homelessness research paper examples

221 Homelessness Essay Topics, Titles, & Research Questions

Homelessness is a compound problem that consists of many different aspects and causes, and you want to discuss as many as possible in your essay on homelessness. Check our article to get homelessness essay topics and thesis ideas, research questions, and inspiration from free paper examples!

🔝 Top-10 Homelessness Essay Topics

🏆 best homelessness topics & essay examples, 🔥 hottest research topics on homelessness, 👍 good homeless essay topics, ✨ creative title for homelessness essay: how to choose, ⭐ simple & easy homelessness essay titles, 💡 interesting topics to write about homelessness, 📚 argumentative essay topics on homelessness, ✍️ homelessness essay topics for college, 🔎 current homelessness research questions, 📑 memorable research topics about homelessness, ❓ research questions about homelessness, 🌎 how to write a homelessness essay.

• Homelessness in the US: Causes and Solutions
• On How to Eradicate Homelessness
• Tell Them Who I am, the lives of Homeless Women by Elliot Liebow
• Homelessness and its Solutions
• The Causes and Impacts of Homelessness
• Drug Abuse Among Homeless Young Adults in New Jersey
• Poverty and Homelessness as Social Problem
• Helping the Homeless in the Community
• Mumbai Great Problem: Homelessness Problem in Cities
• Homelessness in Canadian Society
• Giving Money to the Homeless: Is It Important? The question of whether a person should give money to a homeless person or not is a complicated one and cannot have the right answer.
• Homelessness Solutions for the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex The point is that there is a homeless encampment behind the organization on Roseville Road, and the behavior and lifestyles of its resident deter golfers and potential guests of the complex from playing at the […]
• The Issue of Homelessness in New York City The enormous drop in the number of single-room dwelling units in New York City during the rise of contemporary homelessness was the most crucial single shift in the city’s housing stock.
• Homelessness as a Social Issue Research further indicates that the group is at a high risk of suffering from addiction in an effort to contain stress and ignominy associated with homelessness.
• Homelessness as a Major Healthcare Issue As such, relocating the money to provide shelter and improve housing for homeless people would ensure a positive result of spending the budget to care for the homeless.
• Political Issue of Homelessness: Finding Solutions Despite the undoubted successes of the Trump administration in the economic sphere – it appeared possible to significantly reduce unemployment and overcome the mortgage crisis – the number of homeless people is constantly growing.
• Homelessness in the Context of Middle-Range Theories The purpose of this paper is to discuss the selected vulnerable group and its current health and social issues and then to analyze the application of several middle-range theories to the mentioned issues.
• The Problem of Homeless People in St. Petersburg The problem under consideration concerns the number of homeless people living on the streets of the second-largest city in Russia. The intended results of the project’s activities are to increase the awareness of the residents […]
• Mental Illness and Homelessness in the United States Hence, there is a need to establish elaborate policies for addressing the problem of mental illness among homeless people in all regions in the US.
• Homelessness as a Global Social Issue In the US, homelessness is on the increase because of economic melt- down and foreclosures. Moreover, differences in perception of homelessness by liberal and conservative on homeless have increased homelessness in the US.
• Health Care for the Homeless According to Gent, people tend to dehumanize the people they see on the streets and respond to them as they would to objects, attempting to view them neutrally and seeing their need for help as […]
• The Impact of Homelessness in California: Economic and Other Reasons The crisis intensified after the recession of 2008 when prices soared up, and now hundreds of thousands of people live in their tents or vehicles in LA, San Francisco, and other cities.
• Homelessness in the US The existing policies do not address the problem of homelessness in the US. The constitution was adjusted in 1949 to cater for the needs of the poor in society.
• Homelessness in Los Angeles County, California Hence, the purpose of this research is to explore the background of the homelessness issue in Los Angeles County, California, and provide a specific health education program for the identified vulnerable population.
• Kids and Youth Homelessness: Facts and Statistics in the United States There have been numerous government interventions in the form of policies since the times of the Great Depression, but the number of homeless children and teenagers has only increased.
• The Russo-Ukrainian War: Migration and Homelessness However, Ukrainian refugees have escaped to several other European countries due to the challenging situation within the country generated as a result of the war with Russia. Moreover, the aforementioned statistics do not highlight internal […]
• Bergenfield’s Homelessness Challenge and Response The cause entailed various strategies, including the use of interviews to learn more about the complexity of this issue, the initiatives charitable organizations undertake, and the best efforts to transform the situation.
• Factors Leading Veterans to Homelessness The subsequent sections of this thesis include the background of the problem, the statement of the problem, the purpose of the study, the significance of the study, and the research question.
• Homeless Vulnerable Population in North Carolina It is essential to collaborate with local authorities to increase access to services and ensure that the well-being of people experiencing homelessness in North Carolina is protected.
• Homelessness: Making Reasonable Lodging for Children and Families The initiative’s mission is to support homeless families and high school students by providing shelter and necessities to enable the population to overcome the hardships of experiencing homelessness.
• Logic Model for Improving the Quality of Life Among Homeless People The logic model helps to conceptualize and visualize the program’s theory. The present artifact is a logic model developed for a program aimed at addressing the problem of food insecurity among homeless people in Miami.
• Addressing Homelessness: Strategic Action Plan Solving the problem of homelessness is one of the goals of the social worker, who acts on the basis of the existing state policy.
• Charitable Organization Helping Homeless in Monroe County The solution to this problem is being handled by the government in conjunction with the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, Inc.
• Here Are Two Key Ways to Help Columbia’s Homeless Population The phenomenon of homelessness in the U.S.is not endemic to Missouri; quite the contrary, it has affected a range of states. In addition, core socioeconomic, sociopolitical, technological, and sociocultural factors contributing to the exacerbation of […]
• Homelessness and Its Causes in the United States Effective policy solutions are needed to address the problem of homelessness, and this can be achieved through a combination of housing-focused initiatives, social services, and community outreach and by addressing potential challenges such as political […]
• Homelessness in Australia: Geography of Unhealthy Housing The two primary domains that govern the social welfare needs of this population group are income support and housing assistance; however, there can be limitations in these policies that impact the well-being of homeless Australians.
• The Rights of the Homeless and the Contradictions of the Law Thus, there is a direct contradiction in this and similar municipal laws to the provision of the Constitution, as the Court of Appeals affirmed.
• Safe Golf in Sacramento: Solving the Homelessness Problem There are many problems and misunderstandings related to the problem of homelessness in Sacramento, but the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex is probably the most damaged organization in this context.
• Homelessness in the Veteran Community Such social conditions may consist of bureaucracy, the lack of government investments, class distribution, the lack of ethical considerations within the scope of the legislation, and many others which can deprive the mentioned population of […]
• Nature and Importance of a Center for Homeless People The organizations offer community members an opportunity to give back to the community, and they will always be appreciated due to the fact that needy and homeless individuals will exist endlessly in the world.

Homelessness and Its Causes

In recent years, homelessness has turned into one of the major concerns not only in the USA but also worldwide. Lack of affordable housing, domestic violence, substance abuse, poverty, and racial inequality are all factors that add to the increasing number of people who live on city streets. While it’s a tricky problem, there should be ways to address it and deal with the root causes.

Homeless: Who Are They?

The federal government defines someone as homeless if they don’t have a fixed residence or a shelter and stay in a public area not designed for sleeping. Houseless individuals come from various demographic groups, but some are more represented than others. Factors such as mental or physical disability, substance abuse, or harsh life situations also play a significant role in how likely a person is to end up on the street.

Are Privatized Solutions to Homelessness Feasible?

The housing problem has reached new heights in recent years, and millions of concerned citizens are looking for possible solutions. While government organizations are expected to implement measures that will help those in need of a residency, private organizations stay less involved in the issue. Since only a small part of the American homeless population is chronically homeless and has no marketable skills, new hiring policies from private businesses can have a significant impact on improving the situation.

Ending Homelessness: Is It Possible?

One commonly asked question is whether the poverty problem can ever be solved. Some argue that there will always be people on the streets. While that might be true, it doesn’t mean the issue can’t be solved. Ending the housing crisis means eliminating a broad social problem that traps people and forces them into cyclical poverty.

Homelessness and Mental Illness

There is a connection between mental health and the state of living on a street. Emotional instability or a mental disorder may lead to behavioral problems or affect a person’s physical state, which makes it challenging to earn a stable income. Sometimes, the combination of illness and housing issues worsens the situation by leading to alcohol and substance abuse, trapping individuals in a cycle of poverty.

