The New Homelessness

The Dakotas and western Minnesota by no means host the highest rate of homeless in the United States. But for a large part of the year, they host the coldest, most hostile weather. Yet on a single night in Jan. 2010, more than 1,126 people in North Dakota were homeless.1 Most alarming is a growing trend: Despite boasts of one of the healthiest economies in the nation, North Dakota is seeing an increasing number of homeless children.

Changing Conditions Exacerbate Core Causes

Mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence and poverty have long been at the core of homelessness in America, and attitudes against these issues are difficult to overcome. Traditional municipal laws against behaviors such as loitering, sleeping in public places, and “begging” tend to punish and amplify stigmas attached to homelessness. In addition, a widely-held stereotype of a

U.S. homeless person as a single male adult with substance abuse or mental illness raises an obstacle to awareness of the reality: roughly a third of today’s U.S. homeless are families, often with a single female parent.

Native Americans, new Americans, minorities and U.S. military veterans also make up an in-proportionate percentage of today’s homeless in North Dakota and western Minnesota.

While the underlying causes of homelessness remain consistent, it’s important to remember that environmental, economical and political conditions can not only aggravate but even produce the core causes. For example, an economic recession resulting in loss of work can quickly bring a family to poverty. Seemingly endless mitigating factors accelerate deteriorating conditions: A smaller food budget usually means less healthy food, which in turn can result in ill health and high health care bills. In addition to a lower income, job loss can cause depression and stress, often directly resulting in an increase in domestic violence and/or substance abuse.

Carla Solem, West Central Minnesota Continuum of Care Coordinator, says there’s also been a recent increase in young adults who are homeless. While the cause for that rise is not yet documented, she suspects it’s also driven by the states’ down economy. “Parents can’t afford to help out young adults with housing and other costs as much as they have in the past,” she said.

But the most surprising cause-and-effect circumstance is currently driving a major homelessness situation in western North Dakota: a booming economy driven by the oil industry.

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