This thesis presents a theological account of homelessness and applies it to the state’s and the church’s responses to the problem. This is accomplished in three parts. Part I traces sociological and governmental understandings of homelessness in the United States and shows that government and activists have difficulties coming together on a definition due to the differing political, fiscal and moral commitments that may be required from a particular definition. An analysis of the sociologist Kim Hopper’s approach to homelessness, which claims that homelessness is best understood in the context of extreme poverty that results in residential instability, is then undertaken. Part II elucidates a thematic reading of Bonhoeffer’s theology of sociality. This includes highlighting such concepts as person, community, vicarious representative action, and ultimate and penultimate to describe the world as ordered by the Word for the coming of Christ. This leads to a discussion of the concept of the mandates of preservation – church, government, family, work – that form the world through concrete response to the Word. Then a theological understanding of poverty is defined as persons who are marginalized in society due to their lack of basic sustenance and freedom to flourish. After establishing this theological account of poverty, Hopper’s understanding of homelessness is revisited to expound a theological description. This allows for an application of particular content to what it means to be extremely poor and in what ways access to basic sustenance and freedom are compromised. Extending Bonhoeffer’s account of the power of sin, the forces that thwart freedom in such a way that homelessness may result are then detailed. Part III applies this theological understanding to the NAEH’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness and to Church on the Street’s outreach ministry to the homeless.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 1991. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2952. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-68).

Since the 1990s, homelessness has increased in Canada. The existing strategies of the government and public health service providers to manage the situation have had limited success. Researchers have noted the lack of including those experiencing homelessness to better understand and find a solution to homelessness. The purpose of this phenomenological study, driven by the social cognitive theory, was to understand homelessness from the perspectives of people who do not have homes. Data were collected from open-ended interviews with a purposeful sample of 15 individuals who are homeless. Summarizing and analyzing the interviews, several themes emerged after interview data were transcribed via hand coding and analyzed using cognitive data analysis. The prominent themes were: lack namely, money, home, privacy, and support; discrimination of all kinds; mental illness and addiction; the need for a review of housing policy that specifically addresses rent, mortgage qualification criteria and house tax, and to create awareness of government support systems and the services that they provide. Public health service providers and designated authorities can use the findings of this study to understand the phenomenon from the perspective of people who are experiencing homelessness, and in turn can use that understanding to influence improved homelessness reduction strategies that could improve the lives of those experiencing homelessness and their communities. Since homelessness is a public health issue, effectively bringing it under control could create a positive impact on the health and safety of the public.

No description available.

The following group of themed essays explores the author's relationship with the many homes she has had. The works are autobiographical, and they begin during the author's childhood as an Air Force Brat. After exploring a series of homes across the United States, including Honolulu, the work focuses on the author's transition from living in many places to life in one city, New Orleans, Louisiana, where the author grew up. This collection also examines homelessness. Just as the author was searching for a new home along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, she became homeless after hurricane Katrina. Although the author had had the opportunity to make many apartments a "home", homelessness offered her the opportunity to explore what it is that makes a house or apartment a home.

