I asked Google, it was no help, so I turn to the board.
What constitutes homelessness? Especially when applying for federal assistance such as food stamps, Medicaid, and federal student grants. Does your living situation make any difference or is based soley on income, or lack thereof?
If you have no job, are living under a bridge and you’re eating out of dumpsters, then yeah, you’re homeless. Really no argument there.
But what if you work part-time or less, can’t afford a place of your own so you’re sleeping in a winnebago behind your buddy’s house?
Suppose you have to live with friends?
Suppose you live rent-free in a house owned by a rich family member, not because you want a free ride, but because you cannot afford to pay rent and they have agreed to help out?
Where do you draw the line? And where does the government?
There’s probably not a federal government definition of homelessness - food stamps , Medicaid , etc are based on income. I think whether or not a person has kitchen access might make a difference in food stamps , but not homelessness per se. The only programs that really have a definition of “homelessness” are housing programs- and those definitions change. In the late’80s - early '90s the NYC shelters basically accepted anyone who didn’t have a lease in their name. Now, the city is planning to tighten up the rules so that only people who truly have no place else to live are housed in city shelters.
For the purposes of our local homeless count, it has to do with the number of nights you spend without a reliable roof over your head in a certain period of time. I’d have to go check my paperwork for the exact definition we use, since I haven’t participated in the survey in a few yeas.
For the purpose of government assistance, it tends to deal with assets and income, not living conditions. In fact, I can’t think of any programs that require you to be homeless to get help.
It is an interesting thought. It seems ridiculous to say that Bill, who recently turned 18 but is still living at his parents home, is suddenly “homeless” at age 18 because he doesn’t have a home in his own name.
OTOH, there are a lot stories of people who slept on one friend’s couch after another during hard times. Technically not living in a cardboard box, but still not exactly “part of the household” permanent.
This is my thinking. They have a place to stay for a while, but not technically a place to live. Doing the sofa circuit is probably better than sleeping in a homeless shelter, but there is only a negligible difference.
It’s not really the federal definition of homelessness (although the HUD page says it is). If you actually look at the US code, the definition is much longer and only applies to the chapter regarding homeless assistance. Other Federal laws and regulations no doubt have different definitions.
Pretty much every federal agency has their own definition of homelessness, so it depends completely on for what purpose you’re discussing it. I see that HUD recently changed their definition to fit closer with the Department of Education, which is by all standards considered the more comprehensive and inclusive definition in effect right now. Looks like they can shoehorn couch surfing into the HUD definition now. It’ll be much harder to quantify, but it will be much more useful for service providers using HUD money.