Homelessness as a Moving Target

• Author: Marybeth Shinn,Dennis P. Culhane,Barrett A. Lee
• DOI: 10.1177/0002716221997038
• Published date: 01 January 2021
• Date: 01 January 2021
• Subject Matter: Introduction

8 ANNALS, AAPSS, 693, January 2021

DOI: 10.1177/0002716221997038

Homelessness

as a Moving

Target

By

BARRETT A. LEE,

MARYBETH SHINN,

and

DENNIS P. CULHANE

997038ANN The Annals Of The American AcademyHomelessness As A Moving Target

research-article2021

Contrary to popular perceptions of homelessness as a

static, enduring condition, we emphasize its dynamic

nature. The updated macro-micro framework that we

develop capitalizes on the increasing availability of

over-time data, which makes it easier to examine

changes in homelessness and the factors responsible for

them. Our framework integrates structural forces—

such as income inequality, an affordable housing short-

age, social exclusion, and inadequate safety net

programs—with the personal circumstances and chal-

lenges that shape individuals’ homeless trajectories.

The macro-micro perspective also helps us to evaluate

the effectiveness of policies, and it highlights variation

across contexts in how the dynamics of homelessness

operate. In a separate section, we introduce the sixteen

core articles of this volume against the macro-micro

backdrop. Finally, we discuss two emergent macro

“shocks” (the COVID-19 pandemic and climate-related

hazards) that are largely absent from the volume but

carry important implications for understanding and

addressing homelessness in the future.

Keywords: homelessness; structural forces; individual

trajectories; macro-micro model; home-

lessness policy; COVID-19 pandemic;

natural hazard events

In common parlance, references to “the

homeless” convey a shared perception that

individuals experiencing homelessness belong

to a static, monolithic, and stigmatized popula-

tion. Social scientific study of the homelessness

problem contributed to this view, especially

from the tramp through the skid row eras

(1890s–1970s). For the better part of a century,

scholars focused on distinguishing among basic

types or categories of homeless people and

Barrett A. Lee is a professor emeritus of sociology and

demography at The Pennsylvania State University. His

research agenda focuses on spatial and residential

manifestations of social inequality, including housing

segregation, neighborhood racial change, forced mobil-

ity, and homelessness.

Correspondence: bal6@psu.edu

HOMELESSNESS AS A MOVING TARGET 9

describing the characteristics of each type. The supposedly static nature of home-

lessness was reinforced by traditional “snapshot” investigations (what social sci-

entists call “cross-sectional” analyses) that tended to account for homeless

persons who were in shelters or on the streets for long, unbroken stretches (Bahr

1970). Reliance upon cross-sectional data precluded a rigorous analysis of causes,

rendering attempts to do something about homelessness ineffectual at best and

moralistic or punitive at worst. The scattered homelessness articles published in

The ANNALS before the late 1900s largely conform to these generalizations (e.g.,

Lewis 1912; Rice 1918; Rubington 1958).

The articles that we have assembled in the current volume take a very differ-

ent perspective. Our desire is to illuminate the dynamic nature of the phenom-

enon, or the manner in which homelessness and its correlates vary in response to

each other temporally and spatially. In particular, the growing use of over-time

data, which come from experiments, censuses, panel studies, repeated surveys,

administrative sources, and extended field observations, can help to identify fac-

tors associated with changes in homelessness. Such data allow us to think about

homelessness as a “moving target” rather than a stable state both at the micro

level, where individuals pass through homeless episodes with beginnings, mid-

dles, and endings; and at the macro level, where shifting structural conditions and

social policies influence rates of homelessness and who is most likely to succumb.

This understanding opens up new avenues for intervention, not just to manage

homelessness but to end it.

The next section of this article justifies and unpacks the notion of homeless

dynamics. We then position these dynamics within a macro-micro framework

that integrates structural features conducive to homelessness with the personal

circumstances and challenges that affect people’s trajectories into, through, and

out of a homeless spell. Special attention is given to various types of ameliorative

efforts—policies, programs, and services—and their impacts. We also underscore

the importance of contextualizing the dynamics of homelessness, noting that they

can operate differently across subpopulations, community settings, and broad

time periods. In a separate section, we briefly introduce the sixteen

dynamics-oriented articles that form the core of the volume and link them to our

broad thematic emphases. Finally, in keeping with the moving target metaphor,

we discuss two emergent macro forces omitted from the volume but that have

significant implications for homelessness in the future: the coronavirus pandemic

Marybeth Shinn is a Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University,

who has studied how to prevent and end homelessness for three decades. She is the author, with

Jill Khadduri, of In the Midst of Plenty: Homelessness and What to Do about It (Wiley 2020).

Dennis P. Culhane is the Dana and Andrew Stone Chair in Social Policy at the University of

Pennsylvania. His primary areas of research are homelessness and the use and linkage of

administrative data for social policy analysis.

NOTE: The articles in this volume were first presented at an authors’ virtual conference on

May 21–23, 2020. Technical assistance for the conference was kindly provided by the Penn

State Population Research Institute, which receives core support from the Eunice Kennedy

Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P2CHD041025).