YOUR NAME

Entry: Wright--Preface and Chapter 1                                                       Date: Feb. 26, 1999

 

KEY POINTS:

·   "Social structural developments put people at risk of homelessness; personal failings actualize that risk for specific individuals" (p.xiv).

·    The homeless are a very diverse group of unfortunates (p.3).

·    Emphasizing on personal defects as an explanation of homelessness is a way of diverting attention from the more basic issues of housing, poverty, welfare and public policy (p.5).

·    Wright who holds a social structural, or political economic view of homelessness, argues that "trends in urban political economies have created structural conditions that literally destine some people to be homeless (p. 13).

·   "Mentally ill and addicted people do not become homeless because of their defects but rather because these defects render them most vulnerable to these larger social structural developments" (p. 13).

·    The homeless are relatively young (average age is low to middle thirties), are drawn mostly from the poverty population, exhibit high rates of personal and social disabilities, and exhibit astonishingly high levels of estrangement from family and other social networks (pp. 17-18).

 

CRITIQUE:

The hidden homeless, those who temporarily are doubled up with family members or friends, are considered one of the difficulties of counting the homeless. These individuals are certainly also unfortunate, but we must consider that they are in a slightly better situation than the homeless that have to live on the streets. I make this argument not because they have a place to stay, but because they still have family or social networks. They do not suffer from the estrangement from family and social networks which is one of the essential characteristics of the homeless population.

 

APPLICATION:

The elderly are underrepresented in the population of homeless people. They make up less than 5% of the total homeless population in most studies (p. 17). Two hypotheses regarding this data are that once people turn 65 they become eligible for a range of benefits and that the rate of mortality among the homeless is sufficiently high that relatively few of them may ever survive to age 65 in the first place (p. 17). Homelessness among the elderly can be explained using these two hypotheses, but a more fundamental issue is that the elderly are underrepresented among the poor population. If one of the characteristics of the probability of becoming homeless is that the individual comes from the poverty population in the first place then it is important to consider that the elderly are underrepresented in the poor population. One of the reasons that they are not a large part of the poor population is because of the influence the elderly population has on policymaking. Most of the welfare expenditures benefit the elderly because they are organized and therefore have a larger influence on policies regarding welfare.

Camobreco (1996) has another theory that explains the stronger political influence of the elderly. The elderly have other groups who hold interest in their welfare programs such as Medicaid. "A careful examination of Medicaid reveals that, despite its standing as a 'welfare' program it is important for a number of different groups, not all of whom represent the poor" (p.864). Plural elitists believe that health care providers are the interest group that has the most important impact on Medicaid and that the poor and the elderly are other groups who have interest in the program. This indicates that it takes more than one interest group and sometimes a more powerful group to demand such a large portion of the government's welfare expenditures. Women and children in poverty have a lot more to compete against. It is no longer only a united elderly population but other interest groups with more political power.

 

FURTHER STUDY:

When families double up in a single residence how long does that living arrangement last? What kinds of effects does it have on the lives of the people living there?

 

QUESTION:

Should the hidden homeless be a concern for those counting the homeless considering the argument given in my critique section? Should the hidden homeless be counted as a social problem apart from homelessness in general?

 

Outside Research:

Camobrecco, John F. 

   1996    "Medicaid and Collective Action." Social Science Quarterly.  Vol.  77: 4, pp. 860-876.