A History of Homelessness
in America
Steve Carlson, Psy.D.
Director of Supportive Housing
Spectrum Community Mental
Health, Minneapolis, MN
Homelessness 101
Why is this topic important?
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Hubert H. Humphrey
George Santayana
Albert Einstein
“It was once said that the moral test of
Government is how that Government
treats those who are in the dawn of
life, the children; those who are in the
twilight of life, the elderly; and those
who are in the shadows of life, the
sick, the needy and the handicapped.”
Hubert H. Humphrey (1911- 1978)
George Santayana
“The significant problems we
have cannot be solved at the
same level of thinking with
which we created them”
Albert Einstein
Who is Homeless and Why?
• What the homeless have in common
– No fixed abode
– Poor
– Loss of social safety net
• Myriad of constitutional factors including
– Mental illness (55%)
– Substance abuse (23%)
– Chronic health condition (46%)
• None of the above (26%)
• Environmental factors
Multiple Causes of
Homelessness
Societal Constitutional
Five distinct periods of
homelessness
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Colonial Period
Urbanization
Industrialization
The Great Depression
Contemporary Period
Colonial Period Beliefs & Attitudes
Puritan culture & work ethic,
rugged individualism
“Wandering beggars &
rogues are a plague to
civil society. They
should be taken as
enemies of this
ordinance of God”
William Perkins
Primary causes of homelessness
• Agricultural society required skilled and
unskilled worker mobility
• Continuing territorial skirmishes
• Beginnings of business cycles
• Immigration
Urbanization (1820 – 1850)
Homelessness increases sharply
Primary causes of homelessness
•Railroads and telegraph
introduce pervasive
societal changes
•Mills, mines, and dock
work offered employment
but low job security
•Bumpy business cycles
Response by government
• Minimalist policy
• Tramp room – 1853
– 25,000 used in six
month period in NY
• Public Outdoor Relief
• Strict vagrancy laws
Civil War and Industrialization
(1870 – 1900)
Homelessness dips significantly during the Civil War
then spikes during subsequent economic depressions
Slavery
General Sherman promised “40 acres and a
mule” to freed slaves. In the end less than
1%, about 3,500, received their allotment.
With very few African Americans able to
gain land and assets to give to their children,
there is now a home ownership gap where
27% more whites have homes than African
Americans (up from 23% in 1940).
Sources: Freedmen, The Freed Slaves of the Civil War. www.civilwarhome.com/freedmen.html.
Centre on Housing Rights and Eviction (COHRE) and The National Law Center on Homelessness
& Poverty (NLCHP)
www.cohre.org/store/attachments/Human-Rights-Resource-Manual.doc
Institutionalized Racism as a
cause of homelessness
– The U.S. government has broken land treaties with
Native Americans and put them into reservations
without sufficient resources and opportunities to find
jobs, housing, and a better life.
– In Minnesota there is a lack of shelter and housing that
is culturally appropriate for Native Americans.
Unregulated capitalist economy
• Changes in
– the nature of work
– types of jobs
• Deskilling
• Demeaning
• Dangerous – 1913
– 25,000 deaths
– 700,000 injured
Face of homeless after the Civil War
“The Great American Hobo”
• The hobo and “true”
American ideals
verses emerging
capitalistic values
• Hobo’s labeled as
“political agitators”
Main causes of homelessness
• Veterans from the Civil War
• Emerging racism ~ Unequal access to jobs
• Unregulated capitalism
– Two severe economic downturns
– Unemployment near 40%
• Immigration
• Train hoppers ~ expansion of railroad
The Great Depression
Black Thursday, October 24, 1929
“Breadline – No One Has Starved” by Reginald Marsh, 1932
From tramp to transient
• Homelessness
increases significantly
• 25% unemployment
• Families on the move
in search of work
• Migrant workers from
drought-ridden
Midwestern States
Responses to homelessness
• FDR’s New Deal
– CCC
– Federal Transient
Service
• Charities in conflict
about nature of
homelessness
• Citizens involved
– “Impulsive almsgiving”
Transient Home Kitchen
Wisconsin, 1933
Home Ownership
– New Deal programs helped white people
become homeowners, but African Americans
were considered financial risks and not given
loans and federal money to become suburban
homeowners. Of the $120 billion of
government backed loans to new homeowners
between 1934-1962, 98% went to white people.