• Understanding the Causes of Homelessness Poverty, in this case, was defined as the inability of a person to afford essential commodities such as food, shelter, and clothing. In this case, although alcoholism and drug use contributed to homelessness, the precedent […]
• Homeless People and Their Key Challenges Therefore, I continue to view homeless people as those deserving of equal compassion and sympathy as those having a home. Since I view homeless people as fellow human beings first, I continue to promote the […]
• Homeless as At-Risk Population Based on the statistics from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, about 580466 people were “experiencing homelessness on our streets and in shelters in America” as of 2020.
• Poverty and Homelessness as a Global Social Problem What makes the task of defining poverty particularly difficult is the discrepancy in the distribution of social capital and, therefore, the resulting differences in the understanding of what constitutes poverty, particularly, where the line should […]
• Organization’s Mission to End Homelessness The rate of homelessness has been steadily increasing over the last decade in the U.S.due to foreclosures and unprecedented recessionary cycles.
• Poverty and Homelessness in American Society It is connected with social segregation, stigmatization, and the inability of the person to improve their conditions of life. The problem of affordable housing and poverty among older adults is another problem that leads to […]
• Homeless Populations in the United States For example, power is the ability to affect and manage external resources related to human behaviors and decisions that contribute to social movements and community change.
• Providing Medical Care to Homeless People During the COVID-19 Pandemic The first barrier affecting the provision of medical care to the homeless is social. The first possible socio-economic support for changes may be the opening of a department in each hospital to work with the […]
• The Homelessness Issue in Canada The amount of Canadians who are homeless on any nightly basis in Canada is believed to be at least 35,000 people.even though the average duration of stay in emergency housing is about 50 days, more […]
• Promoting Wellbeing in Homeless People: Group Fitness Intervention The authors of this article conducted the study to give insight into the importance of considering homeless people in the society they belong. The importance of the study was to encourage people to have inclusivity […]
• Homelessness in the US: Effectiveness of Intervention The issue of properly maintaining a home was addressed as the client learned how to adapt to a home by himself.
• Issue of Youth Homelessness in Canada The third and fourth factors, the lack of education and unemployment, are interconnected, resulting in inconsistent and low income and the inability to afford proper housing.
• Homeless People and COVID-19: Maricopa Country Moved Homeless People In other words, it is necessary to increase the level of social assistance to the homeless, increasing the availability of housing and social benefits.
• Homelessness and Housing in Oneida County and City of Utica This research aims to assess the well-being of the community of Oneida County and the City of Utica, using the data on homelessness rates and housing prices.
• Homelessness: Its Causes, Effects, and Prevention In this article, the professors collaborate in addressing the issue of homelessness and its impact on public health. In this article, the authors focus on the effects of homelessness on economies and public health.
• Vancouver Homeless Problem and Solutions It does not address the main source of the problem the financial struggles of homeless people and their inability to pay the rent.
• The National Intensive Case Management Program for Homeless Veterans: Critique The program is assessed using the four principles of community psychology, which include problems addressed, values reflected in the program approach and methods, conceptual foundation of the program, and action and research tools.
• Why Is Being Homeless Not a Bad Idea? Another benefit of living on the streets is a chance to be withdrawn from the misery of modern life and technological advancements.
• “Homelessness, Housing Insecurity and Social Exclusion” in Asian Regions The article Homelessness, housing insecurity and social exclusion in China, Hong Kong, and Japan, written by Kennett and Mizuuchi, examines the issue of homelessness in Asian regions, emphasizing housing insecurity in Hong Kong.
• Homelessness in Canada: Reflective Analysis This analysis is intended to be an academic reflection and to cover issues related to the clarification of the topic, personal experiences, and the connection of the problem to global citizenship.
• “Homelessness Monologue”: A Fictional Story He is also white, and his appearance is disheveled: the face appears dirty and tired and has bruises; the clothes are torn, and the shoes can barely protect the feet. The partition in the middle […]
• Homelessness in Northern California The residents of Northern California faced frustration and anxiety, raising health and safety fears and causing multiple debates about poverty and discrimination in one of the wealthiest states of the country.
• Single, Low-Income, or Homeless Mothers’ Health and Parenting Problems To promote their wellbeing, health professionals may support homeless mothers in practices such as the use of strengths-anchored nursing, supporting ideas of good parenting, overcoming stigma, and discovering and eliminating the unsurmountable hindrances encountered within […]
• Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” and Homelessness in the U.S. This paper aims to briefly summarize the plot and the themes of this short story and relate it to the current problem of homelessness in the United States.
• Community Meeting on Homelessness in the US The purpose of the public deliberations was to help the City Council make more informed decisions about how homeless encampments should be serviced and managed in the future. Power and influence are some of the […]
• The Issue of Homeless Veterans I learned a lot in the framework of the issue of homeless veterans. Among the primary problems, there is the absence of programs for the rapid adaptation of servicemen to a peaceful life.
• Navigating the System For Families Experiencing Homelessness As a social phenomenon, it is caused by a complex of social, economic, civil, and cultural conflicts, as a result of which a part of the population is deprived of living conditions, which are recognized […]
• Homelessness: Improving Health Outcomes However, in the 1880s, the public perceptions of homelessness improved following the development of literature that appreciated their courage and willingness to deviate from monotony and oppression associated with industrial work.
• The Problem of Homelessness in Society Societies begin to realize that the growth of homelessness is partly their fault, and it is also their responsibility not to let this issue get worse.
• Cultural Immersion Project for Homeless Group My practice was relatively positive and in line with the expectations and previously received information about the cultural group, as clients voluntarily underwent training and sought to reduce the level of aggression.

A good title can make all the difference and determine whether the audience will be intrigued to read your essay. But what makes a heading suitable? Well, just keep these things in mind, and you’ll definitely create a compelling title:

• Ensure the heading is memorable. Since it’s the first thing readers see, making it stand out will naturally draw audiences’ attention and pique their interest.
• Make it easy to read. The main goal of a paper’s title is to give readers a brief insight into what to expect. Keeping it concise will help the audience grasp the concept better.
• Make it realistic. A clickbait heading may have the readers on strings at first, but they likely won’t read it until the end. If a teacher evaluates your writing, they will deduce points for the title being irrelevant.
• Consider your target audience. An excellent title should be written in a language that readers would easily understand. For that reason, it’s best to consider their expertise and the field of study.

Homelessness Subtopics

Need to write a paper on homelessness, but you’re unsure where to start? No need to worry—we’ve got you! Check out these research areas and choose the one that piques your interest:

• Alternative accommodations for refugees. This branch is concerned with the housing issue among refugees and ways to provide them with shelter. It looks to ensure the safety of citizens and those in need and avoid problems such as squatting.
• Homelessness and access to medical services. Homeless people have even more risks when it comes to physical and mental diseases. This sector looks into programs to help vulnerable social groups access healthcare.
• Social support for homeless people. This study is focused on creating a supportive community for people without housing. Help may be offered by individuals or through non-governmental organizations such as homeless ministries and religious groups.
• Housing issue among veterans. Despite their contributions to the country’s well-being, veterans often find themselves on the streets. This field looks into various programs targeted at ending homelessness among this social group.
• The Problem of Homeless Youths With HIV-AIDS Studies carried out in the city of New York in 2008 showed that 21 percent of homeless youth males and 24 percent of homeless female youths had “more than 100 lifetime partners”. 5 percent of […]
• Regulating Society: Criminalising Homelessness Intolerance of homelessness and homeless people by cities, law enforcement agencies, and the public accounts for such violent crimes against homeless people.
• Vulnerable Population: Homelessness In such a way, they will be more prepared to come up with quality personalized approaches to health care for this vulnerable population’s representatives.
• Addressing Substance Abuse in Skid Row: Intervention and Prevention There is a need to fill the data gap regarding the issues of magnitude, location, period, severity, and changeability of the SUD in the Skid Row community.
• Shelter and Public Welfare Resources for the Homeless One of the issues the campaign is currently facing is the lack of information about the problem, the current government programs, their strengths and weaknesses, and the input that general citizens can make for the […]
• Chronic Homelessness: Definition and Addressing the Issue The problem was first reported in the 1850s though it became a national problem in the 1870s shortly after the Civil War.
• Housing Interventions for Homelessness The interventions studied were TH and RRH with ES serving as a reference point or control, and the time length is manifested in the analysis, which assesses the general likelihood of a household returning to […]
• Homelessness: Social and Economic Problems It is these and other factors that contribute to homelessness, a condition that is seldom a choice for people who must live outside the comfort and security of a home environment.
• Homeless Shelter Health Care Services The search for articles was based primarily on the issues they addressed: they all concern the issue of health care for homeless people and try to single out the most optimal models of it.
• About the California Homeless The population of concerns is homeless youth under age 18 who seek shelter in the community of San Diego, California.
• Homelessness and Education in the USA Every child, homeless or not, has the right to a public school education that is equal to the standards of achievement that are available for all youths and children.
• Community Service Experience: Homeless Shelter The shelter also organizes outreach and humanitarian work during the day to ensure that homeless people in the community know about the shelter and the services it provides.
• Understanding of the Homeless Population The state of focus is Georgia and the County of Fulton. 2 percent of homeless individuals had severe cases of mental illnesses Nearly 34.
• Decision-Making in Business: Help Our Homeless Offspring The decision remains with the financial controller of the donor-corporation who is tasked with advising its organisation on whether to grant the funding.
• Homeless Persons as Vulnerable Population in the US The nature of homelessness and its link to the resources available, the status of health and related risks can be of great significant to nurses.
• Aggregate Homeless in Fulton County, Georgia The individuals who are homeless constituted 52% of the total homeless people in Fulton. The decrease in the numbers of the homeless was by 21 people.
• Health Problems Among Homeless People To sum up, it should be noted that homeless people, one of the most vulnerable groups in society, suffer from numerous health problems.
• Mental Health & Incidences of Homelessness in Australia In Australia, as is the case in other countries across the world, it is generally assumed that most homeless individuals are faced with mental health challenges and that mental illness is a principal cause of […]
• Homeless Women and Healthcare: Access to Health Care, Medication, and Health Facilities Farmer suggested that the utter disregard to the plight of the marginalized who are most vulnerable in all aspects of social benefits is the “pathologies of power” that are symptoms and signs of structural inequality.
• Homeless Families Analysis One of the highlights of the existing studies is the idea of a “hunger-obesity paradox” determined by the body mass indicator of homeless adults and the rest of the people.
• A Need for an Effective Homelessness Policy in Florida 3 million disparity in the number of units available for rent and the number of households exacerbated the problem of homelessness in the country.
• The Problem of Homelessness in Australia: Social, Political, and Political Dynamics The involvement and collaboration of all key partners and stakeholders will make it possible for the country to overcome this problem.
• Self-Efficacy and Smoking Urges in Homeless Individuals Pinsker et al.point out that the levels of self-efficacy and the severity of smoking urges change significantly during the smoking cessation treatment.
• Debunking the Myths on Homelessness: Misconceptions About the Social Status and Mental Health The point of concern is that the housing market, particularly in the United States, does not have enough low-cost living space that is affordable to the economical marginals and people with low income.
• The Issue of Homeless People in Los Angeles A reliable organization that provides statistics on the problem and aims to overcome it is the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, or LAHSA. The latter makes it difficult to find a well-paid job and get […]
• Christian Ethics: Homelessness in Atlanta According to it, it is a norm for all people to have an appropriate home where they can be safe. There is no legislation that can make others provide a vulnerable population with home, but […]
• Urban Planning Optimization and Homelessness Therefore, the urban planning should be revised regarding those private providers’ interests: the risk of failure for future city development would strongly increase in the areas of possible economic concern.
• Optimizing Urban Planning to Address Homelessness Researchers use sensitivity analysis to assess the contribution of single preference parameters to the uncertainty of the ranking of alternatives. In the same manner, authorities can create a database consisting of all the shelters for […]
• Media’s Role in Framing Homelessness Apart from this whatever the weakness or merits of the commission’s plan are, there also exists a great and a huge gap between the policy’s level and the ways for an ordinary citizens in order […]
• The Problem of Homeless People Is a Social The subject of homelessness allows me to understand that stable employment and control of financial accounts are the main things in the life of every person.
• Health Implications of Homelessness: Experiences and Emotional Feelings This study considers the aspect of health implications in homelessness through the essay written by a noted writer, Lars Eighner, through his various essay, significant among them being called ‘On dumpster diving.’ In this article […]
• Homeless Students Problem in USA This essay discusses the causes and consequences of homelessness in the nation and a solution to decrease the problems faced by the homeless youngsters.
• The Problem of Homelessness: Media View It understands the role of the media in problem construction and the definition of the weight the matter carries to the public.
• Volunteer Group Event for Homeless Children Such children will be the pillars of the future generation and hence it becomes a duty for each of us to contribute in making the lives of deprived children better.
• The Problem of Homelessness in the US That is why every government tries to provide the strategies for homelessness to help people to deal with the problem, but not all of them are successful.
• Problem of Homeless People in New York New York City, the city that never sleeps, and one of the most populous places on the earth, has been facing the huge task of providing homes to its citizens.
• The Homeless in Our Community The estimated half a million children that, at any one time, is homeless in America and their mothers represent the “fastest growing segment of the homeless population”.
• New York’s Homeless Children and Foster Care System Foster homes have to also face the challenge of developing the mentalities of the children are their clients, and care should be provided on that basis.
• Amicus Curiae: Defending the Rights of the Homeless Laws by the government that the poor should not be homeless and that those who are homeless should not be permitted to sit or roam around the sidewalks of the US cities are not fair.
• Evaluating the Self-Esteem of the Homeless The mission statement of the program indicates the central role played by the agency to the welfare of the society.”The Doe Fund’s mission is to develop and implement cost-effective, holistic programs that meet the needs […]
• Homelessness: A Huge Social Problem in Canada Lastly, homelessness was chosen as a topic of research because there is very little information about the issue especially in relation to health.
• Homeless Problem in the US In contrast to independent media, the task of mainstream media is to impress the audience and impress them by ‘current news’ and reports.
• Homelessness Studies and Their Ethical Dimensions It is clear that the individuals were not made aware of the consequences of these experiments. Such research can be made ethical if researchers devote more attention to people’s health during and after the trials’ […]
• Transitional Living Program Design for Homeless Adolescents The Homeless Trust organizes and directs the Miami-Dade County Homeless Plan, which is a central document of the county that regulates the government policy that addresses the issues of the homeless.
• Overpopulation and Homelessness in the Modern World According to the United Nations, more than half of the population resides in urban areas, making the problem of homelessness visible: cities cannot keep up with the high demand for housing, resulting in people living […]
• The Issue of Homelessness in Modern World The problem is viewed from various perspectives by different authors, and many conclusions are valuable in terms of drawing attention to the issue.
• Human Services and Needs Assessment of Homeless In the case study by Giffords, Alonso, and Bell, the purpose of gathering needs information is to assess and record the level of individual adolescents’ skills. A needs assessment is crucial for identifying the goals […]
• The US Government and Homes for Homeless People The situation with homeless people differs from one state to another, but common features of the issue and the ways the local authorities choose to deal with homelessness are similar.
• “Death of a Homeless Man” by Scott Russell Sanders The author stresses that the aim of the story is not simply to inform about the fact or some statistics concerning poverty or alcoholism in the USA.
• Violating Norms: A Day in the Life of a Homeless Person He said it in a concerned manner that when my friend told him what I was up to, he laughed at the humor of it.
• Anti-Homelessness Program’s Cost Benefit Analysis For the first program, the major benefit is the reduction of homelessness among adolescents and young adults as one of the most serious current social problems.
• Social Justice Group Work for Homeless Young Mothers The group discussed in the article was started for the purpose of assisting residents address the problem of homelessness especially in aspects of parenting and during pregnancy periods.
• Social Work and Homelessness Research Methodology A randomized controlled trial will be conducted to answer the following research question: what is the effectiveness of the Housing First program to street homelessness based on the experiences of both human service professionals and […]
• The Needs of Students Experiencing Homelessness Thus, counselors will have a possibility to identify common patterns in the target learners’ behaviors and design the interventions that will help manage the emotional and psychological concerns of homeless students. It is crucial that […]
• A Look at Homelessness in Chicago When speaking about this problem in the context of the American city of Chicago, Illinois, it is worth noting that here, the level of homelessness is quite high.
• Crowdfunding Project to Help Homeless People To assess the marketability of the proposed project, it is important to answer the question, “Why is the project important?” Providing free haircuts and showers to homeless people proved to be a beneficial activity.
• Homelessness Among Students in the United States The number of homeless students is increasing due to rising costs of living and the lack of programs aimed at assisting this vulnerable population.
• Aboriginal Homelessness in Vancouver One of the examples of institutionalized discrimination is the existence of the Indian Act, first established to define the “Indian Status” and control the identity of Indigenous people.
• Homelessness in the US as a Solvable Problem The problem is believed to be caused by a wide range of social issues that have affected the country for the past centuries.
• American Homelessness, Its Causes and Solutions The United States of America has a fair share of the homeless. In the absence of poverty, the population would afford decent housing and avoid residing on the streets.

