Research aims to help growing number of homeless women

Women account for about a third of the homeless population. They are most likely to be domestic abuse victims or single parents. Now, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln sociologist is dedicated to helping those women improve their lives.

UNL sociologist Leslie Whitbeck plans to conduct a two-year research project on homeless women to help pilot more all-encompassing projects.

He received a $400,715 grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development funded by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. He plans to begin collecting data in Omaha, Pittsburgh, Pa., and Portland, Ore., at the end of the spring semester.

According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, 65 percent of homeless people with children are women, and 22 percent of homeless mothers left their place of residence as a result of domestic violence. It is speculated that the rise in homelessness in the past 20 years is because of the growing shortage of affordable housing and a simultaneous increase in poverty.

The data for Whitbeck's project will be collected with surveys, but finding a representative sample of homeless women is not an easy task.

Kristen Olson, an assistant professor of sociology and survey research and methodology at UNL, will significantly help in finding a representative sample and designing a valid survey and procedure.

"Surveying homeless women is hard, because there's no list of homeless women in any city," Olson said. "We have to use somewhat creative methods to find these women."

The UNL research team is using a "multiple-frame approach," in which they will search for homeless women in a variety of places. The researchers will visit homeless shelters, soup kitchens, libraries and high concentration outdoor areas such as bridges, parks, as well as other "hangout spots" identified by aiding homeless agencies in compiling a representative sample.

"The outdoor demographic will be the hardest to find," Olson said. "But it's there, so we have to find it."

To make the interviewing process more comfortable for the homeless women, Whitbeck plans to hire women who have personal or secondary experience with homelessness as interviewers.

"You have to understand the street culture, where the women are coming from, where they're going to be," Whitbeck said. "You have to have some sort of empathy."

Whitbeck has experience researching homeless children, conducting longitudinal studies over time, and the research team hopes that after this initial pilot project, a more in-depth one will follow. But there is still much to learn.

It is unclear to homeless agencies around the nation why certain demographics are becoming homeless when they were not 20 years ago. Women, especially women with children, are one of these demographics. The main goals of this two-year project are to provide information to these agencies on how to better help these women and creating prevention programs.

"Homeless women are much more diverse than homeless men," Whitbeck said. "They've had to leave home for safety reasons or because they were one pay check away from paying the rent as a single mom."

Homelessness is a problem in more than just urban areas. This study could launch further surveys that could help reduce poverty on a national level.

"If you live in a city and don't see homeless people, you're looking in the wrong places," Whitbeck said. "If you stop for gas on the way to work early in the morning, you'll probably see a few warming up inside. They're not as conspicuous, but they're definitely here, and there's definitely a lot."

The project will conclude sometime in 2012 and aims to help people better understand the lives of homeless women.

"It's an innovative approach with this population," Olson said. "It's really exciting. We should be able to help agencies better serve their clientele."

ELLENHIRST@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM