The ‘new homelessness’ has drawn sustained attention from scholars over the past three decades. Definitional inconsistencies and data limitations rendered early work during this period largely speculative in nature. Thanks to conceptual, theoretical, and methodological progress, however, the research literature now provides a fuller understanding of homelessness. Contributions by sociologists and other social scientists since the mid-1990s differentiate among types of homelessness, provide credible demographic estimates, and show how being homeless affects a person's life chances and coping strategies. Agreement also exists about the main macro- and micro-level causes of homelessness. Active lines of inquiry examine public, media, and governmental responses to the problem as well as homeless people's efforts to mobilize on their own behalf. Despite the obstacles faced when studying a stigmatized population marked by high turnover and weak anchors to place, recent investigations have significantly influenced homelessness policy. A greater emphasis on prevention should further strengthen the research-policy nexus.

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Path analysis was used to investigate the impact of childhood sexual abuse on later sexual victimization among 372 homeless and runaway youth in Seattle. Young people were interviewed directly on the streets and in shelters by outreach workers in youth service agencies. High rates of both childhood sexual abuse and street sexual victimization were reported, with females experiencing much greater rates compared with their male counterparts. Early sexual abuse in the home increased the likelihood of later sexual victimization on the streets indirectly by increasing the amount of time at risk, deviant peer affiliations, participating in deviant subsistence strategies, and engaging in survival sex. These findings suggest that exposure to dysfunctional and disorganized homes place youth on trajectories for early independence. Subsequently, street life and participation in high‐risk behaviors increases their probability of sexual victimization.

Based on risk amplification and victimization theories, path analysis was used to investigate the effects of early sexual abuse on later sexual victimization among 361 female homeless and runaway adolescents in four midwestern states. Results indicated that early sexual abuse in the home had a positive direct effect on sexual victimization of adolescents on the streets. Early sexual abuse also increased the likelihood of later sexual victimization indirectly by increasing the amount of time at risk, deviant peer associations, and incidents of survival sex. Young women who leave dysfunctional and disorganized homes often characterized by abuse continue on negative developmental trajectories once they reach the streets. The social context of street life puts these adolescents in close proximity to potential offenders and exposes them to crime and criminals. The combination of a negative developmental trajectory and the high-risk street environment increases these young women's chances of being sexually victimized.

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