Content by Keyword: Homelessness

Among the studies reviewed, there are three data sets that hold the greatest promise for informing these typology efforts. These data sets include the NSAF, Women's Employment Study, and the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study. The best prospect is the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study, which has the following strengths:

The current homelessness research provides an extensive understanding of currently homeless families' characteristics and service needs and, to some degree, the patterns of residential instability they faced prior to becoming homeless. However, as a whole, the existing studies lack geographic diversity and do not provide the ability to understand

The remaining four data sets examined are from studies that contain data on specific populations in selected areas of the country. Three of the studies are focused on low-income families in one or more selected cities across the country. One study, the Chicago Women's Health Risk Study (CWHRS), includes a one-time sample of women in Chicago seekin

Three of the data sets are ongoing, general population studies that are widely known and have been analyzed for a variety of research purposes. Two, the NLS and the PSID, are national, longitudinal studies, and the other is a large, national cross-sectional survey of families, NSAF. The three national data sets identified have potential for inform

Seven data sets were identified as warranting further consideration for possible reanalysis. In this section, each of these data sets is reviewed in detail, including their structure and content. Then, the nature of the reanalysis that is indicated, including the type of questions that could be addressed, and how the results could inform the typol

Data sets were sought that could extend the understanding of homelessness beyond currently homeless families to a broader sample of families who may have been homeless in the past or may be at particular risk of homelessness in the future. Some of the candidate data sets are ones that Westat has previously analyzed, such as the Survey of Income an

The literature review in Chapter 2 identifies key knowledge, as well as gaps in that knowledge, related to homeless families and families at risk of homelessness that will be critical to the development of a relevant typology for the purposes of this study.

Paper Title: Homelessness and At-Risk Families: The Characteristics and Causes of Homelessness Among At Risk Families With Children in Twenty American Cities (full text of paper can be found in Appendix D of this report) Authors: David Reingold and Angela Fertig

Paper Title: The Impact of Homelessness on Children: An Analytic Review of the Literature (full text of paper can be found in Appendix A of this report) Author: John Buckner

Paper Title: Permanent Housing for Homeless Families: A Review of Opportunities and Impediments (full text of paper can be found in Appendix C of this report) Authors: Jill Khadduri and Bulbul Kaul Summary of Presentation. The presentation highlighted permanent housing options, subsidies, and other resources offered by programs for l

Paper Title: Toward a Typology of Homeless Families: Conceptual and Methodological Issues (full text of paper can be found in Appendix B of this report) Authors: Thomas Babor and Rene Jahiel

Following the paper presentations and discussions, the group discussed how best to proceed with the task of typology development. The following general guidelines emerged from the discussion. The two top goals for a typology should be a focus on prevention (in hopes of minimizing the population) and resource allocation. From the Federal perspect

Toward a Typology of Homeless Families: Prospects for Secondary Analysis Authors: Debra Rog, C. Scott Holupka, Kelly Hastings, Lisa Patton, Marybeth Shinn

Toward a Typology of Homeless Families: Building on the Existing Knowledge Base Authors: Debra Rog, C. Scott Holupka, Kelly Hastings, Lisa Patton, Marybeth Shinn

The panelists emphasized the importance of identifying the goal of a typology before beginning to develop one. Different goals would demand different designs and more than one goal could translate into multiple typologies that need to be developed. It was agreed that more than one typology was needed to inform the policy world.

The discussion of research studies focused on the advantages and disadvantages of longitudinal and cross-sectional designs . Some participants argued that cross-sectional designs are not helpful because they confound those who remain homeless with those who are newly homeless. It was suggested that a longitudinal study that followed first-time ho

First, the panelists thought it was important to know how large a typology is needed-that is, how many variables should be considered? The caution was to keep it simple and focus on variables that provide the most differentiation. A good typology should have practical utility, be easy to derive from the data, and have the ability to predict futu

To guide the conceptualization of the typology, a one-day Expert Panel meeting was held in Washington, DC on July 25, 2005. Experts in homeless families research, homelessness research in general, welfare, and typology development were invited to participate along with several Federal representatives. The Expert Panelists discussed what constitute