As you recall from Chapter 1, social problems go beyond the experience of the individual, resulting in a conflict in values, arising when groups of people experience inequality, is socially constructed by real consequences, and must be addressed interdependently. A basic inequality, of course, is that some people have secure housing and some don’t. Social locations such as gender orientation, race, class, age, sexual orientation, or combinations of these factors can increase risk for becoming unhoused.

4.2.1 Defining Homelessness

Homelessness is defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as being unsheltered, having inadequate shelter, not having a permanent fixed residence, and/or lacking the resources to secure stable housing. HUD uses four categories of homelessness, as described in figure 4.2 to determine eligibility for housing services. These subsidized and supported housing services include Emergency Shelters, Transitional Housing, Rapid Rehousing, Housing Choice Subsidized Housing Vouchers (also known as Section 8), and Homelessness Prevention Services.

Figure 4.2 US Federal Categories of Homelessness

4.2.2 Who is Unhoused?

Shelter is a basic human need. Surviving unsheltered takes a toll on physical and mental health, both in terms of increased health risks and decreased access to adequate healthcare services (Kushel et al. 2006). Having safe and stable shelter supports our basic psychological needs, anchors our social relationships, and is a necessary component for economic stability. In 1992, the United Nations declared that adequate housing is a human right. The value of shelter to the quality of human life is clear. However, rates of houselessness in the United States are growing. What values do you think conflict with the value of meeting everyone’s basic human needs?

Figure 4.3 Sidewalk tent camps in Northeast Portland, Oregon, United States

Figure 4.4 City of Roses or City of Homeless? Portland’s human tragedy [YouTube Video] Is Portland Over?

The image in figure 4.3 and the video in figure 4.4 tells part of the story of houselessness in Portland, Oregon. Please take the time to watch the 11 minute video that tells this story. As you watch, consider who is speaking and whose voices are not heard. These stories are powerful, but insufficient. Who else in Oregon is houseless?

On the night of January 26th, 2022, when the temperature dipped down into the 20s, at least 14,655 unhoused people were counted in Oregon. In Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas Counties, 6,633 people were unhoused, an increase of more than 25 percent since the last count in 2019 in Multnomah County alone (Hasenstab 2022). Of those counted, 3,525 of those met the HUD definition of unsheltered from figure 4.2, while 3,108 spent that cold winter night in temporary shelter or transitional housing. More than 60 percent of the unhoused people that night met the definition of chronically homeless, having a disabling condition, and having been unhoused for at least 12 months (Multnomah County 2022). The annual Point-in-Time count of unhoused people does not consider people who were temporarily doubled-up with friends and family to be unhoused, even though they also lack a permanent residence.

Encampments of unhoused people, sometimes called tent cities, have become a common, often unwelcome fixture in Portland. Dignity Village in Portland, Oregon, is an encampment community that is self-organized and offers a bit of security. Because many encampments are not officially legal, people living in them lack stability and live under the threat of being “swept” or evicted. In 2017, there were 255 encampments, reported across the United States, ranging in size from 10 to over 100 people living in them, but that number does not include many more illegal encampments. Encampments are a response to the fact that shelters constantly operate at maximum capacity and communities do not have enough affordable housing. (Tent Cities in America 2022)

Shelters provide needed temporary immediate service to over 1.5 million Americans each year. Many nonprofit organizations also provide additional supportive services and housing assistance for families and individuals. Day shelters such as Rose Haven in Portland, Oregon, also offer support and food to unhoused people. Some churches allow people to car-camp and/or erect tents on the church property and have provided hygiene centers that include showers, hand-washing, laundry, and food services.

Tensions exist between tent dwellers, staff, and users of shelters, and the business and home-owning communities, since being unhoused is messy, and people who are unhoused are vulnerable to crime and abuse. In Corvallis, Oregon, the community has struggled for years to find a permanent location for the men’s overnight cold-weather shelter. Advocates for people who are unhoused argue for a location close to needed city services; accessibility is important when walking, bicycling, and public transportation are the primary modes of getting around.

