Abstract
The number of children and families experiencing homelessness in the United States has increased dramatically since the problem first emerged in the 1980s. Today, more than 1.6 million children, or one in 45, are homeless in a given year (The National Center on Family Homelessness, 2011a, 2011b, 2011c, 2011d). Homelessness is a devastating experience for all family members and is especially traumatic for children. Permanent housing options in combination with ongoing supports and services must be implemented to prevent and end homelessness. This chapter describes a national and state-based advocacy effort—the Campaign to End Child Homelessness—launched by The National Center on Family Homelessness in 2009 to give a voice to homeless children and mobilize the political will to address this national tragedy. This chapter describes the extent and nature of child homelessness in America, discusses solutions, and details the Campaign’s advocacy activities and outcomes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Each school year, Local Education Agencies identify and count the numbers of homeless children in their schools as mandated by the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. These numbers are reported annually by school year (e.g., data reported from 2005 to 2006 are from the fall and spring semester of a single school year). To simplify our presentation of data, we use 2006 for the 2005–2006 school year, 2007 for the 2006–2007 school year, 2008 for the 2007–2008 school year, 2009 for the 2008–2009 school year, and 2010 for the 2009–2010 school year.
References
Barrow, S. M., & Lawinski, T. (2009). Contexts of mother-child separations in homeless families. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 9(1), 157–176.
Bassuk, E. L. (2010). Ending child homelessness in America. The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 80(4), 496–504.
Bassuk, E. L., Buckner, J. C., Weinreb, L. F., Browne, A., Bassuk, S. S., Dawson, R., et al. (1997). Homelessness in female-headed families: Childhood and adult risk and protective factors. American Journal of Public Health, 87(2), 241–248.
Bassuk, E. L., & Geller, S. (2006). The role of housing and services in ending family homelessness. Housing Policy Debate, 17(4), 781–806.
Bassuk, E. L., & Rosenberg, L. (1990). Psychosocial characteristics of homeless and children without homes. Pediatrics, 85(3), 257–261.
Bassuk, E. L., Volk, K. T., & Olivet, J. (2010). A framework for developing supports and services for families experiencing homelessness. The Open Health Services and Policy Journal, 3, 34–40.
Bassuk, E. L., Weinreb, L. F., Buckner, J. C., Browne, A., Salomon, A., & Bassuk, S. S. (1996). The characteristics and needs of sheltered homeless and low-income housed mothers. Journal of the American Medical Association, 276(8), 640–646.
Brooks, M. E. (2007). Housing trust fund progress report 2007. Frazier Park, CA: Housing Trust Fund Project, Center for Community Change.
Brown, D. W., Anda, R. F., Tiemeier, H., Felitti, V. J., Edwards, V. J., Croft, J. B., et al. (2009). Adverse childhood experiences and the risk of premature mortality. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 37(5), 389–396.
Burt, M. R. (2001). What will it take to end homelessness? Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Burt, M. R., Aron, L. Y., Douglas, T., Valente, J., Edgar, L., & Britta, I. (1999). Homelessness: Programs and the people they serve: Summary report-findings of the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.
Burt, M. R., Aron, L. Y., Douglas, T., Valente, J., Edgar, L., & Britta, I. (2000). America’s homeless II: Populations and services. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.
Felitti, V. J., Anda, R. F., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D. F., Spitz, A. M., Edwards, V., et al. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: The adverse childhood experiences (ACE) study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14(4), 354–364.
Guarino, K., & Bassuk, E. L. (2010). Working with families experiencing homelessness. Journal of Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families, 30(3), 11–20.
Knitzer, J., Theberge, S., & Johnson, K. (2008). Reducing maternal depression and its impact on young children: Toward a responsive early childhood policy framework. New York, NY: National Center for Children in Poverty.
Larkin, H., & Park, J. (2012). Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), service use, and service helpfulness among people experiencing homelessness. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 93(2), 85–93.