Vulnerability of Homeless People

Growing inequality has a profound effect on people’s health in countries worldwide. One severe consequence that further deepens the problem is homelessness. When individuals end up on the streets, they find it almost impossible to cope with life challenges and protect themselves. The lack of support and security is what makes a homeless person extremely vulnerable to things such as crime, violence, and abuse.

• Does Public Housing Reduce Homelessness?

The USA currently faces a severe affordable housing crisis. In the 1970s, most families could find new accommodation after losing a house. However, around the 1980s, rents started to rise significantly, which made it harder to buy a home, especially for low-income people. Today, while programs such as housing vouchers and public housing are available, only a quarter of households receive the assistance due to insufficient funding.

Solutions of Homelessness

Since the number of people who are forced to live on the streets is increasing every year, various programs and approaches have been developed to deal with the problem. Still, actions should also be taken to prevent families from losing houses in the first place. Policies such as increased access to affordable homes and investment in welfare support for those in need can be the first steps to finding long-term solutions.

Homelessness among Children and Youth in America

Unlike with adults, homelessness remains a hidden problem when it comes to the younger generation. Many teens transition between sleeping arrangements with friends and are not in shelters. It remains a complex issue that requires special attention.

How Homelessness Affects the Modern World

Lack of housing is a problem that concerns society as a whole. Whether you’ve experienced it personally or not, it has a ripple effect throughout all communities. For instance, it impacts the crime rate, causes financial hardship, and the use of tax. Breaking the cycle and helping those in need will benefit humanity as a whole.

• Homelessness in “Light in August” and “Wise Blood”
• Mentally Ill Homeless People: Stereotypes
• Homelessness and School Readiness Evaluation
• Mayor Schell’s Homeless Policy Reengineering
• Issue of Homelessness in America
• The Homeless Population Reducing
• Homeless Veterans Causes and Effects
• Christian Duty to Care for Homeless People
• Catholic Dealing With Poverty and Homelessness
• Homelessness in Phoenix Arizona State
• Public Administration: Homeless in Phoenix
• Minority Population at Risk: Homelessness
• Counting Homeless People in Seattle
• Cultural Immersion of Homeless Veterans
• Policy Analysis: Homelessness
• An Action Plan for Settling Homeless People in Seattle
• Approaching Homelessness in America
• Disparities in health outcomes in homeless people
• Ending Chronic Homelessness in the United Kingdom
• Herts Young Homeless Group Marketing Strategy
• Poverty, Homelessness and Discrimination in Australia: The Case of the Aboriginal
• The Problem of Homeless People in Modern World
• The Canadian Government should Offer Additional Support for Homeless People
• Public Administration in America: Grants to Help Homeless
• The Concept of Community Development to the Homeless Youths in Australia
• Homelessness as the Social Phenomenon
• Volunteering for Horizon House: Homeless Neighbours’ Motivation to Find Jobs
• Homelessness and Schizophrenia
• The Effects of Homelessness in Ohio
• The Problem of Homeless Veterans in US
• Homeless Veterans in the United States
• Homelessness in the United States
• Homeless Rights in US
• Climate Shift Could Leave Some Marine Species Homeless
• Homelessness in Vancouver, Canada: Discussing its Causes & Effects
• Homelessness as the Scourge of the Modern Society: The Causes, the Outcomes and the Means to Eliminate It

Do you plan to write a paper on the ongoing housing crisis in the USA? Check out the list below to find inspiration and come up with fresh ideas:

• Is homelessness a city problem? One commonly asked question is whether the housing crisis is exclusive to the urban area. The truth is that rural communities are frequently undercounted due to the lack of services and shelters.
• How can local communities improve the situation of homelessness? Even though people’s efforts may seem insignificant initially, they help build a support system that focuses on serving the most vulnerable. Why do people end up on the streets? Families and individuals lose their houses due to various circumstances. Some may suffer from mental or physical illness, while others can’t afford to pay the rent or run away from abusive households.
• What policies can bring positive changes to the housing crisis? Since homelessness is a complex issue, it must be solved on both political and local levels. Partnership and a united effort between the state and the people are the only possible ways to improve the situation.
• What groups are especially susceptible to homelessness in the US? No one is safe from finding themselves on the streets one day. The issue affects people from various backgrounds, from families with kids to youth, veterans, and people with disabilities.
• Combating Homelessness With Affordable Housing
• Culture and Individual Development of Homelessness
• The Impact of the American Economic System on Homelessness
• Homelessness, Mental Illness, and Social Intervention
• The Federal Strategic Plan For Prevent and End Homelessness
• Homelessness and Other Issues Caused by the Mergers and Advancement of Companies in the United States
• Overview Homelessness and the Lawson Panhandling in America
• Family Homelessness and Its Effects on Children
• The Link Between Mental Illness and Homelessness
• Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Lifetime Prevalence of Homelessness in the United States
• Analysis Homelessness Postmodernist and Feminist Perspective
• Homelessness and Substance Abuse
• Analysis Homelessness and the Effect It Has on Social Health
• Homelessness and Domestic Violence Awareness
• Child Abuse and Neglect, Homelessness, and Marital Problems
• Homelessness Among Formerly Incarcerated African American Men: Contributors and Consequences
• Overview City Life, Homelessness, Race, and Sociology
• Homelessness: Rates, Causes, Conflicts and Solutions
• General Information Abouthomelessness Among Those With Mental Illness
• Dealing With the Problem of Homelessness in the United States
• Features the Homelessness Among Youth in Canada
• Helping People With a Chronic Homelessness Problem
• Analysis Homelessness Amongst Marginalized LGBTQ Youth
• Homelessness, Property Rights and Institutional Logics
• Domestic Violence and Homelessness Among Women
• Why Has Homelessness Gained Worldwide Attention?
• Homelessness Is an Epidemic That Affects Everyone?
• What Are the Ways To Prevent Youth Homelessness?
• How Is Homelessness in Connecticut Fought With Supportive Housing?
• What Are the Consequences of Homelessness for Women?
• How Does Social Inequality Contribute to Homelessness in the United States?
• Can Symbolic Interactionism Help With Homelessness?
• How Aware of Homelessness and Domestic Violence in European Countries?
• What Are the Main Causes and Consequences of Homelessness?
• How Can People Help Solve the Problem of Homelessness?
• What Are the Social Justice Challenges for the Homeless?
• How Does New York Fight Homelessness?
• What Are the Problems and Consequences of Homelessness in New York?
• How Does Homelessness Affect Society?
• What Causes Homelessness Across America?
• How Can You Avoid Homelessness Using Rent Control?
• Why Is Domestic Violence Seen as a Cause of Homelessness Among Women?
• What Are the Social Issues of the Size of Homelessness in Savannah, Georgia?
• How Does Homelessness Affect Children?
• What Are the Problems of Homelessness in America and Their Future Solutions?
• Homelessness and Why You Should Think Twice Before Aiding the Homeless?
• Why Are There So Many Homeless American Veterans?
• What Is Canada’s Homelessness Policy?
• How Do Denver Area Fight Homelessness?
• What Is the Relationship of Homelessness, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse?
• What Are the Reasons for Youth Homelessness?
• How Do You Fight Homelessness With Shelters?
• What Are the Problems and Consequences of Homelessness?
• How To Help Homelessness With Permanent Assisted Housing?

