According to Lee Tunstall, homelessness is a social problem that “has been growing since the 1970’s” (2009, para.1) and has caught the attention of both the Canadian government and the general public (Tunstall, 2009) . Predominantly, the homeless are individuals or families with no permanent residence who also lack the resources or abilities necessary to arrange for their own adequate housing and living (Stearman, 2010). This matter affects a diverse demographic of the Canadian public. In 2003, the Toronto report card on housing and homelessness reported that out of 32,000 people who used homeless shelters, 15% were families, 22% were youths between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four, 18% were single women and 48% were single men (2003). Shelters, however, only represent a small percentage of homeless individuals. Hidden homeless persons, the largest percentage of the homeless (Gerdes, 2007), are people who live in cars, abandoned buildings, family or friends, and often with strangers (Jencks, 1994)). An official estimate was released by the National Secretariat who estimated that there were 150,000 Canadians who were homeless (Think Student Canada, 2009). However, this estimate was mostly based on shelters. Most organizations and groups estimate a larger number of 250,000 homeless Canadians including hidden homeless individuals (Echenber & Jensen, 2005). This paper examines the importance, causes and solutions to a problem of such critical importance and suggests that the government must fund a variety of long-term solutions to aid and rehabilitate homeless persons in order to end this social concern. CAUSES Risk factors can be divided into three interconnected categories (Bradford, 2009). Firstly, social selection, the in... ... middle of paper ... ...Context. Retrieved February 5, 2011, from http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/cic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Reference&prodId=CIC&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ2181600137&mode=view Toronto report card on homelessness. (2003). Toronto. Retrieved February 5, 2011, from www.toronto.ca/homelessness/pdf/reportcard2003.pdf Tunstall, L. (2009). Homelessness: an overview. EBSCO Publishing Service Selection Page. Retrieved February 5, 2011, from http://web.ebscohost.com/pov/detail?hid=119&sid=d5f751fa-0d0d-4ed1-8deb-483e701af50c%40sessionmgr111&vid=3&bdata=Jmxhbmc9ZW4tY2Emc2l0ZT1wb3YtY2Fu#db=p3h&AN=28674966 Wells, E. (2009). Counterpoint: Solving homelessness requires more than housing . EBSCOhost . Retrieved February 5, 2011, from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=p3h&AN=28674968&lang=en-ca&site=pov-can
Even with the daily struggle faced by youth in obtaining shelter and homelessness becoming a reality for a growing number of Canadians, Canada, with its high quality of life is one country that has always had a global long-standing reputation. This paper will be working towards giving the reader a better understanding with regards to homeless youth. It will be focusing on the reasons why they leave home, their lives on the street and steps they are trying to take to be able to leave the streets. An important finding from this research suggests, “the street youth population is diverse, complex, and heterogeneous”. According to Karabanow, made up of a number of subcultures including hardcore street-entrenched young people, squatters, group home kids, child welfare kids, soft-core twinkles, runaways, throwaways, refugees and immigrants is the generic term ‘street youth’.
Youth homelessness in Ontario is not a new phenomenon, it has become more and more severe over the past 20 years. “One third of homeless individuals on the streets are under the age of 25”(Cino, Rose). It is a significant social justice issue in Canada. Within our community people are increasingly aware of the sight of youth sleeping in parks, asking for money and sitting on sidewalks. Youth homelessness in Ontario is primarily caused by tragic life occurrences such as abuse, illness or unemployment.
Homelessness is a condition of people who lack regular access to adequate housing. As this condition becomes a growing problem in Canada people are forced to deal with the issues. Who are the homeless? They range from children to adults and even in some cases, families. Why are they homeless? Poverty, lack of jobs or well paying jobs, decline in Social Services, domestic violence, mental illness, and chemical dependency contribute to the majority of the homeless within our society. What effects does being homeless have on members of the family? It contributes to many physical and mental health problems for both parents and their children. Homelessness is a world-wide issue, yet zeroing in on Canada, the majority of the homeless live on the streets of Toronto and Vancouver where they seek shelter anywhere from a park bench to dark alleys. The fact remains that homelessness will always be a problem yet over the years, the number of homeless people has been on the rise and something must be done. Homelessness, specially in families, is a devastating experience. It disturbs nearly all aspects of family life, damaging the physical and emotional health of family members. In addition, it interferes with children's education and development and often results in the separation of family members. It is hard to say exactly who the homeless are because it is usually a temporary circumstance and not a permanent condition. -2- Therefore more appropriate manner of estimating homelessness is to look at the number of people who are currently experiencing homelessness rather than the number of "homeless people". WHO ARE THE HOMELESS Homeless people range anywhere from 11 to 65 years of age. Most studies show that homeless adults are most likely to ...
