Homelessness, Suburban

During the mid-1980s, homelessness and other problems associated with severe poverty began to emerge in many U.S. suburban communities. Although describing homeless persons has presented methodological challenges to social scientists, the characteristics and tendencies of the suburban homeless do not appear to be substantially different from those of their urban counterparts.

A 1996 report by the Urban Institute on findings of the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients (NSHAPC) estimated that one in five homeless individuals was living in suburban areas. Demographically, suburban homeless are similar in age distribution to their urban counterparts. [Page 256]However, the suburban homeless are more likely to be female (45 percent) and white non-Hispanic (54 percent), compared to the female (29 percent) and white non-Hispanic (37 percent) homeless in the central city. The suburban homeless were found to experience homelessness and incidence of alcohol, drug, and mental health problems on a par with their central city counterparts. The suburban homeless report having been physically or sexually abused before the age of eighteen (33 percent) more than the homeless of the central city (24 percent). Furthermore, the suburban homeless use services geared toward them less than their urban counterparts, with only 50 percent reporting that they had used a soup kitchen and only 18 percent a drop-in center, compared to 68 percent and 30 percent for the urban homeless, respectively. This suggests a lack of availability of these programs outside the central city.

Like their urban counterparts, the suburban homeless utilize overnight shelters for many reasons. In an unpublished 1997 study of one Chicago suburb, Lewis and Nelson found that many of the homeless they interviewed working during the day but could not afford permanent housing. Others came to the overnight shelter only to eat a meal, and then they would work overnight shifts, sleep in their car, or stay with family and friends. Some were looking for work and divided their time between the shelter and the daytime drop-in program. Family problems were common. Mentally ill individuals, unable to afford housing on fixed incomes, were regular shelter users. Others were alcohol or drug addicted. The majority of homeless individuals interviewed had suburban roots. They had grown up, attended school, and had extended family in the immediate community or adjacent suburbs.