title: Community-level characteristics associated with variation in rates of homelessness among families and single adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We modeled rates of family and single-adult homelessness in the United States in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan regions and as a function of community-level demographic, behavioral, health, economic, and safety net characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  We entered community-level characteristics and US Department of Housing and Urban Development point-in-time counts for a single night in January 2009 into separate mixed-effects statistical analyses that modeled homelessness rates for 4 subpopulations: families and single adults in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan regions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Community-level factors accounted for 25% to 50% of the variance in homelessness rates across models. In metropolitan regions, alcohol consumption, social support, and several economic indicators were uniquely associated with family homelessness, and drug use and homicide were uniquely associated with single-adult homelessness. In nonmetropolitan regions, life expectancy, religious adherence, unemployment, and rent burden were uniquely associated with family homelessness, and health care access, crime, several economic indicators, and receipt of Supplemental Security Income were uniquely associated with single-adult homelessness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Considering homeless families and single adults separately enabled more precise modeling of associations between homelessness rates and community-level characteristics, indicating targets for interventions to reduce homelessness among these subpopulations.
authors.affiliation: All authors are with the National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans, US Department of Veterans Affairs, Philadelphia, PA. Jamison D. Fargo is also with the Department of Psychology, Utah State University, Logan. Thomas H. Byrne and Dennis P. Culhane are also with the School of Social Policy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Dennis P. Culhane is a guest editor of this supplement issue.
authors.forename: Jamison D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Fargo
authors.forename: Ellen A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Munley
authors.forename: Thomas H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Byrne
authors.forename: Ann Elizabeth
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Montgomery
authors.forename: Dennis P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Culhane
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology; D003415:Crime / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004467:Economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005190:Family; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D011632:Public Assistance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014481:United States