Source: Racial Preferences for Whites: The Houses that Racism Built. Larry Adelman, San
Francisco Chronicle, June 29, 2003
Causes of Homelessness
•Severe economic instability
•Immigration
•Migration from “Dust Bowl”
•“Grapes of Wrath”
•WWII – homelessness decreases
Skid row community
• Camaraderie
• Story telling
• Casual labor
Lobby of cheap lodging house, 1962
Minneapolis skid row demolition
• In 1958 men aging out
– 50% over 60
– 22% over 70
• In 1962
– 42% lived in SRO’s at
$3.35 per week
• Successfully housed!
• Given $5 and free
advice at demolition
Gateway District
Contemporary Period (1980–Present)
• Homelessness no
longer limited to skid
row
• Homelessness
increases sharply and
continues to rise
• Multiple causes
– Deinstitutionalization
– Vietnam veterans
Wilder Research
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
1991
1994
1997
2000
2003
2006
Turquoise = Count Blue = Estimate
2009
Main causes of homelessness
1973: Wages Peak
• In 1973, the average
private, non-supervisory,
non-agricultural wage
reached an all time high of
$9.72. By 1983, adjusting
for inflation, the same
worker was paid $8.76 per
hour. (1)
Source: The Alliance Report. March – April, 1989. Volume #1, Issue #1. Minneapolis
Source: Western Regional Advocacy Program,
2007.
1980-1983: Federal programs
for poor people are cut
• Between 1980 and 1983
alone, $140 billion in
domestic spending was
cut.
• HUD, unemployment,
disability, food stamps,
and Family welfare
programs all received
cuts.
Source: Open House.
A news update from St. Stephen’s Human Services. Holiday 2005. Minneapolis.
Union Strength Declines
• In 1981 the Federal Government broke the Air Traffic
Controller’s Strike by firing over 11,000 employees,
beginning a trend of unions losing leverage to
demand fair wages and benefits.
• Lack of unions and more service sector jobs make
people spend more of their income on healthcare,
daycare, etc.
[i] USA Today. 2004. Fired air-traffic controller still feels the sting decades later.
www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-06-10-taylor-vignette_x.htm
1981-1986: Factories Close
• From January 1981
to January 1986,
“10.8 million
workers lost their
jobs due to plant
closures, abolition of
positions or shifts, or
slack work”.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. As cited by Rachel Kamel
in The Global Factory. 1990. American Friends Service Committee.
The Worker/CEO Pay Gap
• In 1980, the gap
between the highest
and average paid
worker was 42:1.
• By 2000, the ratio
spiked to 531:1.
Source: Chuck Collins & Felice Yeskel,
Economic Apartheid in America .
Rental Rates and Income
• Minimum Wage in Minnesota is $7.25/hour
which equals $15,080/yr
• Annual income needed to afford a one bedroom
FMR apt: $27,960. A two bedroom: $33,920.
• 1-Bedroom:
$27,960-15,080 = $12,880 unmet need
• 2-Bedroom
$33,920-15,080 = $18,840 unmet need
Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition
Affordable Housing/Gentrification
• Housing should cost no more than 30% of a
household’s annual income
• 1973-1993: 2.2 million low-rent units
disappeared from the market
• 1991-1995: median rental costs rose 21%
• HUD has stopped building public housing and
housing projects are being demolished across
US
Source:National Coalition for the Homeless (2008). Why are people homeless?
Retrieved October 19th, 2008 from,
http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/facts/why.html
Per night costs of Homelessness
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Adult shelter $32
Youth shelter $125
Jail $363
Hospital $2800
Detox $192
Camping $16 (annual car sticker $28)
Supportive housing $21
In 2012 & beyond
•Collaboration of agencies
•Creativity in spectrum of housing options
•Public will - Educate the public about the
systemic causes of homelessness
•Increase affordable housing stock
•Lobbying for government legislation