There have always been homeless people in the United States, but their plight has only recently stirred widespread public reaction and concern. Part of this new recognition stems from the problem's prevalence: the number of homeless individuals, while hard to pin down exactly, is rising. In light of this, Congress asked the Institute of Medicine to find out whether existing health care programs were ignoring the homeless or delivering care to them inefficiently. This book is the report prepared by a committee of experts who examined these problems through visits to city slums and impoverished rural areas, and through an analysis of papers written by leading scholars in the field.

This book deals with the rural homeless, about whom little is known. Offered here are some important insights into the unique problems facing the homeless in rural areas: this population lacks adequate housing, many live below the poverty level, many lack basic services such as health care, families are typically female headed, substance abuse is a major problem, and many of the rural homeless have emotional disabilities. The finding that was unexpected is the history of family violence that most of the rural homeless have experienced throughout both childhood and adulthood. More than 50 percent of the case records analyzed in this study show a history of family violence, from murder to sexual abuse. The data suggest that these rates of family violence are much higher than those reported for the urban homeless. First published in 2006. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Drawing on recent academic studies in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, this book is the first international text on homelessness in rural areas. Consisting of fifteen specially commissioned chapters, International Perspectives on Rural Homelessness provides comparative material on the cultural, political and policy contexts of rural homelessness, examining the nature and scale of the issue and the complex local geographies of rural homelessness.

Because they're small, they're easy to overlook. Because their voices don't carry far, it's hard to hear them. We'd rather not look too closely or listen too carefully. And if we don't see them, maybe they'll just go away. But the invisible homeless cannot simply fly away to never-never land, or pull themselves up by their bootstraps, or make a wish upon a star. These homeless people are children, and they are not always in the inner cities, as Yvonne Vissing shows in this poignant study of families, housing, and poverty. As many as a third of our nation's homeless are found in rural and small-town America. They are all too commonly out of sight-and out of mind. Homelessness in small towns and rural areas is on the rise. Drawing on interviews with and case studies of three hundred children and their families, with supporting statistics from federal, state, and private agencies, Vissing illustrates the impact this social problem has upon education, health, and the economy. Families vividly describe the ways they have fallen through cracks in the social structure, from home ownership into homelessness. Looking toward the future, Vissing asks if homeless children are destined to become dysfunctional adults and provides a sixteen-year-old girl's moving testimony of the vagabond life her homeless family led. While the economy and the very nature of the family have changed over past decades, housing, education, and human service industries have failed to adapt. Vissing provides a planning model for improving support networks within communities and challenges Americans with a fundamental philosophical question: Do homeless children merit fullscale social intervention? Ultimately, Out of Sight, Out of Mind compels us not merely to voice concerns for family and community values, but also to assert this commitment consciously through improved essential services.

America's rural areas have always held a disproportionate share of the nation's poorest populations. Rural Poverty in the United States examines why. What is it about the geography, demography, and history of rural communities that keeps them poor? In a comprehensive analysis that extends from the Civil War to the present, Rural Poverty in the United States looks at access to human and social capital; food security; healthcare and the environment; homelessness; gender roles and relations; racial inequalities; and immigration trends to isolate the underlying causes of persistent rural poverty. Contributors to this volume incorporate approaches from multiple disciplines, including sociology, economics, demography, race and gender studies, public health, education, criminal justice, social welfare, and other social science fields. They take a hard look at current and past programs to alleviate rural poverty and use their failures to suggest alternatives that could improve the well-being of rural Americans for years to come. These essays work hard to define rural poverty's specific metrics and markers, a critical step for building better policy and practice. Considering gender, race, and immigration, the book appreciates the overlooked structural and institutional dimensions of ongoing rural poverty and its larger social consequences.

Chronic homelessness is a highly complex social problem of national importance. The problem has elicited a variety of societal and public policy responses over the years, concomitant with fluctuations in the economy and changes in the demographics of and attitudes toward poor and disenfranchised citizens. In recent decades, federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, and the philanthropic community have worked hard to develop and implement programs to solve the challenges of homelessness, and progress has been made. However, much more remains to be done. Importantly, the results of various efforts, and especially the efforts to reduce homelessness among veterans in recent years, have shown that the problem of homelessness can be successfully addressed. Although a number of programs have been developed to meet the needs of persons experiencing homelessness, this report focuses on one particular type of intervention: permanent supportive housing (PSH). Permanent Supportive Housing focuses on the impact of PSH on health care outcomes and its cost-effectiveness. The report also addresses policy and program barriers that affect the ability to bring the PSH and other housing models to scale to address housing and health care needs.

Rural poverty encompasses a distinctive deprivation in quality of life related to a lack of educational support and resources as well as unique issues related to geographical, cultural, community, and social isolation. While there have been many studies and accommodations made for the impoverished in urban environments, those impoverished in rural settings have been largely overlooked and passed over by current policy. The Handbook of Research on Leadership and Advocacy for Children and Families in Rural Poverty is an essential scholarly publication that creates awareness and promotes action for the advocacy of children and families in rural poverty and recommends interdisciplinary approaches to support the cognitive, social, and emotional needs of children and families in poverty. Featuring a wide range of topics such as mental health, foster care, and public policy, this book is ideal for academicians, counselors, social workers, mental health professionals, early childhood specialists, school psychologists, administrators, policymakers, researchers, and students.