Explaining Variation in Homelessness Rates Across States

Date of Award

2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Khemraj, Tarron

Keywords

Homelessness, Homeless, Homeownership, Rent, Unemployment, Growth, Poverty Rate, Home Sales, Commute Time, Zoning, Sprawl

Area of Concentration

Economics

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to provide an exploratory empirical examination of homelessness and to highlight some the many possible avenues for further research the topic might hold. To do so, I investigate what housing market, macroeconomic, urban policy, distributional, and environmental variables may explain variation in homelessness rates in the United States, and what implications these relationships might have. I find that commute time, per capita home sales, the homeownership rate, the percentage of high-housing-cost households, contemporaneous and lagged growth, lagged unemployment, and the poverty rate are significant predictors of aggregate homelessness. Chapter one is a brief introduction to the topic, presenting a case for studying possible explanations of homelessness and providing a concise description of the current literature that has analyzed homelessness rates. In chapter two, I lay out the theoretical foundations for my model, explaining the conception and operationalization of each variable in the study. Chapter three presents the econometric analysis and results, while I provide a brief discussion of the results and concluding remarks in chapter four. The appendix hosts the tables and charts referenced in the text.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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