This issue of "New Directions" provides an overview of the increasing numbers of students who are experiencing homelessness, housing insecurity, and food insecurity. College presidents are in a unique position to lead campus efforts to identify students in need and to develop strategies for supporting this increasing, often invisible,…

The golden summer of sport is now over, but what is the legacy of London 2012 for disabled people? Nadia Ahmed, a disabled student, discusses the difficulties she has faced in finding accessible accommodation in London. She argues that while the Games are over, the United Kingdom still has lots of hurdles to leap when it comes to disability. The…

In the 1969 inaugural issue of the "School Health Review", Douglass J.H. examined four major issues he felt were central to the question of choices one has about health: (1) problems with health care delivery methods; (2) persistent poverty in our population and its impact on health; (3) systemic problems inherent in social and institutional…

While significant attention has been paid to Wall Street investors and families impacted by the current subprime mortgage crisis in the USA, the lives of Sesame Street are minimally discussed. Children and their families are enduring a variety of consequences of foreclosures. The consequences can be hugely disruptive to the approximately 2 million…

Over 100 million families worldwide lack permanent housing or income sufficient to meet their basic needs. Some homeless children are able to succeed in school despite the many challenges they face, but others are not. Seventy-five percent of U.S. homeless children perform below grade level in reading, and schools and teachers may not be prepared…

One of the best ways to produce affordable housing is to address the needs of a group that has too much housing. A baby boom generation generates an empty nester boom. An empty nester boom means dramatic underutilization of the housing stock. If a small percentage of homeowners were to install an accessory apartment, they would have a significant…

Examines the urban mobile-home park in the context of its evolution over the past 25 years. It was during this time period that the joint roles of mobile-homes and mobile-home parks in the provision of housing began to be recognized. (RM)

The problem of unavailable, unaffordable housing in the United States is apt to worsen. Three articles examine the factors that are associated with homelessness and discuss the role of home economists as it relates to possible solutions. (JOW)

Criticizes a recent government report for using faulty statistical methodology and thus grossly underestimating the numbers of homeless people in the United States. Also notes the report's failure to recognize the scarcity of affordable housing as a cause of homelessness. (GC)

Rising housing costs, increased homelessness, and the debate over illegal immigrants residing in publically assisted housing have renewed media and public interest in immigration's contribution to the Los Angeles, California area's problems of scarce low-cost housing, homelessness, and housing code violations. Recent data suggest that immigrants…

The effects of such demographic variables as the baby boom and childless marriages on the demand for urban housing are discussed. (RLV)

Describes the large households, extended kin ties, and cooperation among households that characterize Vietnamese kinship structure. Demonstrates how American housing trends toward smaller units conflict with the social and housing needs of Vietnamese refugee families. (GC)

The disparity in housing costs between renters and homeowners will affect the rapidly aging population of the United States; most renters pay 25% or more of their income for shelter, while only 30% of homeowners are in the same category. The American Housing Survey can help gerontologists and planners address a broad range of housing and related…

This paper looks at the behaviour of private landowners in rural Scotland in relation to housing supply, particularly renting and low-cost housing. The theme is one that has received relatively little research. In consequence, the paper is set in the context of two rather broader traditions in the literature of examining investor/developer…

Examines subgroups of the homeless population and their needs for shelter. Argues that governments and charities should make distinctions among the highly diverse groups of the homeless and cease providing unlimited and unconditional aid to the able bodied, which tends to ensnare youth in the culture of dependency. (FMW)