The geography of adult homelessness in the US: Validation of state and county estimates

• Published in: Health & place Vol. 16; no. 5; pp. 828 - 837
• Main Authors: Hudson, Christopher G., Vissing, Yvonne M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-09-2010
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Comorbidity; Disability; Estimation; Female; Geographic distribution; Geographic location; Geography; Health technology assessment; Homeless mentally ill; Homeless people; Homeless Persons - statistics & numerical data; Homelessness; Humans; Latin American people; Male; Middle Aged; Modelling; National comorbidity replication survey; Small area estimation; Socioeconomic status; U.S.A; United States - epidemiology; Validation; Young Adult; United States; Homelessness; Small area estimation; National comorbidity replication survey; Homeless mentally ill
• ISSN: 1353-8292; 1873-2054
• DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2010.04.008

This study models geographic variations in the US in lifetime occurrence of homelessness, length of homeless experience, and point-in-time estimates based on socioeconomic, demographic, and disability indicators, among 13,931 respondents in the National Comorbidity Replication and the National Latino Asian American surveys. It uses a small area estimation methodology to estimate county and state levels of homelessness. This study demonstrates high validity for the state estimates, but not for counties. Overall, the model generates a point-in-time estimate of adult homeless persons at 377,000, and an adult lifetime rate of 4.7% of the household adult population.