Disaffiliation to Entrenchment: A Model for Understanding Homelessness

The diversity of homeless people and the complexity of their problems challenge our understanding of how best to serve them. This article argues that disaffiliation and reaffiliation processes are keys to understanding entrenchment in homelessness and developing remediation strategies. Survey data collected from 166 homeless persons in Austin, Texas, identified four clusters: (1) the Recently Dislocated have small social networks and mild mental health problems; (2) the Vulnerable have been homeless longer, have fewer people in their social networks, and border on severe dysfunction; (3) the Outsiders have been homeless about as long as the Vulnerable but have much larger social networks and function as well as the Recently Dislocated; (4) the Prolonged have been homeless for more than five years, have few people in their networks, and appear moderately dysfunctional. Comparison of life experiences of these four groups provided information on the social processes leading toward entrenchment in homelessness.