National Alliance to End Homelessness. (2006a). Promising strategies to end family homelessness. Washington, DC: Author.
National Alliance to End Homelessness. (2006b). What is housing first. Washington, DC: Author.
National Alliance to End Homelessness. (2010). Chronic homelessness policy solutions. Washington, DC: Author.
National Center for Homeless Education. (2011). Education for homeless children and youth program data collection summary: From the school year 2009-10 federally required state data collection for the McKinney-Vento Education Assistance Improvements Act of 2001 and comparison of the SY 2007-08, SY 2008-09, and SY 2009-10 data collections. Greensboro, NC: Author.
National Low Income Housing Coalition. (2012). Out of reach 2012: America’s forgotten housing crisis. Washington, DC: Author.
National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2004). Young children develop in an environment of relationships: Working paper no. 1. Cambridge, MA: Author.
National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2005). Excessive stress disrupts the architecture of the developing brain: Working paper no. 3. Cambridge, MA: Author.
New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department and the New Mexico Campaign to End Child Homelessness. (2010). Ending child and family homelessness in New Mexico. Santa Fe, NM: Author.
Nolan, C., Broeke, C., Magee, M., & Burt, M. R. (2005). The family permanent supportive housing initiative: Family history and experiences in supportive housing. Washington, DC: Urban Institute and Harder & Company Community Research.
Philliber Research Associates. (2005). Supportive housing for families’ evaluation: Accomplishments and lessons learned. Accord, NY: Corporation for Supportive Housing.
Rog, D. J., & Buckner, J. C. (2007). Homeless families and children. Paper presented at the 2007 National Symposium on Homelessness Research, Washington, DC. Retrieved May 12, 2010 from http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/homelessness/symposium07/rog/index.htm
Rog, D. J., & Gutman, M. (1997). The homeless families program: A summary of key findings. In S. L. Isaacs & J. R. Knickman (Eds.), The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Anthology: To improve health and health care (pp. 209–231). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Subtitle B of Title VII of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act within the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Title X, Part C, Public Law 107-110).
The National Center on Family Homelessness. (1999). Homeless children: America’s new outcasts. Newton Centre, MA: Author.
The National Center on Family Homelessness. (2009). America’s youngest outcasts: State report card on child homelessness. Newton Centre, MA: Author.
The National Center on Family Homelessness. (2010). Mississippi plan to end child homelessness. Needham, MA: Author.
The National Center on Family Homelessness. (2011a). Federal policy agenda. Needham, MA: Author.
The National Center on Family Homelessness. (2011b). Florida plan to end child homelessness. Needham, MA: Author.
The National Center on Family Homelessness. (2011c). Georgia plan to end child homelessness. Needham, MA: Author.
The National Center on Family Homelessness. (2011d). America’s youngest outcasts: 2010. Needham, MA: Author.
Title I of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (Section 1338, Public Law 110-289).
United States Census Bureau. (2007). Table S1703: Selected characteristics of people at specified levels of poverty in the last 12 months [Data file]. Retrieved from http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/STTable?_bm=y&-context=st&-qr_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_S1703&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&CONTEXT=st&-tree_id=307&-redoLog=true*-_caller=geoselect&-geo_id=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. (2011). HUD’s 2011 CoC homeless assistance programs—Homeless populations and subpopulations [Data file]. Retrieved from http://www.hudhre.info/index.cfm?do=actionHomelessrptsSearch
United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. (2010). Opening Doors: Federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness. Washington, DC: Author.
Weitzman, B. C., & Berry, C. (1994). Formerly homeless families and the transition to permanent housing: High-risk families and the role of intensive case management services. New York: Edna McConnell Clark Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Murphy, C.M., Bassuk, E.L., Coupe, N., Beach, C.A. (2013). Strategies for Ending Homelessness Among Children and Families. In: Culp, A. (eds) Child and Family Advocacy. Issues in Clinical Child Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7456-2_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7456-2_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7455-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7456-2
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)