Your essay should demonstrate your insight and originality in linking different ideas to explain phenomena. It should also demonstrate your knowledge of various economic and political topics.

The main focus can be on the reasons why homeless people may be unable to obtain a permanent home:

• Physical factors such as the inability to obtain a job or the high housing prices are excellent examples.
• Mental issues such as depression and other conditions also warrant discussion. You will be able to obtain a more complete overview of the problem by inspecting its various components.

Sources for a Homelessness Essay

Regardless of the topic you want to discuss, you will have to use trustworthy sources. Keep the following in mind:

• Your essay should present homelessness as a systemic issue. Even though you may use individual cases as illustrations for some of your points, anecdotal evidence is insufficient for strong statements.
• Statistics and scholarly articles are preferable sources, though you may use journalistic pieces to support a theoretical framework. If you do so, ensure the articles maintain an objective tone and remain impartial instead of appealing to feelings.
• It is best to avoid poor journalism and unreliable websites. Their use would damage the credibility of your essay and, therefore, its impact.
• Add your own research, including economic analyses and interviews with homeless people.

Essay on Homelessness: Bonus Tips

Here are some additional tips for your essay:

• The phenomenon of homelessness as it occurs on a societal level has been researched thoroughly. You may voice original ideas, but ensure they are supported with solid evidence.
• Try to differentiate between various categories of homeless people. Homogenizing them without considering their differences and attitudes may lead you to make mistaken assessments.
• Try to consult historical data to identify periods when homelessness rose or fell and associate them with other events. You may discover effective or ineffective policies, economic growth, crises, or other ideas you can use.
• You can use a discussion of the reasons why people may lose their homes as a homelessness essay hook to shift to their current situation.

Visit IvyPanda for homelessness essay titles and other helpful paper samples!

• Social Development Essay Topics
• Social Justice Essay Ideas
• Social Responsibility Topics
• Social Work Essay Titles
• Macroeconomics Topics
• Segregation Research Topics
• Urbanization Ideas
• Illegal Immigration Topics
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, November 16). 221 Homelessness Essay Topics, Titles, & Research Questions. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/homelessness-essay-examples/

"221 Homelessness Essay Topics, Titles, & Research Questions." IvyPanda , 16 Nov. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/homelessness-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . (2024) '221 Homelessness Essay Topics, Titles, & Research Questions'. 16 November.

IvyPanda . 2024. "221 Homelessness Essay Topics, Titles, & Research Questions." November 16, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/homelessness-essay-examples/.

1. IvyPanda . "221 Homelessness Essay Topics, Titles, & Research Questions." November 16, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/homelessness-essay-examples/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "221 Homelessness Essay Topics, Titles, & Research Questions." November 16, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/homelessness-essay-examples/.

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock Locked padlock icon ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

• Publications
• Account settings
• Advanced Search
• Journal List

Analyzing the impact of social factors on homelessness: a Fuzzy Cognitive Map approach

Vijay k mago, hilary k morden, charles fritz, tiankuang wu, sara namazi, parastoo geranmayeh, rakhi chattopadhyay, vahid dabbaghian.

• Author information
• Article notes
• Copyright and License information

Corresponding author.

Received 2012 Jul 25; Accepted 2013 Aug 12; Collection date 2013.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The forces which affect homelessness are complex and often interactive in nature. Social forces such as addictions, family breakdown, and mental illness are compounded by structural forces such as lack of available low-cost housing, poor economic conditions, and insufficient mental health services. Together these factors impact levels of homelessness through their dynamic relations. Historic models, which are static in nature, have only been marginally successful in capturing these relationships.

Fuzzy Logic (FL) and fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) are particularly suited to the modeling of complex social problems, such as homelessness, due to their inherent ability to model intricate, interactive systems often described in vague conceptual terms and then organize them into a specific, concrete form (i.e., the FCM) which can be readily understood by social scientists and others. Using FL we converted information, taken from recently published, peer reviewed articles, for a select group of factors related to homelessness and then calculated the strength of influence (weights) for pairs of factors. We then used these weighted relationships in a FCM to test the effects of increasing or decreasing individual or groups of factors. Results of these trials were explainable according to current empirical knowledge related to homelessness.

Prior graphic maps of homelessness have been of limited use due to the dynamic nature of the concepts related to homelessness. The FCM technique captures greater degrees of dynamism and complexity than static models, allowing relevant concepts to be manipulated and interacted. This, in turn, allows for a much more realistic picture of homelessness. Through network analysis of the FCM we determined that Education exerts the greatest force in the model and hence impacts the dynamism and complexity of a social problem such as homelessness.

Conclusions

The FCM built to model the complex social system of homelessness reasonably represented reality for the sample scenarios created. This confirmed that the model worked and that a search of peer reviewed, academic literature is a reasonable foundation upon which to build the model. Further, it was determined that the direction and strengths of relationships between concepts included in this map are a reasonable approximation of their action in reality. However, dynamic models are not without their limitations and must be acknowledged as inherently exploratory.

Keywords: Homelessness, Complex social system, Fuzzy logic, Fuzzy Cognitive Map, Network analysis

Homelessness

Homelessness is a complex social problem with a variety of underlying economic and social factors such as poverty, lack of affordable housing, uncertain physical and mental health, addictions, and community and family breakdown. These factors, in varying combinations, contribute to duration, frequency, and type of homelessness. To be fully homeless is to live without shelter; however, many experience partial homelessness that can include uncertain, temporary, or sub-standard shelter. Homelessness is difficult to define, thus governments struggle with uncertainty when creating and implementing policies they hope will effectively manage or eradicate this problem.

Levels of government, in countries like Canada, add to the complexity of dealing with homelessness. Being governed at three different levels, federal, provincial, and municipal, requires high levels of agreement to effectively create and administer policies. In Canada, each level of government is responsible for different facets of homelessness. The federal government, responsible for the whole of Canada, creates and administers policies and funding for aboriginal peoples (a segment of Canada’s population over-represented in homeless counts), seniors, and social housing, as well as transfers funds to the provinces to help pay for their social programs. The provincial government, responsible for needs of the provinces and territories, creates and administers policies regarding mental illness, addictions, welfare, minimum wage laws, landlord and tenant acts, and child protection services and shares responsibility with the federal government for seniors and social housing. The municipal governments, are seen as the hands or arms of the provincial government, and are technically not responsible for homelessness; however are often involved in choosing sites for social housing, supporting emergency shelters and hospital emergency wards, as well as providing support, in a variety of ways, to facilitate these initiatives. The fact that there is no comprehensive national housing strategy to co-ordinate these levels of government often leads to inadequate policies and funding that fall far short of meeting the country’s housing needs [ 1 ]. This lack of coordination towards policy and funding for homelessness has recently come to the attention of courts in Canada who have begun to make decisions which support shelter as an essential right for Canadians [ 2 ]. The UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing in Canada has also strongly urged the federal government to commit sufficient funding to create a national housing strategy by working with the provinces and territories [ 3 ].

Metro Vancouver is one city in Canada which conducts a comprehensive homeless count every three years [ 4 ]. Counters make every effort to include in the count those considered sheltered homeless (individuals who spend nights in shelters, safe houses, transition houses, hospitals, jails, remand centres, and detox/recovery facilities) and those who are unsheltered homeless (individuals who spend their nights unsheltered on streets, in parks, or at drop-in programs). Counts are shown in Figure 1 .

Homeless count in Metro Vancouver.

It becomes apparent that if the complex and oft-times chaotic experiences such as job loss that lead to family breakdown, mental illness, and drug/alcohol addiction, which may lead to homelessness, were better understood then social policies and procedures which constitute “best practices” would be more effective in reducing and preventing homelessness [ 5 ]. Fuzzy logic and fuzzy cognitive maps are especially useful for modelling complex social problems due to their inherent ability to capture and model vague concepts and values [ 6 ]. In relationship to homelessness, syllogisms such as, “if there is a lack of affordable housing, then there will be a significant increase in homelessness” can be accurately modelled by assigning a value to the parameter based on the retrieved linguistic terms taken from existing empirical literature. In this way greater meaning, which captures and aggregates the nuances of the stressors and protective factors, is given to the existing empirical literature related to homelessness. This also allows the complex social issue to be graphically described in a manner which may be more readily understood. This, in turn, may then help social policy-makers to refine their decision-making, leading to effective changes in social policies with the goal of reducing homelessness.

Fuzzy logic (FL) is a mutli-valued logic technique that is approximate. Rather than using traditional logic theory where binary sets have a two-valued logic (i.e., true, 1, and false, 0), fuzzy variables have a truth-value between 0 and 1, allowing them to be valued between absolutely true and absolutely false. Using linguistic variables, taken from empirical literature that describes the effect each factor in a knowledge system has on the others, FL can be used to convert the effects into values between 0 and 1. Once determined, these values can then be input into a graphical representation of the system containing all factors with directed lines (edges) showing the calculated strength of the causal relationship between them. This graphical representation is known as a fuzzy cognitive map (FCM). A brief description of the techniques, with an example is presented in the subsequent subsection.

Fuzzy Cognitive Map (FCM)

The FCM is a framework used for modelling interdependence between concepts in the real-world [ 7 ]. This is achieved by graphically representing the causal reasoning relationships between vague or un-crisp concepts [ 6 , 8 ]. FCMs allow scientists to construct virtual worlds in which some of the complex and interdependent concepts of a scenario can be captured and their interactions or causal relationships modelled. Knowledge representation in these maps has an acquisition-processing trade-off. FCMs, by providing a fuzzy graph structure for systematic causal propagation and ease in processing fuzzy knowledge, are applicable in soft-knowledge domains such as the social sciences. At the core of the FCM structure are the concepts to be studied and modelled. Concepts can be understood to represent actors or the parts of the environment which have impact on some phenomenon of interest (and each other), such as those included in the simple FCM of heart disease illustrated in Figure 2 .

Example of a simple FCM to assess heart disease.

The concepts, determined empirically, which relate to heart disease in this model include: exercise (E), food habits (FH), cholesterol (C), blood pressure (BP), and body weight (BW). The links, directionally joining the concepts, represent the fuzzy causal relationships.

Concepts which have no impact on other concepts are not represented via links on the map, however are represented in the subsequent constructed adjacency matrix W and denoted, 0.

As can be seen in Figure 2 , there is no direct effect of BW on C and therefore no link is drawn between these two concepts. The weight values {−1,0,1} are used at this stage for simplicity and testing the FCM and are later refined through the application of empirical linguistic terms and modifiers processed through FL.

