The Intersection of

Transportation Disadvantage

with Economic and Social

Justice among Mothers

Experiencing Homelessness

Courtney Cronley,

PhD, MSSWThe University of Texas at

Arlington

TRCLC 3RD Summer Conference on Livable Communities

June 21-22, 2016 Kalamazoo, MI

Family Homelessness• Over 200,000 families were homeless on a single night in

the US in 2015

• The majority are headed by single mothers

• Commonly homeless due to domestic violence, poverty,

lack of access to affordable/quality housing

Challenges for Homeless

Families

• Fragmented access to and inconsistent

quality of services

• High rates of poverty

• Often experiencing unprocessed trauma

• Almost 1/2 of families served in transitional

settings fail to realize permanent housing

• Many single parents lose custody after

becoming homeless

Policy Environment

• Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to

Prevent and End Homelessness

– Executive initiative

– Housed within the Interagency Council on

Homelessness Executive initiative

– One of the four goals is to end homelessness

among families, youth, and children by 2020

– http://usich.gov/opening_doors/

Transportation…

For some, the Car becomes Home

For others, transportation is the

public transit system

• Lack of access to transportation frequently

cited as a barrier to accessing:

– Employment

– Health care

– Services for children

• Scarce studies exclusively focusing on

transportation experiences among the

homeless

Current Study

• Transportation emerged as a key component in an evaluation of services for women experiencing homelessness with their children in Dallas County, Texas

• Qualitative data related to transportation were analyzed to understand the impact of transportation disadvantage on social participation and identity

Setting:

Dallas County, Texas

City of Dallas

• Estimated 2015 population = 2,553,385

• Estimated housing units July 2015 =

985,403

• Median value of a home 2010-2014 =

$129,200 (nationally, $221,800 in 2010)

• Mean travel time to work 2010-2014 =

26.2 min (nationally, 25.1 min. in 2009)

Poverty and Homelessness in

Dallas• Nearly 20% of individuals living below the

poverty level, 2010-2014

• In 2016, 3,100 persons were counted as homeless on a single night

• Family homelessness increased 60% between 2010 and 2014

• In 2016, 1,777 families (households with an an adult and child) were counted as homeless on a single night

• Approximately 24 homeless service providers

The central service center

is roughly here

Wheel-and-Spoke System

Study Design / Procedures

• Concurrent mixed-methods

• Quantitative measures – demographics

and service utilization (among mothers)

• Qualitative methods – open-ended items

with probes

• Interviews conducted primarily in-person

and audio recorded

Sample

• Purposive / convenience sampling

• Mothers received a $20 gift card

• Total sample – 21 mothers; 13

stakeholders (service providers, elected

officials, philanthropists, etc.)

– 71% African American

– 19% White

– 10% Latino/a

MeasuresQuantitative Qualitative

Structured survey with

close and open-ended

questions

Semi-structured

interviews with probes

Demographic data

Standardized cost-

benefit questionnaire

about services used (not

reported here)

Data AnalysisQuantitative Qualitative

SPSS version 21 Atlas.ti used to code

transcripts using open and

axial techniques

Effect sizes

(Cohen’s d-index, ϕ)

A codebook was

developed initially

Small sample size

precluded extensive

statistical analysis

Themes consistent with

the codes derived from

the codebook

Rigor criteria included:

• Peer debriefing

• Audit trail

• Deviant case analysis

Characteristics of Mothers

TH

(n = 11)

PSH

(n = 10)

Cohen’s

D

M (SD)

Age 28.91 (5.50) 30.90 (9.06) .27

# children 3.09 (1.70) 2.30 (1.06) .56

Past-month

income

$715.27

(267.64)

$1,280.00

(1,082.05).72

Past 12-

month income

$901.56

($523.38)

$1,337.95

($1319.54).44

Note. TH = Living in transitional housing; PSH = living

in permanent supportive housing

Characteristics of Mothers

TH

(n = 11)

PSH

(n = 10)

% (#) φ

Married 36.4 (4) 10 (1) .31

Disability 27.3 (3) 0 (0) .39

Employed 9.72 (11.17) 9.05 (6.38) .36

Own car 9.1 (1) 80.0 (8) .72

Note. TH = Living in transitional housing; PSH = living

in permanent supportive housing

Qualitative Results

Broken Bridge

Missing opportunities

Wasting time

Parenting in public

Social

Exclusio

n

Transportation the Broken

BridgeI have sat in on a couple of case manager interviews with homeless individuals or families and one of the huge issues for people that are trying to get their benefits, you know, manage through a variety of systems, is transportation. So we give ’em bus passes. You know but then they’ve gotta go ride a bus here and ride a bus there and try to get to this office… they try to get over to that office. Transportation is a huge issue and I’m sure it is for families, you know, just complicating the factor is more people.

- Board Chair

Wasting Time

Oh yeah, because I can tell you that it’s

hard, especially when you’re on the bus line

to get around, because the buses

sometimes, say from here to downtown to

the daycare. It is going to take over an hour

or something to get there.

- Mother

Wasting Time

One way. Cause you have to hop so many.

And, depending on the time of the day, the

buses run every hour. You know what I

mean?

- Mother

Missing Opportunities

I mean to get somewhere on time and to even

like get places from back and forth, you know,

like appointments. You gotta be at an

appointment, and say you miss the bus by a

couple of seconds. You have to wait a whole

’nother hour. Or you get on a bus and it breaks

down or something happens you lose out on a

lot of different opportunities at different times.

- Mother

Missing Opportunities

Because, like, you know with food stamps…

that’s why if you stay in this area and don’t

have a car, you can’t get to the food stamp

office.

- Mother

Parenting in Public

[Transportation’s] not the best, especially with little kids. Like we had to get up like at 5:30 in the morning just to make the bus. And where we were staying wasn’t very far from here and it took us like an hour and a half. And then you’ve got little kids and mine have red curly hair and for some reason people want to touch ’em all the time, and it just creeps me out and it creeps my kids out.

- Mother

Parenting in Public

I have access to the bus. Sometimes it’s

hard to ride the bus with a sick kid or it being

cold and not wanting to get him out because

he got RSV [Respiratory Synctial Virus] not

too long ago from bein’ out and gettin’ on the

bus. And as you can tell, he’s a little

congested.

- Mother

Interpreting the Results

PovertyTransportation Disadvantage

StigmatizationSocial

Exclusion

Capability

deprivation

Poor living

Left out of:

Community-

level policy

decisions

Access to

shopping

Community

events

Poverty

becomes

transparent

Reliant on

inadequate

public transit

system

Transportation Implications

• Public transit is designed for single individuals, not families

• Buses are not the answer

• Transportation needs to be:

– On-demand

– Door-to-door

– Able to navigate relatively wide geographic distances

– With capacity for riders with baggage (grocery bags, diaper bags, strollers, etc.)

Transportation Innovation

• A low-cost, subsidized Uber or Lyft for

families in temporary housing situations?

• Zipcar car sharing amongst shelters,

subsidized housing, and service providers

Thank You!

Questions?

Courtney Cronley

cronley@uta.edu

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