A report published by Housing Policy Debate, “Quantifying Doubled-Up Homelessness: Presenting a New Measure Using U.S. Census Microdata,” proposes a refined measure to estimate the number of individuals experiencing homelessness who double-up with friends or family. The authors estimate that 3.7 million individuals in the U.S. are experiencing doubled-up homelessness. These individuals are not included in HUD’s definition of homelessness, because they are not in shelters or transitional housing or sleeping in places not meant for habitation and sleeping. White individuals were least likely and American Indians and Black individuals most likely to be experiencing doubled-up homelessness. Individuals with more educational attainment than a high-school degree were less likely than those with a high-school degree or less to be experiencing doubled-up homelessness.
Doubling-up can serve as a private housing safety net for individuals with low incomes. Research has provided evidence, however, that doubled-up households are more likely to experience stress, limited income, reduced space, and food insecurity. Research has also linked residential crowding with poor mental and physical health and highlighted the increased likelihood of infectious disease transmission – such as that of COVID-19 – in overcrowded and doubled-up living situations, especially when those situations are the result of evictions.
The researchers used 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) one-year microdata to identify doubled-up individuals, who were defined as “poor individuals” in “poor households” who were either (1) relatives of the head of the household but not relatives for whom a head of a household typically takes responsibility, or (2) nonrelatives who were neither partners nor roommates formally sharing household costs. “Poor households” were defined as those with incomes at or below 125% of a geographically adjusted poverty threshold.
The authors estimated that 8% of poor individuals in the U.S. were experiencing doubled-up homelessness. Poor individuals in owner-occupied households were more likely to be doubled-up than those in renter households (9.6% compared to 7.3%). Young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 were the most likely to be experiencing doubled-up homelessness (16.6%), followed by adults between the ages of 25 and 64 (8.5%) and children under the age of five (8.3%). Poor American Indians and Alaska Natives were the most likely to be experiencing doubled-up homelessness (12.3%), followed by poor Black (9%), Asian (8.7%), and white (7%) individuals. Nearly 11.7% of individuals whose race the authors categorized as “other” were experiencing doubled-up homelessness. The authors also found that poor individuals in metropolitan areas were more likely to be experiencing doubled-up homelessness than those in non-metropolitan areas. However, they also identified rural areas with high rates of doubled-up homelessness but low rates of people experiencing homelessness according to HUD’s definition, suggesting that HUD significantly underestimates homelessness in rural areas.
Addressing doubled-up homelessness requires identifying the causes of the lack of affordable housing. For example, funding for the Native American Housing and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA), which provides housing grants to Tribal communities, has not kept up with inflation over time, reducing its value by about one-third over the lifetime of the program. In addition to addressing the causes of reduced affordable housing, the authors discuss the need for culturally sensitive homelessness services and housing programs. Without access to these services and programs, higher numbers of poor individuals experience doubled-up homelessness rather than receiving necessary assistance.
Read the report at: bit.ly/3LrbHM0