#  Seminars in Labor Economics and Public Economics 

 



####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **October 21, 2026** 

 04:30PM - 05:45PM EDT 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **Littauer Center 301 - Hansen Mason Room**  



 

 



 

Angela Wyse (Dartmouth College) "Homelessness and the Persistence of Deprivation: Income, Employment, and Safety Net Participation"

Joint with Opportunity Insights

[Workshop Website](https://www.economics.harvard.edu/seminars-labor-economics)  
Contact: Eric Unverzagt <eunverz@fas.harvard.edu>

[Directions to Littauer](https://www.google.com/maps/dir//Littauer+Center+of+Public+Administration,+1805+Cambridge+St,+Cambridge,+MA+02138/@42.3763886,-71.2006471,17034m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m8!4m7!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x89e377422cee6dcf:0xb911b9d73293e484!2m2!1d-71.1182463!2d42.3764181?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDgyNS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D)



 

##  Abstract 

Little is known about the economic lives of people who experience homelessness, a population largely excluded from the household surveys that inform most poverty research. We link 139,000 adults recorded as homeless in the 2010 Census, two-thirds in shelters and one-third at unsheltered locations, to restricted-use longitudinal IRS tax records and administrative data on major safety net programs to provide the first national calculation of income, employment, and program receipt for this population. Nearly half had formal employment in the year they were observed as homeless, and nearly all either worked or were reached by at least one safety net program, most notably the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Connections to the labor market and safety net coexisted with deep and persistent poverty: median annual income, including the value of in-kind transfers, was $7,500 for sheltered and $5,500 for unsheltered adults (2018 dollars) in the year observed as homeless and remained low for the surrounding decade, leaving market-rate housing well out of reach for most individuals. Our findings suggest that homelessness tends to arise in the context of long-term, severe deprivation, rather than large and sudden income losses, and that housing markets are more likely to influence homelessness through indirect effects on informal and shared housing arrangements than the direct cost of units.



 

 

 



 

 See also:- [ Faculty ](/audience/faculty)
- [ Graduate ](/audience/graduate)
- [ Seminars ](/event-type/seminars)
- [ Labor ](/event-topic/labor)
- [ Public Policy ](/event-topic/public-policy)
 
 

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