Is shared housing a way to reduce homelessness? The effect of household arrangements on formerly homeless people

Most single adults share housing with other adults, and living alone is considerably more expensive than living with someone else. Yet policies that discourage shared housing for formerly homeless people or people at risk of becoming homeless are common, and those that encourage it are rare. This would be understandable if such housing adversely affected its users in some way. We ask whether shared housing produces adverse effects. Our provisional answer is no. For the most part, whether a person lives alone or shares housing seems to make no difference to the outcomes we studied although shared housing is associated with reduced psychotic symptomology. We use data from ACCESS, a 5-year, 18-site demonstration project with over 6000 formerly homeless individuals as participants.     

Visible Homelessness in a “Liveable City”: Municipal Responses to Homelessness in Melbourne

Despite considerable national and urban prosperity, significant numbers of Australians are homeless. How local governments engage with homelessness has significant implications for the homeless population. In recent years, municipal strategies have inclined towards the maintenance of public order at the cost of the rights of homeless individuals. In this article, we investigate the approach to homelessness proposed by the City of Melbourne in 2017, which centered on the expansion of powers to remove individuals and the confiscation of possessions, testing the council’s claims as to the impact of visible homelessness upon local businesses and upon other users of public spaces.     

Donor advised funds: Ethical issues on the new frontier of philanthropy

This paper analyzes critical ethical and legal issues related to the administration and use of Donor Advised Funds for charitable fundraising in American philanthropy. With the swift and profound reshaping of the philanthropic landscape caused by Donor Advised Funds, the mainstream charitable world continues to both digest how these changes affect their work and address the myriad of legal, ethical and donor/public relations issues that arise in connection with gifts to and distributions from them. This paper discusses the most relevant legal and ethical principles governing the sponsorship of, receipt from and contribution to Donor Advised Funds, sets forth the significant legal and ethical issues faced by each of these parties, and finally, puts forth recommendation for them to follow.     

Homelessness in Dublin: An Irish Urban Disorder

A bstract . Urban homelessness in Dublin has emerged as one of Ireland's most serious socioeconomic problems. Etiological explanations for the estimated 1,200 homeless individuals in the capital range from personal problems to the structure of Irish society. Empirical examination reveals that many Irish are drawn into the homeless network through personal crises such as poor health, alcoholism, economic deprivation , and psychiatric disturbances. However, it is the inequitable social, economic, political , and legislative system which ordinarily entraps them in this deprived state. Thus the causes of Irish homelessness are fundamentally structural. The Irish Government has no policy or program for assisting the urban homeless. Consequently, they have become wards of charitable agencies ill-equipped to care properly for them. Reform legislation seems to be needed. But public apathy and prejudice suggests that it will not be enacted soon.     

Drug testing in the workplace: An overview of legal and philosophical issues

This article examines a range of legal and philosophical issues related to the drug-testing debate. The discussion of legal issues includes potential litigation on constitutional grounds (for public employees), statutory and tort grounds, or on the basis of civil rights legislation. Arbitration standards are also examined for situations involving unionized employees. The article further highlights pragmatic issues including the accuracy and costs (economic and noneconomic) of drug tests as well as the distinction between a positive drug test and impaired performance. Finally, the article addresses the delicate balance between an employer's right to unimpaired performance and an employee's right to privacy.     

Remaking Equality: Community Governance and the Politics of Exclusion in Bogota's Public Spaces

Bogota's public space policy is often credited with promoting inclusionary principles. In this article, I explore critically the content of Bogota's articulation of equality in public space policy. In so doing, I present a critical view of the work Bogota's insistence on equality does to mediate class relations in the city, relying on deeply held conceptions of both social extremes. This results in the construction of a version of social harmony in public space that at once depoliticizes the claims to public space of subjects such as street vendors and the homeless and claims a new role for the middle class in the city. The analysis focuses on two examples of community governance schemes, documenting the logics and methods used by communities to implement official visions of equality and justify the exclusion of street vendors and homeless people from the area. By looking at the articulation of these exclusions in local class politics through seemingly inclusionary rhetoric, the article accounts for ‘post‐revanchist’ turns in contemporary urban policy, while anchoring its production in local processes of community governance.     

