homeless families are experiencing serious and delicate situations and are in need of special attention. And finally, this intervention follows the idea of a person in environment approach, similar to the Ecosystem theory, which seeks to understand a person in the context of their families, communities, and personal characteristics. This strategy will allow for better identification of those in need and more organized allocation of resources, however, it may also have
disadvantages. This intervention would create an environment of rehabilitation and hope-- it would also dissolve the issue of families being unaware of resources available to them, as they would be immediately assigned a social worker once identified by a structured process. Unfortunately, disadvantages could arise. Opposition may argue that this intervention may be too time consuming and resources, such as money, aren?t available, but with an organized system in place, these obstacles could easily be overcome. An additional intervention would be for Social Workers to organize and advocate for policy change.
Social Workers have a voice that many of those they help do not, and it is important that we network with the NASW and other organizations to affect change in the current state of affairs. According to a study conducted by the National Center on Family Homelessness the most prevalent factor in determining homelessness is the extreme lack of affordable housing in the United States. Social Workers would be essential in fighting for policy that would call for additional funding for affordable rentals and regulation that would protect people from gentrification, with emphasis in metropolitan areas that are hot spots for family homelessness and soaring rental rates. Social workers would also be instrumental in spreading awareness of the issue and rallying/organizing community support. In Santa Clara County, for example, the Section 8 Housing application has been closed to new applicants for more then 5 years and those currently on the waiting list face wait times of up to 10 years (HACSC, 2014). Gentrification is causing families to be forced out of their homes for purposes such as business expansion and exponentially high rental rates. There is little attention to homelessness in families in legislation, land lords and corporations are practically unregulated and funds are not being designated in enough volume to create programs for emergency housing and to help families who are
at-risk or whom are already homeless (Whittle et al., 2015). Social Workers would be essential in speaking out for their clients and acting as community organizers to educate and empower the population, holding meetings, spreading awareness, encouraging communities to write their congressmen and have their voices heard. This approach is consistent with the social work value of social justice. The NASW asserts that social workers are to fight against injustice?this intervention would do just that. Social Justice is embedded in the history of the Social Work practice, Jane Addams was a pioneer of this approach, she believed strongly that a macro approach should be taken when dealing with societal injustices; community organizing and speaking out against the travesties that occur when families fall through the cracks speaks to everything that social welfare stands for. Addressing policy issues will allow for millions of people to become housed in affordable housing units and protect families against corporate landlord greed. Changing legislation creates a blanket affect that helps many people at once?making substantial differences in numerous lives, however, it is a lengthy process to change policy and it is no easy task. It would require dedication from social workers and the community but if it were successful implementation of this intervention would be groundbreaking.

III. Assessing Effectiveness When implanting possible solutions to serious social problems we must assess success or lack there of. In our first intervention we would base success on whether families were able to sustain market value housing 6 months, 12 months, and 36 months after treatment using social worker contact, surveys and county welfare records. Social Workers would assess and record current living situations of those having received treatment using a series of questions: is the family still receiving housing assistance? Homeless again? Living in a shelter? Living with family? Is the family paying rent through gainful employment? Has mental health and psychical health improved? Is child?s development improved? We would compare these results to results of a control group that would have received usual services that the county already provides. In our second approach we would ultimately measure effectiveness by whether social workers were able to pass legislation to change policy and implement effective programs. However we would not disregard small victories, such as whether the awareness of the social problem has increased? Do people feel compelled to speak out and motivated to create change? Are politicians addressing the issue and are resources being made more available to programs helping homeless families? And finally, if policy was passed we would conduct research to determine whether policy change, new programs, and regulation was actually affective. We would base this on the number of homeless families-- did that number decrease substantially? Have programs been allocated more funding in order to help more people?
IV. Conclusion
Ultimately, implementing a program that would automatically provide each homeless/at-risk Family a Needs Based Assessment and a social worker for direct intervention would be the most effective approach. While change in legislation would help millions of people all at once, those people would still require intensive treatment in order to become progressively self-sustaining. While provision of affordable housing units and other programs to low income at risk families are essential it is essential to also provide treatment for causes of homelessness and help families progress. In 2009, Michigan implemented a pilot program called, Family Home, in which they provided temporary subsidized housing along with case workers that assisted with assessing other needs. This program saw fairly promising results?only 9% of it?s participants become homeless again after leaving the program and over 50% were in stable living conditions following their completion (Mechede & Chaganti, 2015). There are clearly improvements to be made, however, this is a promising start. It is possible that my first intervention may have better results due to its focus on providing encompassing support to all members of the family, including mental health, educational and securing employment. Social workers would help to provide resources for each individual in the family, this would allow for not only housing but also a better quality of life of its members.

Bibliography
Bassuk, E., DeCandia, C., Beach, C., & Berman, F. (2014). America?s Youngest Outcasts: A Report Card on Child Homelessness. Waltham, MA: The National Center on Family Homelessness at American Institutes for Research.
Burt, M. R., Aron, L. Y., Douglas, T., Valente, J., Lee, E., & Iwen, B. (1999). Home- lessness: Programs and the people they serve: Findings of the national survey of homeless assistance providers and clients. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
Whittle, H. J., Palar, K., Hufstedler, L. L., Seligman, H. K., Frongillo, E. A., & Weiser, S. D. (2015). Food insecurity, chronic illness, and gentrification in the San Francisco Bay Area. Social Science & Medicine, 143, 154-161.
The National Center on Family Homelessness (2014). The Characteristics and Needs of Families Experiencing Homelessness. Retrieved December 11, 2015.