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In addition to identifying the characteristics of the homeless, much of the research has focused on the causes that resulted in the increase in the size and composition of the homeless population. Most of the research on homelessness identifies three main causal factors: a shift in the economy; the lack of affordable housing, such as the destruction of single-room occupancy (SRO) units through urban renewal efforts; and the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill. There remains serious debate over which of these is most significant, but there is substantial evidence to suggest they all play a part in the problem.

First, Blau (1993) attempts to explain the causes of homelessness from an economic perspective in his book The Visible Poor. This analysis  incorporates not only a relevant discussion of the shift to a service-oriented economy, which resulted in the decline of well- paying job opportunities for the poor, but also how this current trend has been occurring since the post-World War II era. Blau argues that, while moving production operations overseas helps the corporation's bottom line, it has a devastating impact on its workers. For many employees whose plants closed, it is a short step to living in a shelter or living on the streets. Exacerbating all of this was the social deregulation that took place in the 1980s during the Reagan administration, whereby many of the programs designed to help the poor--such as food stamps, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, and others--were eliminated, scaled back, or witnessed drastic changes in criteria. This affected the eligibility of hundreds of thousands of people.

Second, the lack of affordable housing influences homelessness. In his analysis of the problem in Chicago, Rossi (1989) concluded that the decline in SROs and other forms of inexpensive housing forced many poor Chicago residents to either spend a very large proportion of their income on housing, which perpetuates their impoverished status, or to resort to the shelters or the street. He goes on to argue that a major factor in explaining the decline of SRO housing units is the shrinkage of the casual labor market in many urban economies in the 1960s and 1970s.

Another significant event used to explain the rise of homelessness has been the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill. Recall that about a third of today's homeless suffer from some type of diagnosed mental disorder. Deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill is a causal factor in the growth of the homeless population. Jencks argues that deinstitutionalization was not a single policy but a series of them, all of which tried to reduce the number of hospitalized patients and accomplished this by moving patients to different places. He argues that the policies implemented before 1975 worked; the ones after that did not (Jencks 1995).

Prior to 1975, a number of programs and events took place that led to the release of many formerly institutionalized patients. These changes imply a recognition on the part of the psychiatric community that hospitalization was a counterproductive measure.

This resulted in the release of any patient who could be cared for as an outpatient, and, if a patient was hospitalized, he or she was to be released as soon as possible. The second event was the development of drugs to treat schizophrenia, specifically thorazine. These drugs made it much easier to treat patients outside the institution (Jencks 1995).

The third event was the creation of several federally funded programs that  gave patients the economic resources to survive as outpatients, specifically Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Medicaid paid for outpatient treatment but not hospitalization, and SSI was available for those who were incapable of holding a job be- cause of a physical or mental disability. These programs led to the release of many people suffering from mental disorders but provided them with a means by which to continue their treatment and to maintain their economic viability without being hospitalized.

After 1975, many politicians pressured state hospitals to reduce their budgets due to an overall concern about rising taxes. As a result, most hospitals closed their psychiatric wards and discharged the remaining chronic patients. States compounded the problem by cutting their benefits to the mentally ill. The result of these decisions meant that more people suffering from serious emotional disorders were released into communities around the country (Jencks 1995).

In recent times, despite the considerable effort that has gone into eliminating homelessness as well as trying to address its chronic nature and intractable structural obstacles, the public's perception of the problem has changed. What was once sympathy for the plight of the homeless has, over time, transformed itself into a form of apathy. Evidence of this frustration comes in the form of city ordinances and efforts to make many of the behaviors of homeless people illegal. This general trend is often referred to as the criminalization of homelessness. Examples include aggressive enforcement of panhandling, loitering, and public intoxication statutes. Other  legislation, as noted in Orlando, Florida, and Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2007, focused on prohibiting volunteers from feeding the homeless (Komp 2007). In all, the criminalization effort attempts to remove the homeless from the streets of U.S. cities by incarcerating or forcing the home- less to another community. However, such efforts are limited in their effectiveness and only serve as a stop-gap measure in dealing with the problem.

References:

Arumi, A. M., A. L. Yarrow, A. Ott, and J. Rochkind, Compassion, Concern and Conflicted Feelings: New Yorkers on Homelessness and Housing. Washington DC: Public Agenda, 2009. http://publicagenda.org/reports/compassion-concern-and-conflicted-feelings

Blau, J., The Visible Poor. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.

Burton, C., and K. James,. "Homelessness and Veterans: Untangling the Connection." In Homelessness in America, Vol. 1, ed. R. H. McNamara. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008.

Cunningham, M. K., A National Commitment to Ending Homelessness among Veterans. Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2009. http://www.urban.org/publications/901263.html

Cunningham, M. K., and M. Henry, "Measuring Progress and Tracking Trends in Homelessness." In Homelessness in America, Vol. 1, ed. R. H. McNamara. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008.

Cunningham, M. K., S. McDonald, and N. Suchar, "Promising Strategies To End Homelessness." In Homelessness in America, Vol. 3, ed. R. H. McNamara. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008.

Foscarinis, M. "The Evolution of Homelessness: Trends and Future Directions." In Homelessness in America, Vol. 3, ed. R. H. McNamara. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008.

Hombs, Mary Ellen and Mitch  Snyder, Homelessness  in America: A Forced March to Nowhere. Washington, DC: Community for Creative Non-Violence, 1982.

Jencks, C., The Homeless. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995.

Komp, C., "Bans on Feeding Homeless Spread, Face Challenges." New Standard (2007). http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3503

National Alliance to End Homelessness, Preventing Family Homelessness. 2012. http://www.endhomelessness.org/content/article/detail/4465

National Association of Realtors, Field Guide to Affordable Housing. 2007. http://www.realtor.org/library/library/fg327

National Coalition for the Homeless, "Factsheets." 2009. http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/index.html

Rossi, P., Down and Out in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989. Stewart B. McKinney Act (PL 100-77).

White, R. W., Rude Awakenings: What the Homeless Crisis Tells Us. San Francisco: Ice Press, 1992.

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