Access Type

Open Access Dissertation

Date of Award

January 2018

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Paul A. Toro

Abstract

ABSTRACT

EVALUATING A TYPOLOGY OF HOMELESSNESS ACROSS A MIDWEST STATE

by

DEVIN M. HANSON

August 2018

Advisor: Dr. Paul Toro

Major: Psychology (Clinical)

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Identifying a typology remains an effective method to summarize and distinguish the different ways that people experience homelessness in communities. More than twenty years ago researchers in the northeast United States developed an approach to create a typology of homelessness by using electronic records of shelter stays and two dimensions of homelessness; number of episodes, and length of time spent homeless. The three-part typology Randall Kuhn and Dennis Culhane identified has shaped the way researchers and policy makers conceptualize homelessness and what strategies are utilized to address it. Since that time other studies have used the same approach in searching for a typology in three municipalities in Canada. This study applies Kuhn and Culhane’s approach to a broader region with urban, suburban, and rural geographic and population centers. What is found is a remarkable similarity and consistency in the typology that arises in these regions, and consistency with previous work in varied settings (New York City, Philadelphia, Toronto, Ottawa, Guelph). Implications for the consistency of this typology twenty years later are discussed and a potential needed shift in approach to this effort are discussed.

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