Homelessness in Rural America: Policy and Practice

Take your knowledge of the needs of the rural homeless to the next level

This groundbreaking text examines research methodologies for studying the homeless, rural homeless policy, and the lives of today’s rural homeless. It gives a thorough overview of the issues faced by this unique sector and outlines specific avenues for further research. The authors’ insightful data analysis, real life findings, and specific case examples offer useful and research-based approaches to improve the difficult situation of the rural homeless, using a family health approach well suited to addressing the issues that affect them.

Since services for the homeless are most often located in cities, the rural homeless are at a physical disadvantage. Because they are unable to utilize the services provided for the urban homeless, their needs often go unmet. Researchers and social service professionals face the same dilemma. Homelessness in Rural America addresses these issues by making vital research techniques, difficult-to-find data, and strategies for practice easy to access, understand, and put to use.

Homelessness in Rural America: Policy and Programs examines:

• the current condition of the rural homeless
  
• factors that can increase the probability of a rural individual becoming homeless
  
• the influence of welfare programs on the rural homeless
  
• issues faced by the rural homeless and how a family health approach can treat these issues
  
• the research methodology used to study the rural homeless
  
• micro- and macro-level solutions to rural homeless problems

Students and educators will benefit from Homelessness in Rural America’s micro- and macro-level approaches to intervention. Policy planners will discover the further complications that have arisen from welfare programs. As the homeless population continues to increase, Homelessness in Rural America becomes even more essential. The rural homeless are often overlooked in the social sciences literature, and this book fills that void with its rare and well-organized information.

John A Pardeck, Paul A Rollinson