A MODEL OF HOMELESS MIGRATION - HOMELESS MEN IN SKID-ROW, LOS-ANGELES

Homeless people are popularly portrayed as highly mobile, but their migration behavior has never been systematically analyzed. In this paper a conceptual model of homeless migration is developed that links migration behavior with the coping status of homeless individuals. The model is evaluated by using data drawn from a recent random probability sample of men surveyed in Skid Row, Los Angeles, CA. Results indicate that homeless migrants tended to be young, never married, white, mentally disabled, and either newly or cyclically homeless individuals. Long-term residents, in contrast, were apt to be older, physically disabled or suffering from a health-related problem, and had been homeless for some time. The dominant reason given for moving was to find a job or improve life opportunities in some other way. Findings also indicate that the majorty of homeless men in the sample were `stayers' rather than `movers'. This obviates a common political strategy by localities of attempting to avoid obligations to provide support to homeless individuals on the basis of their transiency.