Rural Homelessness

Rural Homelessness
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Abstract
Homelessness has been a thorny issue in the US over the last few decades. A homeless person can be defined as one who does not have a primary housing structure, or more precisely, as an individual whose sole residence for a night is a supervised public or private shelter. As such, most homeless individuals reside and depend on transitional housing. Therefore, homeless persons live in the streets, abandoned building or vehicle, and even under trees. As of June 2016, it was approximated that about 565, 000 Americans are homeless; and about 14.9% are estimated to be experiencing chronic homelessness. Further, these statistics elude that 8% of the homeless population constitutes of Veterans. On a general view, these statistics elude that there are more homeless men than women, and, the percentage of homeless persons aged 18 years and below sums up to 58%. Indeed, this is a worrying state of affairs. Therefore, this paper seeks to identify the factors that influence homelessness, the extent of rural homelessness, effects of homelessness, and how homeless individuals strive to cope up with this condition.
Key Words: Homelessness, Rural homelessness, housing.
Thesis Statement
Homelessness has been identified to be the leading problem in micro and mezzo social work. This paper will look into the struggles of homeless persons in rural areas, family relations between non-homeless and homeless relatives, and the various risk factors for different subpopulations.

Hence, with this understanding, social work professionals can come up with well-tailored techniques and evidence-based practices to end rather than mitigate the issue of homelessness.
Chang, F. H., Helfrich, C. A., Coster, W. J., & Rogers, E. S. (2015). Factors associated with community participation among individuals who have experienced homelessness. International journal of environmental research and public health, 12(9), 11364-11378.
This article seeks to identify the effects of homelessness on community participation for individuals who have been chronically homeless. This article informs my research since; the authors identify the cognitive and mobility challenges are experienced among individuals who are supported by housing programs (n=120), hence, limiting their community participation and productivity.
Henwood, B., Wenzel, S. L., Mangano, P. F., Hombs, M., Padgett, D. K., Byrne, T., … & Uretsky, M. C. (2015). The grand challenge of ending homelessness
Henwood and colleagues advance this research as a wake-up call for social work professionals to work towards ending the problem of homelessness, rather than manage it. In their research posting, they highlight the cost of homelessness and further suggest evidence-based and well-tailored techniques to tackle homelessness in subpopulations such as chronically homeless disabled adults, youths, veterans, and single young adults.
Jackson, A., & Shannon, L. (2014). Examining social support in a rural homeless population. Journal of Rural Social Sciences, 29(1), 48.
In this article, the authors utilize a sample of 96 rural homeless participants that have experienced substance abuse or mental illness and hence assess the influence of both social and self-support in promoting resilience in the rural homeless population. This article informs my research since it identifies both the micro and macro determinants of rural homelessness.
Morton, M. H., Dworsky, A., Matjasko, J. L., Curry, S. R., Schlueter, D., Chávez, R., & Farrell, A. F. (2018). Prevalence and correlates of youth homelessness in the United States. Journal of Adolescent Health, 62(1), 14-21.
This article offers a specific review on the extent of unaccompanied homelessness among the youth. In their phone-based survey, Morton and colleagues identify the various types of youth homelessness. I chose to include this article in my research since provides strategies to prevent youth homelessness as well as provide an insight into the disproportionate risks in certain sub-populations-LGBT populations.
Trella, D. L., & Hilton, T. P. (2014). †œThey can only do so much: †Use of family while coping with rural homelessness. Contemporary Rural Social Work, 6, 16-39.
In this article, the authors endeavor into finding out the struggles that homeless individuals residing in rural areas go through in their bid to survive amidst scarce resources/services and harsh environmental conditions. I chose to include this article in my research since it highlights the complex family relationship between homeless individuals and their non-homeless relatives.
Tsai, J., & Rosenheck, R. A. (2015). Risk factors for homelessness among US veterans. Epidemiologic reviews, 37(1), 177-195.
This article presents a systemic review of 31-published studies on the factors that enhance homelessness among the Veteran subpopulation. The authors identify the most affluent risk factors to be substance abuse and mental disabilities. Furthermore, these research identifies how the two primary risk factors alongside low income may inform policymakers in designing accurate programs to mitigate and end homelessness among veterans.
References.
Chang, F. H., Helfrich, C. A., Coster, W. J., & Rogers, E. S. (2015). Factors associated with community participation among individuals who have experienced homelessness. Retrieved from: http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/9/11364/htm. International journal of environmental research and public health, 12(9), 11364-11378.
Henwood, B., Wenzel, S. L., Mangano, P. F., Hombs, M., Padgett, D. K., Byrne, T., … & Uretsky, M. C. (2015). The grand challenge of ending homelessness. Retrieved from: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1136&context=socwork_fac
Jackson, A., & Shannon, L. (2014). Examining social support in a rural homeless population. Journal of Rural Social Sciences, 29(1), 48. Retrieved from: http://journalofruralsocialsciences.org/pages/Articles/JRSS%202014%2029/1/JRSS%202014%2029%201%2048-74.pdf
Morton, M. H., Dworsky, A., Matjasko, J. L., Curry, S. R., Schlueter, D., Chávez, R., & Farrell, A. F. (2018). Prevalence and correlates of youth homelessness in the United States. Journal of Adolescent Health, 62(1), 14-21. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X17305037
Trella, D. L., & Hilton, T. P. (2014). †œThey can only do so much: †Use of family while coping with rural homelessness. Contemporary Rural Social Work, 6, 16-39.
Tsai, J., & Rosenheck, R. A. (2015). Risk factors for homelessness among US veterans. Epidemiologic reviews, 37(1), 177-195. Retrieved from: https://academic.oup.com/epirev/article/37/1/177/412707