UW Sociologists have completed a report "A Portrait of the Unhoused Population of Seattle, Washington" which was recently presented at a CSDE seminar.
Surveys of people experiencing homelessness traditionally focus on questions related to their housing statuses, often excluding broader topics asked of the general population. As a result, research frequently fails to capture the full humanity and lived experiences of this diverse community.
To launch this study, researchers from the University of Washington (UW) Department of Sociology fielded a multidisciplinary questionnaire in person at local public libraries. This comprehensive survey covered individual demographics, family structures, social support, residential situations, shelter use, employment, health, substance use, religion, politics, languages, and nativity. Importantly, the questionnaire is intended for a general population and closely mirrors that which will be fielded on a survey of housed residents in the future, to facilitate direct comparison.
Nathalie E. Williams, Mingze Li, Brandon Morande, Yuanxi Li, Hugo Aguas, Caroline Teague, Aryaa Rajouria, Justin Simpson, Man-Lin Chen, Ihsan Kahveci, Zack W. Almquist, Amy Hagopian, and Paul Hebert finished the report entitled "A Portrait of the Unhoused Population of Seattle, Washington" and presented it at an October 10, CSDE Seminar.
READ THE REPORT HERE: A Portrait of the Unhoused Population of Seattle, Washington