Housing Affordability, Stress And Single Mothers: Pathway To Homelessness

Abstract

Research literature in housing, planning, & the social sciences is used to argue that the housing crisis of the 1980s has had devastating consequences for economically vulnerable single mothers & their children. A conceptual framework is developed that depicts four characteristics of the housing affordability dilemma: a resource squeeze that precipitates loss of permanent housing; residential mobility that destabilizes families; discrimination in the housing market that constrains housing choices; & multiple stressors that demoralize a fragile family system. Implications of these findings are discussed, including attention to housing problems of single mothers in both social policy & direct practice arenas. 34 References. Adapted from the source document.