Homelessness is on the rise.
The numbers say that across America, more and more families are sleeping on a the streets. But we don’t need numbers to tell us what we see in our neighborhoods every day.
But, there is a path out of every housing crisis.
It’s not just folks who suffer from severe mental illnesses or addictions, or who choose to drift from place to place. Now more than ever before, it’s everyday families who have fallen on hard times.
While chronic homelessness is the stereotypical image of the issue, families that are experiencing housing crises are more common than ever. They’re far more prepared to take action to find stable housing and employment.
Arizona has a severe affordable housing shortage.
In 2020, the cost of a two-bedroom apartment was $1,097, according to Housing and Urban Development's Fair Market Rents. To afford that rent, along with the necessary utilities, a household income of $43,892 annually ($21.10 hourly) is needed. That’s a gap of $9 per hour above minimum wage. And, since 2020, housing costs have continued to rise dramatically while wages have not grown nearly as fast. For too many families, the math simply doesn’t work.
A 2022 study from the National Low Income Housing Coalition ranked Arizona among the five worst states for affordable housing, with just 26 available options for every 100 extremely low income households.
Why a housing-first approach works.
Housing is the key to reducing intergenerational poverty and increasing economic mobility. Research shows that increasing access to affordable housing is the most cost-effective strategy for reducing childhood poverty and increasing economic mobility in the United States. Stanford economist Raj Chetty found that children who moved to lower poverty neighborhoods saw their earnings as adults increase by approximately 31%, an increased likelihood of living in better neighborhoods as adults, and a lowered likelihood of becoming a single parent. Moreover, children living in stable, affordable homes are more likely to thrive in school and have greater opportunities to learn inside and outside the classroom.
Increasing access to affordable housing bolsters economic growth. Research shows that the shortage of affordable housing costs the American economy about $2 trillion a year in lower wages and productivity. Without affordable housing, families have constrained opportunities to increase earnings, causing slower GDP growth. In fact, researchers estimate that the growth in GDP between 1964 and 2009 would have been 13.5% higher if families had better access to affordable housing. This would have led to a $1.7 trillion increase in income, or $8,775 in additional wages per worker. Moreover, each dollar invested in affordable housing boosts local economies by leveraging public and private resources to generate income—including resident earnings and additional local tax revenue—and supports job creation and retention.
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These generally accepted definitions will help you come up-to-speed quickly.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), affordable housing is generally thought of as housing for which an individual or family is paying no less than 30% of their income for housing costs, including utilities.CONTINUUM OF CARE
A system that guides and track patients through time over an array of services.DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Violent or aggressive behavior within the home.EMERGENCY SHELTER
Any facility that provides a temporary place to live for those experiencing homelessness. Does not involve a lease or rental agreement.FAMILY HOUSING HUB
Through the Family Housing Hub (FHH), families are screened for shelter and placed on the service priority list.HOUSING INVENTORY COUNT
An annual report that gives a snapshot of housing available to people experiencing homelessness and of those in permanent supportive housing. Administered through HUD (the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.)HOMELESS
An individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence. It includes people living in place not intended not meant to be housing – a car, for example.HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Illegally transporting people from one area to another (or one country to another), typically for the purpose of forced labor or sexual exploitation.PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING
Permanent supportive housing (PSH) provides long-term rental assistance and supportive services to homeless individuals and families with chronic illnesses, disabilities, mental health issues, or substance use disorders.PIT (POINT IN TIME) COUNTS
A PIT Count is a count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons, conducted on a single night every January.RAPID RE-HOUSING
Rapid Re-housing is a concept in use nationwide. It provides short-term rental assistance and services intended to help people obtain housing quickly, increase self-sufficiency and remain housed.SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
A social enterprise is a business that makes money, but uses its profit to make the community a better place.TRANSITIONAL HOUSING
Transition housing is a means for moving people experiencing homelessness from shelter to permanent, affordable long-term housing.WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Typically, an effort to enhance economic stability within a particular region. It has at least two components: helping people acquire job skills or other training; and matching skills to employer demand.A system that guides and track patients through time over an array of services. -
Beatings, verbal abuse, stalking, rape: in the United States, domestic violence is one of the primary causes of homelessness for women and children.
Exact numbers vary. While some estimates indicate more than 30% of women and children experiencing homelessness have also experienced domestic violence (DV), other studies suggest the number is closer to 80%. There is no question that many women decide to take their children and run, yet quickly find themselves living on the street with few options available to them.
When women escape their abusers and leave, many report having experienced extreme anxiety about where to find safe housing and how to pay for it. Too often, because of these housing concerns, and for the sake of their children, other women stay and endure the attacks.
It is not uncommon for abusers to use violence to intentionally isolate their partners from family and friends. So, when it comes time to get out, these survivors have been cut off from their support systems. They have no friends, no family, no place to go and no money to live on. Shelter space is scant. The National Association to End Homelessness (NAEH) reports that on one night in January of 2017, only 55,000 shelter beds were available nationwide. There has not been much improvement since.
Without shelter, women and other domestic partners escaping violence face truly horrible options. They might get into shelter, but waiting lists are long. If they can’t, they – and their children – might find themselves living out of a car, doubled-up in someone else’s home or in another form of sub-standard shelter. Lack of secure housing can mean living with the constant risk of losing their children to the state’s Department of Child Safety. Returning to the abuser means continued attacks or worse; death.
