Sheltering the homeless in the US: Social improvement and the continuum of care

The homeless problem now enjoys a settled if marginal place in US domestic policy. Programmes to treat and remedy the homeless problem have also found acceptance integrated within a 'continuum of care'. Current ideas about the homeless problem and its solution emphasise social improvement for the poor-a solution that empirical research does not support. The overemphasis on versions of social dependence as the problem has encouraged the use of shelters and social programmes to change individual households rather than improvement of kind and amounts of low-rent housing in mixed residential communities. Providing supportive housing to remedy the privations of the poor does make good sense, but mainly if organised to strengthen social reciprocity among households in affordable and relatively diverse residential communities. This requires not only social investment, but also innovative design and use of affordable housing alternatives. A case study of a non-profit sponsored Single Room Occupancy provides an example.