I understand that for the most part people in capitalist countries tended to be better off economically, yet I was wondering if this applied to the poorest of both countries. Did state provided housing and necessities mean that homelessness was not as much as a problem in the Soviet Union compared to the United States?
(I've also heard that homelessness only became a major problem towards the 80's in the USA, so maybe restrict the comparison to around this time if that's the case)
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I can only give a small puzzle part here.
In the DDR being homeless, while bodily being able to have a job (and thous having a room/dorm/home/... almost automatically) you were labeled 'asocial' and that was a punishable offense after STGB §249 punishable by up to 2 years prison/forced work.
BUT there was not only a duty to work, there was also a right to work. Even if that meant you were sitting around in an office and doing nothing and getting paid for it.
See also (german) : http://zdfcheck.zdf.de/faktencheck/arbeitslose/ http://www.strassenfeger-archiv.org/article/2302.0008.html
This issue is addressed in a brief, but interesting 1988 article in the Christian Science Monitor
In short, for a time there was a solid system in place for attempting to find the homeless a job and home. Homelessness in the west was a great source of propaganda for the USSR. But, much as in the west, many times the rehabilitation programs do not work - alcoholism and mental illness, two of the most common causes of homelessness, aren't solved as simply as finding someone a job. Those who were found to be unemployable were most likely imprisoned (or worse). Post-glasnost the problems only deepened, as factories were now accountable and forced to eliminate the symbolic jobs that simply kept people occupied/employed.
One interesting thing to look at within the USSR at that time period are alcoholism rates and statistics. Why? Because in many cases the USSR massaged statistics and worked around definitions so that comparisons between different parties are moot and pointless. Case in point: their policies granting a right to work to every citizen and thus state-sponsored housing would theoretically mean and imply that there were close to no homeless people.
However, there were people riddled with addictions and problems, and people who were of no practical use for labour as a result of the aforementioned addictions and problems of substance abuse. To understand how such a person could be employed and not-homeless requires understanding the system of Soviet Communism a little bit. The short version is that factories and offices would basically not fire employees even if they were doing absolutely nothing, even if there was no work for them to do. In this system a person who might be otherwise squatting on the streets and drinking was instead bound to a cubicle on an office or a post in a factory and probably drinking.
As for actual data, [url = "http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/8067268/"]this[/url] might be a good place to start, where it is shown that alcoholism was rampant in the late USSR, and there is also some discussion on policies taken about it. Another great study of an slightly earlier period can be found [url = "http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/40921256?sid=21105529484073&uid=83&uid=2460338175&uid=3738664&uid=63&uid=2&uid=4&uid=2460337855"]here[/url].
So, why did this happen? This is not something you asked about, but I like this question. The typical explanation (textbook, high-school level) for this is that there was widespread resentment towards and against the government, coupled with a sense of powerlessness and general frustration among the populace of the Republics. There were also and very importantly various shortages of goods arguably brought about by policies that made inter-dependence of the Soviet Republics necessary for their survival. (Example: the region of modern Ukraine did not produce a sizeable amount of any type of grain or agricultural output during the time period, while it is now one of the mayor producers of the world). In any case, these policies arguably brought political stability, statism and control to the government while costing the lives of thousands (millions?) of people and the despair and angst of many others.
Well, there are many other possible reasons for the observed phenomenon to have happened, but I have described my favourites and explaining them more would probably require a very large work of research into Soviet history. If you have questions about this or I wasn't clear enough, please tell me and I can elaborate. :).
Question: How could we trust these sorts of statistics from communist countries?