Neighborhood Distribution of Unsheltered Homelessness and its Temporal Changes

Evidence from Los Angeles

Bibliographic Data

ID6404600
AuthorsEun Jin Shin (0000-0003-3560-0754, Sungkyunkwan University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume59
Issue3
Pages692-727
Publication date2023-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueUrban Affairs Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1078-0874 • E-ISSN: 1552-8332
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/10780874211059990
OpenAlexW4205890670
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited40

Using the 2016–2020 point-in-time homeless count data, this study investigates neighborhood characteristics associated with the levels of and changes in unsheltered homeless population density in Los Angeles. The results show that unsheltered homeless people in the study area are heavily concentrated in and around the city center, and in neighborhoods with greater access to shelters and lower socioeconomic status. Notably, neighborhoods closer to the city center experienced a relatively large increase in unsheltered homelessness during the study period, implying a persistent spatial concentration of unsheltered homelessness. The results consistently indicate that residential land share, Hispanic resident share, and the number of bridges in the baseline year are significant predictors of relative changes in unsheltered homelessness in subsequent years, whereas access to shelters and poverty rates are not. This study’s findings provide several important policy implications that could potentially help prevent and mitigate unsheltered homelessness

Environmental health · Geography · Political science · Population · Poverty · Socioeconomic status · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Demography · Homelessness and Social Issues · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Medicine · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

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