Pictures of me: user views on their representation in homelessness fundraising appeals

There is a long‐standing ethical debate regarding the ‘right’ representation of recipients in charity marketing materials that are intended to accurately define and represent social problems whilst also prompting the maximum response in voluntary income. The study presented in this article makes a contribution to that debate by highlighting the views of charity beneficiaries regarding their representation in fundraising campaigns. Drawing on data from five focus groups conducted in cities across England, we explore the views of young homeless people regarding the images of homelessness that appeared in major charity campaigns aimed at raising money to fund homelessness services. Participants displayed a high level of reflexivity, demonstrating that they understood the issues involved with homelessness and the perceptions of people like themselves that exist in the public sphere and in the consciousness of potential donors. Although the participants held the view that maximising revenues through the use of simple, eye‐catching images is the prime goal of fundraising, they also expressed a desire for more nuanced campaigns that tell the dynamic stories of how people become homeless and the use of imagery that elicits empathy rather than merely arouses sympathy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Perceptions,Persecution and Pity: The Limitations of Interventions for Homelessness in Developing Countries

Interventions for homelessness in developing countries are frequently negative and unhelpful. They tend to exist in an environment of hostility, suspicion and apathy towards homeless people. This environment is cultivated and enhanced by negative and derogatory language and images used by politicians, the public and the media in their portrayal of homeless people as unemployed, beggars, drunks and criminals. Findings from a recently completed study of homelessness in nine developing countries suggest that this perception is largely false. This article argues that, until the popular misconception of homeless people is corrected, even the most well‐intentioned interventions will have little long‐term effect.     

Environmental reporting in Australia: current practices and issues for the future

This briefing addresses a number of current practices in environmental reporting in Australia. It is limited to consideration of mandatory and voluntary initiatives at the national level (rather than state or territory levels). Three initiatives are explored. Two of these are mandatory requirements—section 299 corporate disclosures required under the 2001 Corporations Act and section 516 disclosures by Commonwealth government organizations under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. One other initiative is voluntary—Public Environmental Reporting—and is aimed at all organizations. Links with the Global Reporting Initiative are considered, followed by a brief comment on incentives and users of environmental reports. The briefing concludes by raising three issues that need to be addressed in the future—sustainable development; education, training and communication; and environmental accounting. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment     

When should homeless families get subsidized apartments? A theoretical inquiry

How and when should operators of homeless shelters place families from these shelters into subsidized housing? I apply the tools of contract theory to this problem, especially some approaches that have been taken to optimal unemployment insurance. The problem combines moral hazard and adverse selection. When all families are drawn from the same distribution, placement should occur immediately. When families are heterogeneous, the optimal strategy creates a separating equilibrium. Good searchers self-select into a contract with high probability of immediate placement and no probability of later placement; poorer searchers self-select into a contract with a lower probability of immediate placement but a positive probability of later placement.     

Training trends: Macro,micro, and policy issues

The scope of the training enterprise is vast, the field is dynamic, and multi-level issues confront training researchers. After identifying three “mega trends” – globalization, technology, and demographic changes - this paper reviews training trends at the macro level, the micro level, and emerging policy issues and links each one to the mega trends. The macro-level trends - increasing demands for personal and professional development by job seekers and employees, the effects of digital technology on work, structural changes in labor markets, increasing training opportunities for non-standard workers, and training as an important aspect of an employer's brand - reflect broad trends in the economy. Micro-level trends - better understanding of requirements for effective learning; use of short, digital lessons; and options for optimizing learning and preventing skill and knowledge decay - each focus on improving the quality of training. Policy issues - training needs in small and medium-sized enterprises, the need for “middle skills”, and vocational education - raise vexing issues for all stakeholders. Together, macro, micro, and policy issues reflect ongoing challenges for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers everywhere.     