Consequences are profound for their children, too. Kids traumatized by domestic violence are at much greater risk for depression, anxiety, developmental delays and learning disabilities, and are much more likely to drop out of school. Homeless children experience the multiple effects of poverty – inadequate medical and dental care and often chronic illnesses like asthma. As they move into adulthood, children who witnessed violence between parents are more likely to repeat that behavior with their own spouses.
It’s hard to find a home or a job
A greater number of landlords have adopted a ‘zero tolerance’ crime policy. At first glance, that might sound like practical wisdom, but there’s a dark side: many landlords refuse to rent to victims of domestic violence. They do it out of a fear of liability, that the prospective tenant’s attacker might find and injure her or damage the rental unit. And, for a variety of reasons, tenants who have experienced domestic violence are much more likely to be evicted. (In the Phoenix area, 44,000 households were evicted in 2018, although it is not known how many of those families were also experiencing – or running from – domestic violence.)
The lack of housing creates a cluster of problems that makes it even harder to find a job. Many employers require a permanent address before they’ll make an offer of employment. Often, people escaping domestic violence must use a fake name to limit the chances their attacker will find them which, in turn, makes it nearly impossible to produce the kinds of identification and documentation of prior employment that most companies expect.
Even if a victim finds work, they still have to get to and from the job, still needs to get the kids to and from school, and if the children are very young, they will still need someone to look after the kids. Limited transportation options and expensive childcare have a compound effect that leaves many victims overwhelmed and hopeless.
Solutions: what can we do to help?
The Halle Women’s Center at UMOM New Day Centers is the only shelter in Maricopa County designed exclusively for single women experiencing homelessness, many of whom have also been affected by domestic violence. In fact, in the first quarter of 2019, 120 out of 132 residents at Halle reported either a recent DV attack or a history of domestic violence.
The Women’s Center provides secure housing and uses a comprehensive, 360-degree approach to address barriers to housing and work.
Yet, for women with children facing domestic violence, resources are severely limited. Some estimates suggest that, on any given night, half of the requests for shelter cannot be met because the beds are already taken. Often, women are provided with a variety of resources, case management and direction; but situation remains dire. There are not nearly sufficient resources available to meet the demand.
To break the link between domestic violence and homelessness, we need substantial policy change at the level of city and state government. Options include:
• More emergency and long-term shelter for homeless families escaping domestic violence. That means increased funding from government and private sources.
• Short- and long-term rental assistance. At UMOM’s affordable housing property, 19West, comfortable one and two bedroom apartments rent for well below the median rental rate for the Phoenix area. Families can receive assistance of up to 60% of their rent; the subsidy is reduced over time until the family is independent. Research tells us that families in subsidized housing are much less likely to return to homelessness and, equally importantly, are much less likely to repeat the experience of domestic violence.
• Enact laws that prohibit discrimination against women, domestic partners and children who have experienced domestic violence. Evidence has overwhelmingly shown that when people experiencing homelessness – for any reason – are placed in housing first, it is much more likely they will overcome the issues that led to homelessness in the first place.
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There’s a pervasive myth that people are homeless because they don’t want to work.
It’s an attitude that flies in the face of a key reality: many adults and families are homeless because they lost a job, not because they’re avoiding getting one.
For people who have a college degree and recent work history, it’s still going to take 30-days or more to find work that pays a living wage. For people experiencing homelessness, it’s much worse.
Why is it harder for people experiencing homelessness to find jobs?
There are dozens of reasons it’s harder for people experiencing homelessness to find work. Here are just a few:
• No permanent address. Nearly every potential employer insists on applicants providing a permanent home address. Some employers spot a shelter address and instantly rule the candidate out. Other automated employment application systems also require an address; without one, applicants can’t even advance to the next screen.
• No identification. It’s similar to the lack of a permanent address – no legal ID can mean no employer is willing to take you. Plus, in Arizona, there exists a vicious cycle when it comes to identification. UMOM’s Chief Operating Officer Steven Stivers describes it: “You can’t get a first-time Arizona state ID without a birth certificate, but you can’t get a birth certificate without an ID. So, people often are left feeling trapped in red tape.”
• Domestic violence. Often, a person escaping domestic violence can’t give an address or even use a real name, for fear their attacker might find them.
• Cleanliness. When you’re on the street or living in a car, it’s difficult to get a shower or wash clothes, making job interviews embarrassing and unlikely to end with an offer of employment.
• No transportation to or from job interviews, let alone to or from the job itself.
One bright light amid this bleak scenario is UMOM’s New Day Employment Center . UMOM clients, including the women at the Halle Center, can get training, GED classes and job readiness classes. Workforce development specialists – along with caseworkers – help clients overcome the array of obstacles that stand between them and a permanent job.
Are there government policy changes we can support, that will help these families, individuals and youth?
One of the first and biggest problems, when it comes to policy change, is the extreme lack of data about the working homeless. The most recent federal data is more than a decade old. Newer studies in New York and Los Angeles estimate that anywhere between 38 and 60 percent of homeless families and individual adults are working or actively looking for a job. Newer, nationwide and state data could constitute a powerful first step toward changing minds and outcomes.
Very few states have laws that prohibit discrimination based on the lack of a permanent address. Changing the law could make it easier to obtain ID and easier to be considered a viable job candidate.
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This learning brief from Community Solutions examines public perceptions of people experiencing homelessness and dispels inaccurate assumptions and stereotypes embedded within them.
Resources to learn more about the problem:
Arizona State housing needs data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition
Sesame Street explains Family Homelessness, a great resource for explaining what homelessness is to younger kids (separate resources for kids experiencing homelessness and those not experiencing homelessness).