Street Kids: Geography and risks for homelessness

Introduction

Homelessness among children and youth has been increasing the past two decades. The number of homeless youth continues to grow, with about 2 million youths per year spending some period of time in emergency shelters or on the streets. Homeless children 12 years old or under are the fastest-growing subgroup of this population (Kidd and Davidson 2006; Witkin et al. 2005).

Homeless youths are concentrated primarily in large urban centers and frequently have histories of domestic violence, parental criminality and substance abuse, and poverty (Kidd and Davidson 2006). They also are vulnerable to negative physical and mental health problems (Cauce et al. 2000; Ensign and Bell 2004; Hyde 2005).

The contemporary study of homeless children and youth has produced a static representation of a dynamic homelessness problem. It has identified where and in what condition children and youth end up as homeless, but not where they come from or go to. It has not assessed the social processes that contribute to the vulnerability of children and youth to homelessness.

Where do homeless children and youth come from?

What makes them vulnerable to homelessness?

Where might homelessness prevention programs most benefit children and youth?

Location

Miami-Dade County, Florida

Time to complete the lab

Three to four hours

Prerequisites

Familiarity with ArcGIS 10

Understanding of spatial statistics

Understanding of ordinary least squares (OLS) regression

Data used in this lab

Miami-Dade Case Study (Rukmana 2008): A shapefile for Miami-Dade County, Florida, including geocoded residential origins of 217 homeless families with their children

The 2000 US Census data