A Theoretical Understanding of Housing and Homelessness: Federal Homelessness and Housing Policy Through the Lenses of Punctuated Equilibrium Theory and Advocacy Coalition Frameworks

Abstract

AbstractHomelessness and housing insecurity have gained increasing attention since the 1980s in the United States. The numbers of people experiencing homelessness and insecure housing are growing. The federal‐level policy responses to homelessness—from Homeless Persons' Survival Act and the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act and current reauthorizations under the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act of 2009—potentially reflect stasis of ideologies and thus policy responses with a few key punctuated changes in the U.S. housing policy framework. This article employs the lens of Punctuated Equilibrium Theory and Advocacy Coalition Framework as theoretical vantage points through which to understand federal‐level U.S. homelessness policy creation. Thus, this project examines what factors help explain housing and homelessness policy responses and ensuing program creations from the federal level over time.