How Has Homelessness in America Changed?

A 25-Year Retrospective

by Yvonne Vissing and Diane Nilan

Families ‘camp’ because they lost housing. Photo Diane Nilan

Homeless is far from a new phenomenon, one that has triggered crises for individuals, families and communities for decades. Commemorating our Silver Anniversary of homelessness research and advocacy, we figured it would be valuable to share our historical retrospective of how homelessness in America has changed over the last 25 years, with a particular focus on child and family homelessness.

Yvonne Vissing (left) and Diane Nilan in NYC at the launch of their new textbook, Changing the Paradigm of Homelessness.

When our paths crossed in the early 1990s, with one of us researching homelessness as a college professor in Massachusetts and the other serving families as a shelter director in Illinois, we experienced the synergy that comes from mutual wrath against injustice that shackles people in poverty.

We have skin in the game. Neither one of us personally has ever been far from housing distress — the precursor to homelessness. Nevertheless, we have stared it down, studying it in film, surveys, interviews, observations, case studies, reports, and virtually every data type available. We have worked with boards of directors trying to create good programs. We have steered clear of…