The use of an FCM is particularly advantageous for graphically representing the interacting relationships of concepts which appear in phenomena related to social science, political science, organizational theory, military science, and international relations [ 8 ]. The connection matrix, W , may also be defined algebraically, demonstrating the influence concepts have on one another [ 7 ].

Let us denote the i t h concepts of a system as C i . Then the value A i , of a concept C i , expresses the quantity of its corresponding physical value. The FCM converges to a steady state when:

At each step, the value A i of a concept is influenced by the values of concepts-nodes connected to it and is updated according to the following formula:

where A i ( k ) is the value of concept C i at step k, A j ( k ) is the value of concept C j at step k, W ji is the weight of the interconnection from concept C j to concept C i and f is the threshold function used to bound the transformation to a limit cycle. In this example, f ( x ) is a sign function defined in MATLAB [ 9 ] with the following functionality:

Following our heart disease example, consider: the concept, E, is active for some individual. Therefore, E =1. No information is available for all other concepts in the map. Therefore, F H =0, C =0, B W =0, and B P =0. This is expressed by a vector C 1 = (1,0,0,0,0,0). According to equations 2 and 3, the processing is listed in Table 1 .

FCM processing when excercise = 1

The right arrow indicates the threshold function operation in Equation 3. The above results demonstrate that it takes four steps for the system to converge to a stable state (limit cycle). The vector C 4 demonstrates that the increase in E eventually leads to decreases in C, BW, BP, and HD.

The FCM created for our study provides a graphical description of homelessness and facilitates increased understanding of this complex social problem. Through simulation, the usefulness of such a model is demonstrated and implications for its use in policy decision-making are explored. As shown, FCMs related to complex social problems, allow for refinement of knowledge through graphical understanding and simulations that may be useful in improving social policies with the goal of reducing homelessness.

Virtual common-sense map of homelessness

First a virtual common-sense map was built based on the researchers’ personal and historical knowledge of the factors which they perceived to affect homelessness. Using homelessness as the central hub of the map, concepts which directly or indirectly, positively or negatively affected homelessness, and each other, were linked through directed edges. Each edge was assigned a weight depending on whether the antecedent concept exerted a positive effect (+1) or a negative effect (−1) on the consequent concept (Figure 3 ). Three prototypical cases were then developed and the model was run to ensure it would function in accordance with the determined relationships prior to the actual weights on the edges being refined through a literature search for the linguistic terms.

Virtual common-sense map of homelessness.

Experimentation: Virtual common-sense map

Experimentation with the virtual common-sense model was conducted to ensure that it would perform as expected and reach a stable state after iterating prior to the input of the actual weight values. Sample cases were constructed with the goal of describing an extreme case, most likely to result in homelessness; an extreme case, least likely to result in homelessness; and a middle case, more closely representing the possibilities of the real world, in which the likelihood of homelessness would be uncertain, see Table 2 .

Summary of expected outcome, concepts activated and iteration process for three sample cases

• Case 1 : In this scenario, the protective factor of rental subsidy was incapable of preventing the negative social factors, criminal justice system involvement, addictions, and mental illness from overwhelming the model - resulting in certain homelessness.

• Case 2 : In this scenario, the protective factors of education and increased income resulted in the elimination of the need for non-government assistance and a decrease in the likelihood of criminal justice system interaction. This is a highly likely outcome given that those with higher incomes and education are better able to identify and seek help for their mental illnesses which increases the likelihood that they will avoid incarceration. However, the strength of income and education as protective factors against increasing mental illness is shown to be ineffective and the level of mental illness continues to rise. Despite the increase in mental illness, education and income will ensure an ongoing ability to provide shelter, resulting in homelessness being an extremely unlikely outcome.

• Case 3 : In this scenario, at the end of iteration 1, the effects of addiction, prior criminal justice system involvement, and family breakdown are held at bay by the protective factors of income, education and counselling. However, due to the known cumulative negative effects of addiction, social isolation increases, signalling the likelihood that, over time, there will be an increased possibility of family breakdown and greater challenges controlling the addiction resulting in the increased likelihood of crime. Iteration 2 demonstrates the actions of all the concepts present in iteration 1 continuing to exert force on the model with the addition of an increase in mental illness caused by the ongoing addiction resulting in an increasing likelihood of homelessness. As the model continues to iterate, the addictions contribute to increasing social isolation and criminal behavior resulting in a greater likelihood of family breakdown. At this point the protective factors of education, income and counselling are overwhelmed by the ongoing addictions and resulting mental illness and crime and the likelihood of homelessness rises. However, given that education and income continue to exert force, homelessness is not a certainty.

Given the fully explainable results of the model and the fact that it was able to achieve stability after iterating, it was determined that the model functioned properly, and the process of refining the concepts through the search of timely empirical literature was conducted.

Fuzzy Cognitive Map of homelessness supported by empirical studies

To refine the edge weights on the FCM, timely, empirical literature was searched. The original causal map was referred to for the paired concepts such as, education and homelessness. These linked terms were then searched using the academic search engine, Google Scholar. Numerous articles were retrieved and scanned for each pair of linked concepts using only recently published (since the year 2000), peer reviewed, empirical articles. This culminated in the capture of three linguistic statements per concept pair for use in refining the map (see Table 3 ). Linguistic statements were required to be in the antecedent - consequent form as earlier described. In the process of searching, paired concepts were refined (edges and concepts added and removed from the virtual common-sense map Figure 3 after though deliberation with research team) resulting in a final map of 14 concepts and 31 edges (Figure 4 ). To maintain the semantic consistency amongst various concepts, Oxford Canadian Dictionary [ 10 ] was followed.

Linguistic terms and the references

Fuzzy Cognitive Map with qualitative weighted edges.

To calculate the quantitative weight values for each edge, first the qualitative weight values for each of the retrieved linguistic terms was assessed. A Likert-type scale was devised to determine the qualitative weight of each linguistic term. The values, Very Low (VL), Low (L), Medium (M), High (H), and Very High (VH) were used to categorize each term. We only consider five qualitative values for the sake of simplicity. However, the scale could be less or more than five, depending on the intricacies of the system under consideration. Consensus on meaning was achieved through discussion and vote. This process resulted in a scale of ordered and ranked values for each concept pair. For example, it might be stated in one peer-reviewed study that the effect of concept A on concept B was, “profound”; whereas another article may state that the effect was, “significant”. These statements, “profound” and “significant”, would be then ranked on the Likert- type scale in reference to their absolute meaning as well as their relative meaning. Thus, “profound”, would be valued as VH and “significant” would be valued as H. In the case of disagreement or uncertainty regarding the precise meaning of the words, Oxford Dictionary Online was referenced for definitions and synonyms. A word bank was constructed during this process listing all the retrieved terms for both comparative reference and to ensure consistency in the rankings, see Table 4 . Once the different qualitative weight values were determined for each linguistic term, they were then collected into their groups of three and applied to the revised FCM.

Categorization of linguistic terms extracted from literature

Subsequent to the information from the literature review having been transferred to the FCM, the resulting map contained the concepts, the antecedent - consequent relationships indicated via edges, the weight value of each edge (five qualitative, linguistic terms - VL, L, M, H, VH), and the sign value showing the type of the influence (+ or −). Following the application of the qualitative values to the FCM the values were then converted to quantitative weight values using FL theory. Each link was first expressed as a fuzzy rule then used in the Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) to generate a crisp numeric value. For example, if the linguistic term retrieved from the literature was: “The impact of concept A is profound on concept B”. It would then be converted to: “The impact of concept A is VH on concept B”. This graded statement would then be transformed using the rule statement:

The linguistic term ON is a binary variable. VH is defined using the triangular fuzzy membership function, as shown in Figure 5 . ON denotes the presence of the concept and VH denotes the weight value (qualitatively). For simplicity sake, triangular membership functions have been used as suggested in [ 85 ]. Interested readers can find more detailed explanation on membership functions in [ 86 ].

Triangular membership function.

• Example 1: As explained in the previous section, all qualitative values assigned to the edges came from the literature review. As shown in Figure 6 , “addiction” has a positive impact on homelessness. This means that an increase in addiction in a society will lead to an increase in levels of homelessness. The three linguistic terms related to “addiction”, extracted from the literature, were converted to the fuzzy notion of rules as follows:

Impact of addiction on homelessness.

•The degree of impact was then converted from its qualitative value (M, H, VH) to its quantitative value of 0.648 using FL concepts as described in [ 87 ]. All three studies indicated that as levels of addiction increase they exert a positive effect resulting in increases in levels of homelessness. Therefore, it can be stated that addictions affect homelessness by a factor of +0.648.

• Example 2 : As shown in Figure 7 , education has a negative effect on homelessness. This means that with higher levels of education in a society there will be lower levels of homelessness. Therefore, the impact of education on homelessness is modeled as negative - increases in education lead to decreases in homelessness. All literature scanned indicates that as education rises, homelessness falls. The first study stated that the impact of education on homelessness was low , the second, medium , and the third, high . This information is captured to construct a rule base for a Fuzzy Inference System (FIS). For each edge, we constructed an individual FIS and the defuzzified value, in this case 0.5, is assigned to the edge. More information about the procedure can be found in [ 87 - 90 ].

Impact of education on homelessness.

•Similarly, each edge was given a quantitative weight by converting the qualitative values gleaned from the literature search. Once all links on the map had been fully articulated with the rankings of each of the 93 linguistic terms (three for each link), we refined the virtual FCM (shown in Figure 4 ) by substituting quantitative values for the previous qualitative values (see Figure 8 ).

Fuzzy cognitive map with calculated quantitative weights assigned to edges.

Experimentation with the weighted Fuzzy Cognitive Map

Experimentation with the weighted FCM was conducted, (see Algorithm 1), to ensure that it would perform as expected and that the map had captured the dynamics of the factors which affect levels of homelessness. We applied tanh = e 2 x − 1 e 2 x + 1 as the transformation function f of Equation 2. This choice is made as we are interested in understanding the impact of increase or decrease of initial concept values on the overall stability of the map [ 91 ].

Prototypical scenarios, similar to those used for the simplified FCM (Figure 3 ), were constructed with the goal of finding the extreme case most likely to result in homelessness, the extreme case least likely to result in homelessness and several middle cases, more closely representing the possibilities present in the real world, where levels of homelessness are less certain.

The output of each prototypical case was interpreted through knowledge gleaned during the literature search/scan and the opinion of the criminologist-researcher on the team. Each example case had a variety of concepts activated at varying levels. The models were then permitted to iterate as necessary to reach a stable state (no further movement, positive or negative, for all concepts in the model). Final iterations are reported for each model.

