Using the Social Ecological Model to examine how homelessness is defined and managed in rural East Tennessee

Claudia Davidson, Velma M Murry, Molly Meinbresse, Darlene M Jenkins, and Robert Mindrup
Often conceptualized as an urban issue, homelessness in rural communities is pervasive due to high rates of poverty, lack of affordable housing, inadequate housing quality, unemployment/underemployment, and geographic isolation. In 2014, the National HCH Council in collaboration with Vanderbilt University and Cherokee Health Systems conducted a study in rural East Tennessee. The purpose of this study was to provide insight into how rural communities define and manage homelessness as well as engage unstably housed individuals in homeless services by investigating the perceptions of different levels of influence of the Social-Ecological Model including the individual, organization, and government levels. This publication gives an overview of rural homelessness, methodology, results, and discussion of findings.

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