Did Homelessness Start in 1982?
Homelessness – or a lack of a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence – has of course existed for a very long time. Thinking just about the United States, in the 19th century tens of thousands of people experienced homelessness as cities (and the country itself) rapidly grew and urbanized. The word “hobo”, for example, originated in the 1890s in the Pacific Northwest as a term for homeless migratory workers. In the 1930s, hundreds of thousands of people became homeless during the Great Depression, with many people ending up in “Hoovervilles” (essentially homeless encampments).
The homelessness that we see today is clearly not the result of a rapidly urbanizing country, and it’s not really the result of a specific economic downturn (though that’s much closer). No, “modern” homelessness really began in the early 1980s as the consequence of multiple economic, political, and social changes in our country.
#1 The federal government dramatically slashed funding for affordable housing.
#2 Federal and state governments dramatically slashed funding for mental health beds.
#3 Real wages began stagnating. (The minimum wage today supplies about 50% or less of the buying power it did in the early 1980s)
#4 Major social safety net gaps left thousands of Vietnam Veterans without support.
For an excellent video highlighting the history of homelessness in the Bay Area, you can click here or on the picture below to watch a video from CBS news:
The Takeaways:
1. Homelessness is an extreme manifestation of poverty. As our systems for alleviating poverty are cut back, homelessness gets worse.
2. Public policy plays a critical role.
3. Local communities have had a very difficult time mobilizing an effective response to a problem that was once somewhat effectively prevented at a national level.