This thesis describes three studies that examined the experiences of foreign-born families staying in the emergency shelter system in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. In the first study, timeline mapping and qualitative interviews were conducted with 13 Canadian-born and 23 foreign-born homeless families to understand the needs of these families and their pathways into homelessness. In the second study, data were drawn from quantitative interviews with 75 heads of families who were experiencing homelessness in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. This cross-sectional study examined differences in mental and physical health, chronic medical conditions, access to care, unmet healthcare needs, and diagnoses of mental disorders between foreign-born and Canadian-born families. In the third study, in-depth interviews were used to explore the shelter experiences of 16 foreign-born adolescents and young adults (aged 16-21) who were residing in emergency shelters with their families. Overall, findings from the three studies indicated that foreign-born families faced unique challenges before and during their homelessness. Moreover, some of these challenges were associated with adjusting to life in Canada. Challenges, such as staying housed and financially stable were common and led families to require shelter services. However, foreign-born families also reported positive experiences that may buffer some of the negative impacts associated with immigrating to a new country, housing instability, and homelessness. In the first study, more heterogeneity was found in the homeless pathways reported by foreign-born families than by Canadian-born families. The experiences they had prior to homelessness were also different across themes of poverty, health and substance use, interpersonal challenges, victimization, traumatic experiences, and stressful life events. In the second study, foreign-born heads of families reported better mental health and fewer chronic medical conditions than did Canadian-born heads of families with a significantly lower proportion of foreign-born participants reporting having been diagnosed with a mental disorder. In the third study, youth described homeless shelters as stressful environments but also found that the shelters provided support to them and their families. Youth also discussed the various strategies they used to cope with the challenges of shelter life. Findings from the studies suggest that foreign-born families experiencing homelessness are a heterogeneous group with diverse needs and experiences who may require services that differ in type, duration, and intensity than those that may be required by Canadian-born families.

Recent research has suggested that mental health problems are over-represented in the homeless population. Currently mental health services are under-utilised by this group in proportion to need. It is often assumed that psychological intervention is unlikely to be helpful with a client group where basic needs are often not met. The Transtheoretical Model of Change is used as a framework to describe the complex, dynamic processes that are likely to impact on a homeless person with mental health problems' ability to seek help for their mental health difficulties. This model is also applied to services. The empirical evidence for Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as a help or hindrance to help-seeking behaviour is examined. This study asked homeless people to identify their own needs and explored current working practices of the few clinical psychologists who work with them directly. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to explore the role for clinical psychology for homeless people. A pilot study was conducted. In the main study, nine men from two day centres/night shelters (one rural and one inner city) were recruited opportunistically. Five clinical psychologists working within the homelessness field were recruited. Psychopathology of the homeless participants was measured using the GHQ-12 and BPRS. Within a user-designed approach a semi-structured interview was developed for the main study from the pilot study.

The focus of this study was to better understand the state of homeless services in Western Riverside County’s unincorporated areas and cities. Though various services are available to the homeless in these areas, the distance between the appropriate services and some residential parts of the county can be vast. This study sought to obtain an understanding from the administrators of homeless services providers on the deficiencies in services across the county, striving to understand where and what type of increased services are needed. This study used a qualitative research design. Data were collected from nine homeless service administrators from around Western Riverside County using face-to-face recorded interviews. This study found that greater services to help those suffering from mental illness or those unable to afford housing were needed. This study also found that increased collaboration between agencies has been working to improve services. It is recommended that homeless agencies continue working together in collaboration to increase the effectiveness of services and to bring the needed funding which will sustain and increase the services required to end homelessness in Western Riverside County.

Social service outreach workers serving homeless populations exemplify what Michael Lipsky calls street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) who exercise discretionary power in the performance of their professional roles. This dissertation draws on over 200 hours of ethnographic fieldwork in an urban center in the Mountain West to examine the challenges faced by homeless outreach workers and case managers in serving the needs of homeless clients and the practices they use to manage those challenges. Using a grounded theory analysis of participant observation and interview data, this dissertation focuses on what is termed “aggressive advocacy” in which social service SLBs creatively and actively pursue work arounds and solutions to potential barriers to homeless services for their clients. The analytic concept of “fitting stories” is used to describe the ways in which SLBs assist their clients in developing service-worthy narratives. They implement the Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool in ways that probe clients’ conditions and experiences to capture potentially missed vulnerabilities and enhance service-eligible vulnerability scores. Homeless SLBs also invoke discretionary power in negotiating with other agency gatekeepers and landlords, and they may go beyond their official job descriptions to spend time helping homeless clients who are resistant to services or at risk of losing them. In each of these aggressive advocacy activities, homeless SLBs demonstrate discretionary power in supporting their clients and fulfilling their agencies’ mission to serve homeless clients. Several implications of these findings for better understanding social services for the homeless are addressed as well as the broader implications of this study for understanding street-level bureaucracy more generally.