• Case 1: Most likely to result in homelessness. The concepts of addiction, family breakdown, government assistance, and mental illness were activated at levels considered sufficiently high to dominate the system leading to certain homelessness as shown in Table 5 . It has been empirically determined that these concepts are often found together and often precede homelessness [ 52 , 70 , 83 ]. Addiction and mental illness are often co-morbid and both commonly precede family breakdown [ 51 ]. During times of increased addiction and mental illness in society it is the usual reaction of the government to put into place policies and funding which will address these problems [ 93 ].

Simulating the result for case 1

•Tracking the effect of these concepts at strengths set to approximately 0.50, the graph initially shows that government assistance is at a lower rate and then sharply rises to address the increasing levels of addiction, mental illness, and family breakdown in the modeled society. However, it takes little time before the triple threat of addiction, mental illness and family breakdown overwhelm the system and levels of homelessness rise dramatically where they remain at a steady, high rate (indicated by the flat line at the top of the graph, Figure 9 ).

Activated concepts at levels most likely to result in homelessness with graphical representation of impact of concepts on levels of homelessness over time.

• Case 2: Least likely to result in homelessness. The concepts of addiction, education, income, family breakdown, and social network support were activated at levels considered sufficiently high to dominate the system leading to a certain outcome of no homelessness as shown in Table 6 . In this case, the protective factors of education, income, and social network support protect society from the negative effects of addiction and prevent homelessness. The link between higher levels of education and higher levels of income have been well documented [ 72 ]. Given that education prepares individuals to think creatively and to problem-solve, it is surmised that those with higher levels of education would have a greater ability to negotiate the complex rules that often are associated with government assistance. Those who are wealthy and educated are also much more likely to be capable of identifying and acquiring the services they might need, such as being able to pay for family counseling rather than being wait-listed for government supplied family counseling.

Simulating the result for case 2

•From Figure 10 , it is noted that this model shows a initial dip in levels of income and education in the first iterations as society attempts to deal with the addictions and threat to family cohesion that result from the addictions. However, very quickly, the protective factors of income, education, and social network support overwhelm the negative factors and the threat of homelessness diminishes and remains at levels close to zero (as indicated by the flat line at the bottom of Figure 10 ). Over time, the threat of family breakdown is also eliminated and income and education both rise back to their initial levels.

Activated concepts at levels least likely to result in homelessness with graphical representation of impact of concepts on levels of homelessness over time.

•This second model demonstrates the critical importance of factors such as income - which lead to health, acquisition of knowledge, better food and health care; and education - which lead to wealth and all the positive factors which wealth can purchase. Though addictions are shown as present in this modeled society, the low levels are unable to overwhelm the model. Through model testing it became apparent that levels of addiction lower than 0.30 often fail to overwhelm the positive factors, as long as social support and education are both present at fairly high levels, see Figure 10 . Much of the empirical literature support this [ 41 , 59 , 78 ]. Those with high levels of social support such as family, church, social groups, community groups, school friends and community friends are often better able to weather threats such as addictions and family breakdown.

• Case 3: Uncertain outcome of homelessness. In this model, we activated low levels of addiction and social network, high levels of education and income, and moderate levels of family breakdown as shown in Table 7 . In this case, the protective factors of education and income delay the onset of homelessness but are insufficiently strong to prevent rising levels as the model iterates. Over time, due to family breakdown and the diminishing social network support, addictions begin to rise and as addictions rise, the likelihood of homelessness rapidly increases. This model demonstrates, once again, the importance of family and social support as well as the incredibly negative effects of drug addiction, both as a cause and result of family breakdown.

Simulating the result for case 3

•As in the case of the common-sense map of homelessness (Figure 3 ), this final model (Figure 11 ), acted in a manner which was fully explainable based on information acquired during the literature search and prior knowledge of the research team. This allowed for confidence that the model was functioning as it ought to and that we had captured not only a number of the integral aspects which contribute to homelessness, but that they were functioning in the direction and strengths which approximated real-life conditions.

Activated concepts at levels most closely representing a typical real-world case with graphical representation of the impact of concepts on levels of homelessness over time.

Analysis of network concepts

The purpose of this network analysis is to compare the degree of impact each of the concepts exerts on the model. During network analysis, we varied the initial value of a single concept from 0.1 to 1 while keeping the initial values of all other concepts at a static level; except for the concept representing homelessness. After several iterations, the value of homelessness was recorded. Then, for each factor, a plot of the value of homelessness versus the initial value of the concept was recorded. Ideally, for a factor with a positive effect on homelessness, the value of homelessness should increase as the value of the factor increases, gradually converging to a positive value. Concepts which have the reverse - a negative effect on homelessness, should demonstrate a decrease in homelessness as they are increased. Concepts which have higher convergent rates should demonstrate a greater impact on levels of homelessness.

To conduct the network analysis we first set the initial values for all concepts at a level of 0.5 and checked the levels of homelessness after 5 iterations. At this level and number of iterations, the majority of the plots resulted in a straight line at a value of +1. This told us that the initial value of the factor (0.1 to 1) made no difference on levels of homelessness and, obviously, was no help to our analysis. After analyzing the map, we tried reducing the level of the initial values for all concepts as well as reducing the number of iterations. Through a gradual reduction process we found that by setting the initial concept values at 0.01 and running three iterations we were able to generate reasonable and useful plots (see Figure 12 ) which could then be compared for effects on levels of homelessness.

Comparison of the affects of individual concepts on levels of homelessness (a) shows the impact of Addiction, Criminal Justice System, Cost of housing and Social Network on Homelessness (b) highlights the impact of Education, Family Breakdown, Government Assistance and Income on Homelessness and (c) depicts the impact of Mental Illness, NGO, Poverty and Childhood hardships.

Plots can be examined in pairs or groupings so that the effect of the concepts on levels of homelessness can be compared for both intensity and speed. For example, in comparing the plots for, “Addictions”, and, “Cost of Housing”, it can be seen that they both are monotonically increasing. However, the plot for “Addictions” demonstrates a more dramatic increase, resulting in a quicker convergence to +1 than does the plot for “Cost of Housing”. Therefore it can be concluded that addictions have a greater impact on homelessness than does cost of housing.

Another way to visually analyze the impact of various factors on homelessness is through box plota (see Figure 13 ). Making the same comparison, “Addictions” to “Cost of Housing”, it can be seen that the plot of “Addictions” has a narrower median and longer lower quantile. The size of the box determines the variability of concepts, for instance, the size of the box of “Cost of Housing” is greater than size of the box of “Addictions” indicating that the impact of housing cost is more variable and hence not a strong indicator [ 94 ].

Boxplot comparison of the affects of individual concepts on levels of homelessness.

Measure of centrality

Another approach to analyze the most influential factor is through measures of centrality . There are also other measurements for analyzing an FCM, but here we focus on this property. In this subsection, we describe the results of the analysis based on two types of centrality: degree centrality and closeness centrality. Degree centrality of each node/concept, in a given weighted and directed graph, is defined as the sum of the absolute values of the weights of the outgoing and incoming edges [ 8 , 95 ]. For the node, x , of the graph G =< V , E > the degree centrality is mathematically defined as:

where w xy and w yx are the weights of the edge from x to y and the edge from y to x , respectively. Degree centrality of a graph indicates how strongly a concept node in a FCM affects other concept nodes of the graph [ 96 ].

Closeness centrality of a node is the inverse of the sum of the lengths of the shortest paths between that node and all other nodes. For the node, x , of the graph G =< V , E >, the closeness centrality is mathematically defined as:

where d xy denotes the length of the shortest path from node x to node y . Closeness centrality indicates how quickly a concept node affects other nodes of the FCM [ 96 ].

Note : For closeness centrality the distance measured between each pair of nodes is the inverse of the weight of the corresponding edge in the FCM. If there is no edge between nodes then the distance from the one node to the second node would obviously be infinite. Since the FCM is not strongly connected, the length of the shortest path for some pairs of nodes is, in fact, infinite. This then causes the closeness centrality for that node to drop to zero. For example, the length of shortest path for each node to the node, “Cost of Housing”, is infinite. This makes the centrality of all nodes to be zero. To conquer this problem, we choose a numerical value which is large enough to be considered as an infinite value. Since the distance measure between each pair of nodes is defined as the inverse of the weight between the nodes of the FCM, the greatest distance between each two nodes would be 4. This value is corresponding to the edge between “poverty” and “addiction”, whose weight is 0.25. The FCM has 14 concepts, thus each path of the FCM will, at most, have 13 edges. Therefore, the length of each path will be at most 4×13=52, which is still an overestimation of the paths in the graph. Regarding this value, we picked 100 as an large enough value. This approach is similar to the Big-M method described in operation research theories [ 97 ]. Please note that changing 100 to a greater value, may change nodes’ closeness centrality, but the order of the nodes’ closeness centrality will not change.

The result of the degree and closeness centrality computation in our FCM is displayed in Table 8 . As shown, the concept “Education” has the greatest degree centrality while the concept “Cost of Housing” has the least. This means that “Education” gives and receives the greatest direct influence on all other concepts, whereas “Cost of Housing” gives and receives the least. Closeness centrality was determined to act similarly to degree centrality in that “Education” has the greatest amount of degree centrality whereas “Cost of Housing” has the least. This means that “Education” exerts the greatest force on the map in reference to closeness centrality with changes in “Education” resulting in the most prominent changes in the other concepts. Likewise, changes in “Cost of Housing” would result in the least amount of change in all other concepts. These results are consistent with the results of the overall experiment.

Degree centrality and closeness centrality of every concept

This study demonstrates the efficacy of using FCM to graphically represent and simulate the actions and interactions present in the social, personal, and structural factors related to homelessness. The FCM is particularly suited to modeling this type of problem due to its ability to incorporate vast amounts of information, synthesizing what is known about a problem and then allowing for meaningful simulations. The FCM is particularly suitable due to its dynamic nature and ability to simulate potential policy changes and show predicted outcomes on levels of homelessness. Further, the FCM helps to identify those factors that exert the greatest impact in a complex system, in this case: affordable/appropriate housing, access to social support services for those with addictions/mental illness, family support for those with children, positive community support and rental supplements.

The problem of homelessness is really situated in factors that occur at the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels of society; future research should aim to refine the FCM by sorting factors into their appropriate levels thereby allowing differentiation between what the individual is potentially capable of controlling and that which he or she is not. This would allow for clearer identification of where government policy changes would have the greatest effect. Future refinements must also capture the effect of time. Many factors affect the system differently as time progresses (i.e., unemployment insurance) and this would help to make the system more closely replicate reality. Future maps may also wish to include factors which affect the system but which did not make it into this one such as early brain injury in childhood, sexual/physical/emotional abuse in childhood, and learning disabilities - all of which have been shown to affect levels of homelessness.

The initial construction of this map demonstrated the disparity between the empirical truth of homelessness and what the researchers had learned over a lifetime of media and social propaganda. This has implications for government policy-making and, again, demonstrates the usefulness of FCMs for describing complex social problems such as homelessness.