Assessing the economic knowledge and economic opinions of adults

This study investigates public knowledge of basic economics and public opinion on economic issues. The primary data sources are five national surveys, administered from 1992 to 1999, which contain a rich set of questions to conduct multiple tests and comparisons of the factors that affect economic knowledge and public opinion. As a whole, the results offer significantly stronger evidence of factors that influence knowledge and opinion than is possible from a study of a particular sample of adults using a single set of survey questions.The analysis proceeds in two ways following methods that were originally used with one of the five data sets, a 1992 survey of adults (Walstad, 1997). First, a regression model is specified and estimated with each data set to identify how personal characteristics, general education, course work in economics, income, and political party affect economic knowledge. Second, probit analysis is used to evaluate the effect of economic knowledge on public opinion on selected economic issues after controlling for the above variables. The results from the 1992 data serve as the baseline for comparing the findings across the other surveys.     

Marketization and social protection reform: emerging HRM issues in China

This paper explores the human resource issues raised by China's current reform of its social protection regime. We examine a number of propositions at the core of the debate surrounding the relationship between globalization and social protection. It is concluded that globalization is compelling the government of China to construct a social protection system that is compatible with a market regime; many employers are evading their responsibilities and the state has been compelled to adopt countervailing regulations that can restrain this behaviour; China's decision to integrate into the world economy need not have a negative impact on the overall level of social protection available in other nations; and common social protection rules are affecting firms in highly divergent ways that reflect their ownership and industrial character and their specific labour market needs.     

Distinctiveness in the study of public management in Europe

Abstract

This article presents three clear examples of distinctive approaches to the study of public management, that is, in France, Germany and Italy, three countries with peculiar legalistic state traditions. For each country a historical sketch of state and administration is first given, then both the administrative (public management) reforms are described, the state of the art of administrative sciences and finally the specificness of the study of public management. The historical-institutional context of a particular state and administration apparently does influence not only the form and content of the administrative ‘public management’ reforms but also the scientific study of public management in that country.     

An examination of the literature relating to issues affecting the human variable in just-in-time environments

There has been an extensive body of research conducted into the technical aspects of the just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing methodology, particularly prior to 1990. It is only in more recent times that the focus has turned toward the more subtle people-related aspects. The recognition of JIT as a truly holistic approach to managing manufacturing operations has led to an appreciation of the importance of the role played by the human variable as well as an emphasis on the impact that organisational structure and management style can have on successful operation. This article examines and analyses the content of a wide range of articles related to issues such as: the need for change in corporate culture, the role of organisational structures, factors significantly impacting chances of success, the importance of employee involvement, how best to involve employees, the importance of training, how/whom/when to train, different team-based organisational structures, the impact of changing roles on various levels of the organisation and the appropriateness of particular change management strategies. An overall picture of the current state of thinking on these issues is thus developed and the importance of these factors to the successful implementation and operation of JIT highlighted. Opportunities for further research in this important area are identified.     

From issues to checkpoints and back: managing green issues in R&D

The article is based on a qualitative study of how green issues affect the R&D work in two large Swedish manufacturing firms. Both internal (environmental staff, top management) and external (regulators) actors drive the greening processes and our firms seem to be far reaching in their green works. In our discussions, we rely on a dynamic model of organizational change to emphasize that if green issues, in our cases perceived as strategic issues, are to change the firm and its R&D work, there has to be a focus on not only technological (tangible) components, but also on cultural (intangible) aspects. A proactive environmental product development strategy might therefore benefit from widening its focus to the whole organization. In addition to a more holistic approach, a basic argument in the paper is also that if green issues are to survive, they have to be kept evergreen. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Public Policy Aspects of Beach Erosion Control

A bstract . Beach erosion control conies with it several issues of importance to the public. The origin of these issues include the beach as a public good , the way decisions are derived for beach erosion , the assumptions behind beach erosion control, the incentives each actor faces in forming a beach erosion control strategy, and the concern for equity in beach erosion control decisions. The decision-making system surrounding beach erosion control is outlined. The author concludes that all relevant interests require access to decision-making for the public interest to be determined.     

