Types of Homelessness. Homelessness can be difficult to categorize due to the variability in experience between one individual and the next. There are three main types of homelessness that individuals may experience: episodic, temporary or situational, and chronic. Each of these can be caused by one or a number of different types of circumstances. Individuals who experience episodic homelessness often have little to no financial buffer against emergencies and may live with uncertainty in job stability, housing costs, and household budgets. This type of homelessness is often experienced in short time periods and may occur once or repeatedly depending on financial instability. Similarly, situational or temporary homelessness may also be experienced due to uncertainty but 9 XXX.xxx. “How The Loss Of U.S. Psychiatric Hospitals Led To A Mental Health Crisis.” Accessed August 2, 2020. xxxxx://xxx.xxx.xxx/2017/11/30/567477160/how-the-loss-of-u-s-psychiatric-hospitals-led-to- a-mental-health-crisis. 10 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Health and Medicine Division, Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice, Policy and Global Affairs, Science and Technology for Sustainability Program, and Committee on an Evaluation of Permanent Supportive Housing Programs for Homeless Individuals. The History of Homelessness in the United States. is specifically tied to a crisis or emergency event occurring, such as sudden unemployment, healthcare emergency, natural disasters, or domestic abuse.11 These individuals are referred to as situational because often their housing circumstances can be resolved once the situation is addressed. Both situational and episodic homelessness can be anything between one night without shelter or housing to a short period, often considered to be less than one year in length. Conversely, individuals who experience chronic homelessness are those who have been “living or residing in a place not meant for human habitation, a safe haven, or in an emergency shelter” for a period of over one year or have had four or more periods of homelessness in a span of three years (adding up to at least one year in total).12 Further, the federal government includes that the individual must also be living with one or more mental or physical disabling condition(s), such as “[s]ubstance use disorder, serious mental illness, developmental disability […], posttraumatic stress disorder, cognitive impairments resulting from brain injury, or chronic physical illness or disabi...