The FCM built to model the complex social system of homelessness reasonably represented reality for the sample scenarios. This provided evidence that FCMs are a viable alternative for conceptualizing homelessness and that a literature search of peer reviewed, academic literature is a reasonable foundation upon which to build the model. Further, it was determined that the direction and strength of relationship between concepts included in this map are a reasonable approximation of their action in reality. However, the concept, homelessness , in this study, is used as a consequent variable. In reality, many of the concepts including homelessness concept could be an antecedent concept resulting in more complex loops. The flexibility of limiting the complexity is one of the advantages of constructing and using FCMs for social science research.

Dynamic modeling does, however, have it’s limitations and this work should be regarded as purely exploratory. For one, by basing our concepts off of peer reviewed literature that was searched semi-systematically there is a possibility of not capturing all possible terms. Future work should search for papers and terms in a similar fashion as systematic or scoping reviews where inclusion and exclusion criteria are highly scrutinized and analyzed by several research team members. A second limitation concerns the interpretation of the results from the FCM. FCMs, and dynamic models more broadly, have the luxury of experimenting with problems in an environment that is encapsulated from the real-world. It should be noted that every societal issue carries with it its own contextual element that cannot always be captured by a modeling environment. Further, FCMs do not fully replicate the mirco-level interactions that may prove to be powerful in determining meso- and macro-level outcomes. Future work should aim to incorporate these influences in to their models and interpretations as best possible. Lastly, dynamic models are exploratory and we can not reasonably assume that outcomes presented in this research will be realized in the real world.

This research provides empirical support for the usefulness of this model, not only for researchers and social scientists, but for others who reside within a society where homelessness is experienced. This model is based on a limited collection of published, peer reviewed scholarly articles but despite this limitation, does justify the use of FCM techniques as a useful tool to analyze the complex situation of homelessness. The role of FCM for the purpose of modelling complex social systems has been strongly supported by this research and should continue to be utilized in future studies.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Authors’ contributions

VKM and VD conceived the idea and formulated mathematical model. TW, SN, PG, RC and VKM implemented the computational model. HKM, CF wrote the paper along with VKM. All authors critically analyzed the simulations, reviewed the manuscript, read and approved the final version.

Pre-publication history

The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here:

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6947/13/94/prepub

Contributor Information

Vijay K Mago, Email: [email protected].

Hilary K Morden, Email: [email protected].

Charles Fritz, Email: [email protected].

Tiankuang Wu, Email: [email protected].

Sara Namazi, Email: [email protected].

Parastoo Geranmayeh, Email: [email protected].

Rakhi Chattopadhyay, Email: [email protected].

Vahid Dabbaghian, Email: [email protected].

Acknowledgements

Initial work on this research project was conducted during the IRMACS Modelling Summer School. This research was supported by the SFU CTEF MoCSSy program. We are also grateful for technical support from the IRMACS Centre, Simon Fraser University, BC.