Homelessness in the United States has been an important subject that the government needs to turn its attention to. There has been announced in the news that the number of the homeless people in many major cities in the United States has been increasing enormously. According to United States Interagency Council on Homelessness reported that there was an estimation of 83,170 individuals have experienced chronic homelessness on the streets of the United States’ streets and shelters on only a single night of January 2015, which is a small decrease of only 1% from the previous year (People Experiencing Chronic Homelessness, n.d.). The United States must consider this subject that most of the people underestimate it and not pay attention
Although most people know what homelessness is and it occurs in most societies, it is important to define because the forces of displacement vary greatly, along with the arrangement and meaning of the resulting transient state. The Stewart B McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 defined a homeless person as “an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence or a person who resides in a shelter, welfare hotel, transitional program or place not ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation, such as streets, cars, movie theaters, abandoned buildings, etc.” Resent surveys conducted in the U.S. have confirmed that the homeless population in America is extremely diverse and includes representatives from all segments of society, including: the old and young, men and women, single people and families, city dwellers and rural residents, whites and people of color, employed and unemployed, able workers and people with serious health problems. The diversity among people that are homeless reflects how difficult it is to generalize the causes of homelessness and the needs of homeless people. Robert Rosenheck M.D., the author of Special Populations of Homeless Americans, explains the importance of studying homelessness based on subgroups, “each subgroup [of homeless people] has unique service needs and identifying these needs is critical for program planning and design.” Despite these diversities, homelessness is a devastating situation for all that experience it. Not only have homeless people lost their dwelling, but they have also lost their safety, privacy, control, and domestic comfort.
Defining where the homeless stand in our society scale is one of hardest aspects in conducting a study of the population and understanding the definitions used in research is one of the most challenging tasks for people who want to use its results. Most would agree that people in Shelters or literally living on the street are homeless, but there is less agreement regarding people in the following circumstances: Youth on their own, with no permanent residence or even an usual place to sleep; children who have been separated from their homeless parents and are in foster care or are living with relatives; People living in stable but physically inadequate housing (having no plumbing, no heating, or major structural damage, for example) Which of these people should be consider homeless? There is no right answer; there can only be agreement on a convention. Homelessness is a term that covers a big territory. It seems that homelessness is at best an odd-job word, pressed into service to impose order on a hodgepodge of social dislocation, extreme poverty, seasonal or itinerant work, and unconventional ways of life.
If you do not already know what homelessness means, it is someone who is not able to live in a stable residence because of financial or psychological problems, so they are forced to live on the streets or put themselves on the streets, because they feel it would be a better fit. Homelessness in Canada is a very large and concerning issue because of the growing population.
This great nation of awesome power and abundant resources is losing the battle against homelessness. The casualties can be seen on the street corners of every city in American holding an ?I will work for food? sign. Homeless shelters and rescue missions are at full capacity. There is no room at the inn for the nation?s indigent. Anyone who has studied this issue understands that homelessness is a complex problem. Communities continue to struggle with this socio-economic problem while attempting to understand its causes and implement solutions. The public and private sectors of this country are making a difference in the lives of the homeless by addressing the issues of housing, poverty and education.
Homelessness is a problem that happens in many different countries around the world. Definitions of homelessness are defined in different meanings by different people. However, the Stewart B. McKinney Act defines a homeless person as “ one who lacks a fixed permanent nighttime residence or whose nighttime residence is a temporary shelter, welfare hotel, or any public or private place not designed as sleeping accommodations for human beings” (McNamara 1025). It is impossible to find out exactly the number of homeless; however, the researchers can do a study to estimate that number. Based on different statistics from different researchers, the homeless population in America has been increasing as “an alarming rate” (Markos and Lima). Therefore, even though America is one of the most powerful countries in the world, homelessness, which has many common causes, has always been a big problem in society.
Homelessness is one of the biggest issues society (Unites States) faces today. Homelessness is caused by lack of affordable housing, economic situations and decline in federal funding for low income families and the mentally ill. A homeless person is defined as an individual who lacks housing (without regard to whether the individual is a member of a family) including an individual whose primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private (shelters) facility that provides temporary living accommodations and an individual who is a resident in transitional housing. This definition of housing is used by the U.S Department of Healt...
This paper will examine and analyze the underlying causes of poverty and homelessness, the difficulties that the new immigrants experience in Canada, and what can we do in order to prevent and overcome those problems. According to the dictionary, poverty can be defined as the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. It has been an important issue for hundredths of years because it can leave people homeless and hungry. Both, Canadians and the new immigrants to Canada are experiencing many financial difficulties, and there are people who are struggling to live, to find a shelter and to provide the most basic needs to themselves and their families.
Homelessness is a significant topic that Canada has been dealing with for decades. People who are homelessness all are homeless due to many different circumstances. Canada’s government has been working with an ongoing investigation to end homeliness.
In Canada and many other countries, homelessness is an issue that is prevalent and not taken seriously by many citizens and governments. Although unfortunate, many people today ignore or don’t recognize the true hardships homeless people go through, resulting in a lack of effort to resolve this issue of homelessness. As part of the Catholic Church’s teachings, the Catholic Social Teachings (CST) educate society on how to live a life in the grace of God, tending to those who are vulnerable and working towards the common good. Since these are the main themes of CST, homelessness, an issue that relates to the most vulnerable in a society, if solved, would initiate further action
We have experienced many homelessness issues here in Canada. Recently, in 2014, the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness estimated that almost 35,000 Canadians were homeless every night and an estimated 235,000 Canadians experience homelessness each year. Many Canadians meet the requirements for hidden homelessness. The requirements include: sheltered people and families who temporarily live in their relative’s homes in order to avoid living on streets; women and children experiencing domestic violence; people sleeping in abandoned buildings and families living in unsustainable housing due to evacuations. Unfortunately, here in Ontario, we have one of the highest rates of homelessness for a major province in Canada.
in the society . In Canada, homelessness has become a crisis and communities have struggled to respond as the