Do Local Economic Conditions Affect Homelessness? Impact of Area Housing Market Factors, Unemployment, and Poverty on Community Homeless Rates

《Do Local Economic Conditions Affect Homelessness? Impact of Area Housing Market Factors, Unemployment, and Poverty on Community Homeless Rates》

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关键字: Homeless; labor market; income; low-income housing; RENT CONTROL; DETERMINANTS

作者单位: [Hanratty, Maria] Univ Minnesota, Hubert H Humphrey Sch Publ Affairs, Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA. Hanratty, M (reprint author), Univ Minnesota, Hubert H Humphrey Sch Publ Affairs, Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA. E-Mail: hanra003@umn.edu

摘要: This article estimates the impact of local housing and labor market conditions on area homelessness using the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD's) annual point-in-time counts of homelessness from 2007 to 2014. In cross-sectional models, the median rent, the share of households in rental housing, and the poverty rate have strong positive impacts on homelessness. Once area-fixed effects are included, only the median rent remains positive and significant. However, fixed-effect models find a positive relationship between poverty and homelessness in communities that maintain right-to-shelter policies, suggesting constraints in shelter bed supply may limit responses of homelessness to changes in economic conditions.