• Strand R. Helping the homeless: the struggle between community values and political ideologies. Master’s thesis, Athabasca University; Athabasca, Alberta, 2003.
• International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, NY USA [ http://www.escr-net.org/docs/i/1186570 ]
• Ruggie J. Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development. 2008. [ http://www.refworld.org/docid/49a5223b2.html ]
• Metro Vancouver homeless count 2011 preliminary report. 2011. [ http://stophomelessness.ca ]
• Shelton KH, Taylor PJ, Bonner A, van den Bree M. Risk factors for homelessness: evidence from a population-based study. Psychiatr Serv. 2009;60(4):465. doi: 10.1176/ps.2009.60.4.465. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Giles BG, Findlay CS, Haas G, LaFrance B, Laughing W, Pembleton S. Integrating conventional science and aboriginal perspectives on diabetes using fuzzy cognitive maps. Soc Sci Med. 2007;64(3):562–576. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.09.007. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Dickerson J, Kosko B. Virtual worlds as fuzzy cognitive maps. Presence. 1994;3(2):173–189. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kosko B. Fuzzy cognitive maps. Int J Man-Mach Stud. 1986;24:65–75. [ Google Scholar ]
• Sivanandam S, Sumathi S, Deepa S. Introduction fuzzy logic using MATLAB. New York, USA: Springer Verlag; 2007. [ Google Scholar ]
• Barber K. The Canadian Oxford Dictionary. Canada: Oxford University Press; 1998. [ Google Scholar ]
• Greenberg GA, Rosenheck RA. Jail incarceration, homelessness, and mental health: a national study. Psychiatr Serv. 2008;59(2):170–177. doi: 10.1176/ps.2008.59.2.170. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Baldry E, McDonnell D, Maplestone P, Peeters M. Ex-prisoners, homelessness and the state in Australia. Aust N Z J Criminol. 2006;39:20–33. [ Google Scholar ]
• Rosenheck R, Greenberg G. Mental health correlates of past homelessness in the national comorbidity study replication. J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2010;21(4):1234–1249. doi: 10.1353/hpu.2010.0926. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• DeFina R, Hannon L. The impact of mass incarceration on poverty. Crime Delinquency. 2009;59(4):138S–159S. [ Google Scholar ]
• Johnson R. Ever-increasing levels of parental incarceration and the consequences for children. NY: Russell Sage Foundation; 2009. 177–206. [ Google Scholar ]
• Oliver P, Sandefur G, Jakubowski J, Yocom JE. The effect of black male imprisonment on black child poverty. Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison. (2006) [Unpublished manuscript] [ http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.150.8586 ]
• Western B. Mass imprisonment and economic inequality. Soc Res: Int Q. 2007;74(2):509–532. [ Google Scholar ]
• Western B, Pettit B. Incarceration & social inequality. Daedalus. 2010;139(3):8–19. doi: 10.1162/daed_a_00019. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Freeman R. Can we close the revolving door? Recidivism vs. employment of ex-offenders in the US. Urban Institute Roundtable: Employment Dimension sof Prisoner Reentry and Work: Understanding the Nexus Between Prisoner Reentry and Work. 2003. New York University Law School. [ http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/410857_freeman.pdf ]
• Chui W. Pains of imprisonment: narratives of the women partners and children of the incarcerated. Child Fam Soc Work. 2010;15(2):196–205. [ Google Scholar ]
• Wong SK. Reciprocal effects of family disruption and crime: a panel study of canadian municipalities. West Criminol Rev. 2011;12:43–63. [ Google Scholar ]
• van Laere IR, de Wit MA, Klazinga NS. Pathways into homelessness: recently homeless adults problems and service use before and after becoming homeless in Amsterdam. BMC Public Health. 2009;9(1):3. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-9-3. Publisher: BioMed Central Ltd. [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Benzies K, Rutherford G, Walsh CA, Nelson A, Rook J. Homeless shelter residents: Who are they and what are their needs within a context of rapid economic growth? Currents: New Scholarship Hum Serv. 2010;7:1–18. [ Google Scholar ]
• Waters J, Roberts A, Morgen K. High risk pregnancies: Teenagers, poverty, and drug abuse. J Drug Issues. 1997;27(3):541–562. [ Google Scholar ]
• Yankauer A. The deadliest plague. Am J Pub Health. 1989;79(7):821–822. doi: 10.2105/ajph.79.7.821. [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Buu A, Mansour M, Wang J, Refior SK, Fitzgerald HE, Zucker RA. Alcoholism effects on social migration and neighborhood effects on alcoholism over the course of 12 years. Alcohol, Clin Exp Res. 2007;31(9):1545–1551. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2007.00449.x. [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hamilton AB, Poza I, Washington DL. Homelessness and trauma go hand-in-hand: pathways to homelessness among women veterans. Women’s Health Issues: Official Publication Jacobs Inst Women’s Health. 2011;21(4 Suppl):S203–209. doi: 10.1016/j.whi.2011.04.005. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Shinn M, Gottlieb J, Wett JL, Bahl A, Cohen A, Baron Ellis D. Predictors of homelessness among older adults in New York City. J Heal Psychol. 2007;12(5):696–708. doi: 10.1177/1359105307080581. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gray D, McDonald T. Does the Sophistication of use of unemployment insurance evolve with experience? Can J Econ. 2012;45(3):1220–1245. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lalive R, Van Ours J, Zweimuller J. How changes in financial incentives affect the duration of unemployment. Rev Econ Stud. 2006;73(4):1009–1038. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lemieux T, Milligan KS. Incentive effects of social assistance: A regression discontinuity approach. USA: National Bureau of Economic Research Cambridge, Mass; 2004. [ Google Scholar ]
• Higgitt N, Wingert S, Ristock J. Voices from the margins: experiences of street-involved youth in Winnipeg. University of Winnipeg; Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: ; 2003. [ http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/faculty/ius/{iusweb}_backup/pdf/Street-kidsReportfinalSeptember903.pdf] [ Google Scholar ]
• Thomas BJ. A qualitative study of socioeconomic status, post-secondary education plans, and educational aspirations of students from a michigan public school. Soc Today. 2011,. 9. [ http://www.ncsociology.org/sociationtoday/v91/education.htm ]
• Clarke M, Feeny S. Education for the end of poverty: implementing all the Millennium Development Goals. New York: Nova Science Publication Inc; 2007. [ Google Scholar ]
• Khan H, Williams JB. Poverty alleviation through access to education: Can E-learning deliver? 2006. [Working paper series. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? {abstract}_id=1606102]
• Riddell WC, Song X. The impact of education on unemployment incidence and re-employment success: Evidence from the U.S. labour market. Labour Econo. 2011;18(4):453–463. [ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537111000054 ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Johnson RW. Rising senior unemployment and the need to work at older ages. Tech. rep. 2009.
• Lauer C. Education and unemployment: A French-German comparison. Washington: ZEW Discussion Paper; 2003. [ http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/411964_{senior}_unemployment.pdf ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Shifren JL, Monz BU, Russo PA, Segreti A, Johannes CB. Sexual problems and distress in United States women: prevalence and correlates. Obstet Gynecol. 2008;112(5):970. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0b013e3181898cdb. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Jamison E, Jamison D, Hanushek E. The effects of education quality on mortality decline and income growth. Econ Educ Rev. 2007;26(6):772–789. [ Google Scholar ]
• Woodford M, Mammen S. Escaping poverty: rural low-income mothers’ opportunity to pursue post-secondary education. Career Tech Educ Res. 2010;35(2):81–102. [ Google Scholar ]
• Sullivan JX, Turner L, Danziger S. The relationship between income and material hardship. J Policy Anal Manag. 2008;27:63–81. [ Google Scholar ]
• McNaughton CC. Transitions through homelessness, substance use, and the effect of material marginalization and psychological trauma. Drugs: Educ Prev Policy. 2008;15(2):177–188. [ Google Scholar ]
• Early DW. An empirical investigation of the determinants of street homelessness. J Housing Econ. 2005;14:27–47. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kushel MB, Hahn JA, Evans JL, Bangsberg DR, Moss AR. Revolving doors: imprisonment among the homeless and marginally housed population. Am J Pub Health. 2005;95(10):1747. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2005.065094. [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Conklin TJ, Lincoln T, Tuthill RW. Self-reported health and prior health behaviors of newly admitted correctional inmates. Am J Pub Health. 2000;90(12):1939–1941. doi: 10.2105/ajph.90.12.1939. [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Moore TH, Zammit S, Lingford-Hughes A, Barnes TR, Jones PB, Burke M, Lewis G. Cannabis use and risk of psychotic or affective mental health outcomes: a systematic review. The Lancet. 2007;370(9584):319–328. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61162-3. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• D’Souza D, Perry E, MacDougall L, Ammerman Y, Cooper T, Wu Y, Braley G, Gueorguieva R, Krystal J. et al. The psychotomimetic effects of intravenous delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in healthy individuals: implications for psychosis. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2004;29(8):1558–1572. doi: 10.1038/sj.npp.1300496. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cleary M, Hunt G, Matheson S, Siegfried N, Walter G. Psychosocial interventions for people with both severe mental illness and substance misuse. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008. (1): CD001088. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ]
• Mallett S, Rosenthal D, Keys D. Young people, drug use and family conflict: Pathways into homelessness. J Adolescence. 2005;28(2):185–199. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2005.02.002. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Schafer G. Family functioning in families with alcohol and other drug addiction. Soc Policy J N Z. 2011;37:1–17. [ Google Scholar ]
• Booth RE, Crowley TJ, Zhang Y. Substance abuse treatment entry, retention and effectiveness: out-of-treatment opiate injection drug users. Drug Alcohol Dependence. 1996;42:11–20. doi: 10.1016/0376-8716(96)01257-4. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Weisner C, Matzger H, Kaskutas LA. How important is treatment? One-year outcomes of treated and untreated alcohol-dependent individuals. Addiction. 2003;98(7):901–911. doi: 10.1046/j.1360-0443.2003.00438.x. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Fiorentine R, Anglin MD. More is better: Counseling participation and the effectiveness of outpatient drug treatment∗ 1. J Subst Abuse Treat. 1996;13(4):341–348. doi: 10.1016/s0740-5472(96)00109-2. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hahn RA, Kleist DM. Divorce mediation: Research and implications for family and couples counseling. Fam J. 2000;8(2):165–171. [ Google Scholar ]
• Carr A. Evidence-based practice in family therapy and systemic consultation. J Fam Ther. 2000;22:29–60. [ Google Scholar ]
• Carr A. The effectiveness of family therapy and systemic interventions for adult-focused problems. J Fam Ther. 2009;31:46–74. [ Google Scholar ]
• Landau J, Garrett J. Neurobiology and Addiction: Assisting the Family and Support System to Get Resistant Loved Ones into Treatment. Washington: American Family Therapy Academy, Inc.; 2008. 29–37. [ Google Scholar ]
• Zorza J. Woman battering: A major cause of homelessness. Clgh Rev. 1991;25:421. [ Google Scholar ]
• Neale J. Homelessness amongst drug users: A double jeopardy explored. Int J Drug Policy. 2001;12(4):353–369. [ Google Scholar ]
• Yoder KA, Whitbeck LB, Hoyt DR. Event history analysis of antecedents to running away from home and being on the street. Am Behav Sci. 2001;45:51–65. [ Google Scholar ]
• Alvi S, Scott H, Stanyon W. We are locking the door: family histories in a sample of homeless Youth. Qual Rep. 2010;15(5):1209–1226. [ Google Scholar ]
• Tyler KA. A qualitative study of early family histories and transitions of homeless youth. J Interpers Violence. 2006;21(10):1385–1393. doi: 10.1177/0886260506291650. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• McNiel DE, Binder RL, Robinson JC. Incarceration associated with homelessness, mental disorder, and co-occurring substance abuse. Psychiatr Serv. 2005;56(7):840–846. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.56.7.840. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Fertig AR, Reingold D. The characteristics and causes of homelessness among at risk families with children in twenty american cities. Soc Serv Rev. 2008;82(3):485–510. [ Google Scholar ]
• Dixon L, McNary S, Lehman AF. Remission of substance use disorder among psychiatric inpatients with mental illness. Am J Psychiatry. 1998;155(2):239–243. doi: 10.1176/ajp.155.2.239. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wesley-Esquimaux CC, Snowball A. Viewing violence, mental illness and addiction through a wise practices lens. Int J Mental Health Addict. 2010;8(2):390–407. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kessler RC, Walters EE, Forthofer MS. The social consequences of psychiatric disorders, III: probability of marital stability. Am J Psychiatry. 1998;155(8):1092–1096. doi: 10.1176/ajp.155.8.1092. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Frank RG, Gertler P. Mental health and marital stability. Int J Law Psychiatry. 1991;14(4):377–386. doi: 10.1016/0160-2527(91)90016-g. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Callan S, Baggaley M, Bolton D, Farmer P, Fonagy P, Frank I, Gill M, Gray R, Leach P, McAttram M, Thompson C. Mental Health: Poverty, ethnicity, and family breakdown. The Centre for Social Justice, UK, 2011. [ http://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/UserStorage/pdf/Pdf\%20reports/MentalHealthInterimReport.pdf ]
• Marshall E, Stralow A. Responding to the health and well-being needs of homeless and marginalised young people in NSW: where are we going? Parity. 2009;22(9):29–30. [ Google Scholar ]
• Khan F, Pieterse E. The homeless people’s alliance: purposive creation and ambiguated realities. Voices Protest: Soc Movements Post-Apartheid South Afr. 2006. pp. 155–178.
• Brown KA, Keast RL, Waterhouse JM, Murphy GD. European Group of Public Administration Conference, Malta; 2009. Social innovation to solve homelessness : wicked solutions for wicked problems. [ http://eprints.qut.edu.au/29936/ ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Walker-Dalhouse D, Risko VJ. Homelessness, poverty, and children’s literacy development. Reading Teach. 2008;62:84–86. [ Google Scholar ]
• Occidental College, Los Angles, California. [ http://oxy.dev.guidance.com/sites/default/files/assets/UEP/Comps/2011/Chloe\%20{Lee}_ABCs\%20to\%20Improve\ %20Homeless\%20Education.pdf ]
• Friedman D. Social impact of poor housing. London: Ecotec for the National Housing Federation; 2010. [ Google Scholar ]
• Burt MR, Aron LY, Valente J. Helping America’s homeless: Emergency shelter or affordable housing? Washington, DC: The Urban Institute Press; 2001. [ Google Scholar ]
• Zlotnick C, Robertson MJ, Lahiff M. Getting off the streets: Economic resources and residential exits from homelessness. J Commun Psychol. 1999;27(2):209–224. [ Google Scholar ]
• Shinn M, Baumohl J, Hopper K. The prevention of homelessness revisited. Anal Soc Issues Pub Policy. 2001;1:95–127. [ Google Scholar ]
• Quigley JM, Raphael S, Smolensky E. Homeless in America, homeless in California. Rev Econ Stat. 2001;83:37–51. [ Google Scholar ]
• Crane M, Byrne K, Fu R, Lipmann B, Mirabelli F, Rota-Bartelink A, Ryan M, Shea R, Watt H, Warnes AM. The causes of homelessness in later life: findings from a 3-nation study. J Gerontology Series B: Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2005;60(3):S152–S159. doi: 10.1093/geronb/60.3.s152. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hardesty M, Black T. Mothering through addiction: a survival strategy among Puerto Rican addicts. Qual Health Res. 1999;9(5):602–619. doi: 10.1177/104973299129122117. [ DOI ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Beiser M, Hou F, Hyman I, Tousignant M. Poverty, family process, and the mental health of immigrant children in Canada. Am J Pub Health. 2002;92(2):220–227. doi: 10.2105/ajph.92.2.220. [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Zinn M. Family, race, and poverty in the eighties. Signs. 1989;14(4):856–874. [ Google Scholar ]
• Faez F, Ghodsypour S, Brien CO. Vendor selection and order allocation using an integrated fuzzy case-based reasoning and mathematical programming model. Int J Prod Econ. 2009;121(2):395–408. [ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925527307000679 ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ross TJ. Fuzzy logic with engineering applications. Chennai, India: Wiley Online Library; 1995. [ Google Scholar ]
• Mago V, Mehta R, Woolrych R, Papageorgiou E. Supporting meningitis diagnosis amongst infants and children through the use of fuzzy cognitive mapping. BMC Med Inf Decis Making. 2012;12:98. doi: 10.1186/1472-6947-12-98. [ DOI ] [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Mago VK, Bakker L, Papageorgiou EI, Alimadad A, Borwein P, Dabbaghian V. Fuzzy cognitive maps and cellular automata: An evolutionary approach for social systems modelling. Appl Soft Comput. 2012;12(12):3771–3784. [ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568494612001081 ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Giabbanelli PJ, Torsney-Weir T, Mago VK. A fuzzy cognitive map of the psychosocial determinants of obesity. Appl Soft Comput. 2012;12(12):3711–3724. [ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568494612000634 ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Pratt S, Giabbanelli P, Jackson P, Mago V. Intelligence and Security Informatics (ISI), 2012 IEEE International Conference on. Arlington, VA: IEEE; 2012. Rebel with many causes: A computational model of insurgency; pp. 90–95. [ Google Scholar ]
• Tsadiras AK. Comparing the inference capabilities of binary, trivalent and sigmoid fuzzy cognitive maps. Inf Sci. 2008;178(20):3880–3894. [ Google Scholar ]
• MathWorks. Vectorization. 2012. [ http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/{matlab}_prog/vectorization.html ]
• Seddon T. Youth, heroin, crack: a review of recent British trends. Health Educ. 2008;108(3):237–246. [ Google Scholar ]
• Norman G, Streiner D. Biostatistics: the bare essentials. Shelton, Connecticut, USA: People’s Medical Publishing House; 2007. [ Google Scholar ]
• Ozesmi U, Ozesmi S. Ecological models based on people’s knowledge: a multi-step fuzzy cognitive mapping approach. Ecol Model. 2004;176(1-2):43–64. [ Google Scholar ]
• Obiedat M, Samarasinghea S, Strickert G. 19th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation 2011. Perth: Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand; 2011. A New Method for Identifying the Central Nodes in Fuzzy Cognitive Maps using Consensus Centrality Measure; pp. 1084–1091. [ Google Scholar ]
• Bronson R, Naadimuthu G. Schaum’s outline of theory and problems of operations research. New York: Schaum’s Outline Series; McGraw-Hill; 1997. [ Google Scholar ]
• View on publisher site
• PDF (1.7 MB)
• Collections

Similar articles

Cited by other articles, links to ncbi databases.

• Download .nbib .nbib
• Format: AMA APA MLA NLM

Add to Collections