A Microeconomic Analysis of Homelessness: An Empirical Investigation Using Choice-Based Sampling

This study estimates a structural model of the probability of homelessness by drawing data from two sources. The observations on the housed come from the American Housing Survey and the data on the homeless come from a separate study dealing exclusively with the homeless. Since the survey on the homeless targeted a larger fraction of that population, the sample is choice-based. The results suggest that older males with low incomes and high levels of depression are more likely to be homeless. Improvement in the number and quality of homeless shelters is expected to increase substantially the number of homeless. The policy simulations provide support for cash transfers to the very poor to reduce their likelihood of becoming homeless and for a weakening of housing codes to increase the availability of inexpensive, low-quality rental housing.     

On FDH efficiency analysis: Some methodological issues and applications to retail banking,courts, and urban transit

The methodology of free disposal hull (FDH) measure of productive efficiency is defined and put in perspectivevis-à-vis other nonparametric techniques, in terms of the postulates on which they respectively rest. Computational issues are also considered, in relation to the linear programming techniques used in DEA. The first application bears on a comparison between a private and a public bank, in terms of the relative efficiency of their branches. Important characteristics of the data are revealed by FDH that are not by DEA, due to a better data fit. Next, efficiency estimates of judicial activities are used to evaluate what part of the existing backlog could be reduced by efficiency increases. Finally, with monthly data of an urban transit firm over 12 years, the FDH methodology is extended to a sequential treatment of time series, that supplements efficiency estimation with a measure of technical progress.     

The Centrality of Community Capacity in State Low‐income Housing Provision in Cape Town,South Africa

The development of low‐income housing continues to be a political imperative and an urban reconstruction priority for the post‐apartheid South African state. But, even though policies for housing construction and delivery by the state are in place, in practice many homeless families initiate, direct and drive the process through which they secure state‐provided housing. I analyse in this study two such cases where homeless residents in peripherally located, poor areas of the Cape Metropolitan Area successfully accessed state‐provided housing. In both instances, homeless families organized around the different sets of capacities that structured the nature of the linkages that each forged to resources outside of their respective areas, and thus the ways in which they pursued their need for housing. I argue in this study that uneven and place‐specific, community‐based capacity often directs the manner in which communities interpret, interface with and access state‐run urban reconstruction projects such as housing provision. An analysis of community‐based capacity thus proves useful to investigate the potential and the problems that underlie state initiatives for development and the manner in which communities participate and engage with urban reconstruction and development. L'expansion du logement social reste un impératif politique et une priorité de la reconstruction urbaine pour l'État sud‐africain de l'après‐apartheid. Des politiques de construction et de fourniture de logements par l'État ont été mises en place mais, en pratique, de nombreuses familles sans‐domicile induisent, orientent et mènent le processus par lequel elles s'assurent un logement public. Cette étude analyse deux de ces cas dans lesquels des sans‐domicile vivant dans des quartiers pauvres à la périphérie de la zone métropolitaine du Cap ont réussi à se loger. Dans les deux situations, les familles se sont organisées autour des capacités spécifiques qui structuraient la nature des liens établis pour trouver des ressources hors de leurs quartiers respectifs, définissant ainsi leurs modalités d'action pour obtenir un logement. L'étude démontre qu'une capacité inégale, particulière à un lieu et à un groupe, oriente souvent la manière dont les communautés interprètent, interagissent avec et accèdent aux projets de reconstruction urbaine menés par l'État tels que la fourniture de logement. Il apparaît donc utile d'analyser la capacité propre à une communauté, si l'on veut déterminer non seulement le potentiel et les problèmes fondamentaux des initiatives gouvernementales de développement, mais aussi la manière dont les communautés participent et contribuent à la reconstruction et à l'aménagement urbains.