American Journal of Community Psychology, Vol 25, No. 6, 1997 Family Homelessness: State or Trait?1 Marybeth Shinn2 New York University Compares conceptualizations of homelessness as a temporary state through which people pass or a permanent trait that emanates from individual characteristics. Evidence from a longitudinal study of 564 homeless families in New York City and additional secondary sources supports the view that for families, homelessness is a temporary state that is resolved by the provision of subsidized housing. Even for single individuals with severe mental disturbances, housing is a key factor in ending homelessness, although here there is more evidence that social services also contribute. Policy implications are that governments should take a more active role in reducing homelessness by providing access to subsidized housing. KEY WORDS: homelessness; families; housing. The question I address today, using data from a longitudinal study of home- less and poor housed families in New York City, is whether family home- lessness is better thought of as a temporary state, or as a more permanent trait, emanating from and perpetuated by the distinct personal charac- 1A preliminary version of this paper was presented as a Distinguished Contribution Address to the Society for Community Research and Action at the Meetings of the American Psychological Association, August 1996, in Toronto. By tradition, such addresses have single authors, but the empirical study that supports my argument was the work of many able hands, including Rachel Becker, Nancy Bialo, Jennifer Catlin-Mathis, Kirsten Cowal, Lisa Duchon, Kimberly Dumont, Susan James, Lucila Jimenez, James R. Knickman, Larissa Labay, Judith Schteingart, Tara Singer, and Nathanial Williams. Particularly influential to my thinking were Beth C. Weitzman, who was centrally involved in both waves of the study described here, and Daniela Stojanovic, who was centrally involved in managing data for Wave 2 and who did some of the analyses reported here. I owe my gratitude to these colleagues, to the families who shared their stories with us, and to the interviewers who worked so hard to locate families and elicit their stories. Preparation of this paper was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Research Grant MH46116. 2 A11 correspondence should be addressed to Marybeth Shinn, Department of Psychology, New York University, 6 Washington Place MC#1019, New York, New York 10003. 755 0091-0562/97/1200-0755$12.50/0 C 1997 Plenum Publishing Corporation