Sociology 498: Homelessness

Gender and Homelessness

Comparing currently homeless with formerly homeless

Men are not only more likely to be homeless, these results suggest they are less likely to escape homelessness once they become homeless. While a majority of the former homeless are men, the concentration of men is lower than for the currently homeless.

Unfortunately, this is not a representative sample of the formerly homeless, only of the formerly homeless who continue to use homeless services (soup kitchens, etc.). But these are the best data available, and it seems unlikely that including the formerly homeless who no longer use homeless services would dramatically change our conclusions.
 

Other charts on gender and homelessness:

• To other national data.
• To data on the Chicago non-homeless.
• To U.S. data on length and type of homelessness.