4.2.2 Who is Housing Insecure?

Housing instability is a broad set of challenges such as the inability to pay rent or utilities, or the need to move frequently (Goldrick-Rab et al. 2019). According to government definitions, if a person or a family are within 14 days of losing their housing and does not have the resources “to obtain permanent housing,” they are considered by HUD to be “at imminent risk of homelessness.” Housing instability can be harder to see than houselessness. Signs of housing instability include missing a rent or utility payment, having a place to live but not having certainty about meeting basic needs, experiencing formal or informal evictions, foreclosures, couch surfing, and frequent moves. It can also include being exposed to health and safety risks such as mold, vermin, lead, overcrowding, and personal safety fears such as abuse.

Of all Americans, 10–15 percent are housing insecure. A household is considered cost-burdened when they spend more than 30% of their income on housing related expenses. By definition, a cost-burdened household is one that also faces housing instability and insecurity. By This measure a recent 30.9 million renter households of 14.8 million (47.9%). The same study then used a residual-income approach which estimates whether households have enough money left after paying rent and utilities to afford a decent standard of living and found that 19.2 million (62.1%) were cost-burdened. However we measure it being cost-burden puts people at risk for being homeless (National Low Income Housing Coalition 2022).

College students are another group of people who are often housing insecure. In 2022, the station KGW8 featured a student-created comic about unstable housing. As you watch Comic Book Profiles 10 Portland State University Students’ Struggles With Housing Instability [News Video], please consider how housing instability has impacted these students.

In addition to qualitative stories, we also have quantitative data about how many college students experience housing instability (figure 4.5).

Figure 4.5 Food Insecurity and Housing insecurity at two-year and four-year colleges

A recent national survey that included Linn-Benton Community College (LBCC) in Albany, Oregon, found that students at the two-year institution had higher levels of houselessness than their counterparts nationally. You can see the results from all surveyed colleges in figure 4.5. With a response rate of 9.7 percent, 558 of 5,700 surveyed LBCC students participated in the 2019 #RealCollege Survey Report. Nineteen percent of LBCC students reported experiencing houselessness in the past year, compared with 17 percent nationally. In addition, 53 percent of LBCC students reported experiencing housing insecurity in the past year, compared with 50 percent nationally (Goldrick-Rab et al. 2019). This report indicates that more than half of community college students are struggling with some kind of stress related to having a safe, stable place to care for themselves and their families.

The College and University Basic Needs Insecurity Report found that being female, transgender, Native American, Black, Latinx, and 21 or older increased your chances of being housing insecure or homeless. Although men, people who are White, young students (18–20), and athletes were less likely to experience houselessness or housing insecurity, they still did so in double-digit percentages (Goldrick-Rab et al. 2019). We’ll explore this inequality more deeply in section 4.3.

When we look at Oregon in particular, the median individual and household income in 2020 was $35,393 and $65,677 respectively, and the average rent increased by more than 50 percent from $853 to $1,655 (U.S. Census 2020). More than 35 percent of Portland renters surveyed reported being behind on rent, and more than 56,000 households in the Portland region are considered housing insecure (Bates 2020).

Rural communities have unique housing pressures, especially in resort areas where housing stock tends to be inadequate, like Lincoln County, Oregon, where wages are generally lower than most of the rest of the state. The average income of a Lincoln County resident is $25,130 a year (BestPlaces 2020). If we calculated that a person could only use 30 percent of their income for housing to remain stable, their rent could be $7,539 per year, or $628.25 per month. The fair market rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Lincoln County is $877 (RentData.org 2022). At fair market value, the renter would be paying about 42 percent of their income. Then when you add that less than one percent of all homes in Lincoln City, Oregon, are vacant and available to rent (Bestplaces, 2020), you begin to see the fragility of our housing system. Even when work is plentiful, houselessness is only a step away. One job loss, one major illness, or commonly, one landlord who chooses to sell their property rather than continue to rent, and houselessness occurs.