Homelessness is a major problem facing many cities. Some people are homeless because of unfortunate situations, and others are homeless by choice. Homelessness has been around since 1640.
The cost of housing is on the rise and many become homeless because they that are not making enough money to afford the cost of housing. The cost of health care and insurance has risen dramatically over the past years. For families living low or middle incomes that can be devastating. Families or individuals that lack health insurance, a sudden illness, chronic disease or accident can be financially devastating. Many people don’t understand the problems homeless families are facing and most families are homeless because of finical situations or because they don’t have enough money to afford food. Families that are homeless it can have an effect on the children emotional and mentally and can cause them to low self-esteem. People don’t understand the effects of homeless families or how they feel. Most families have nowhere else to go or are too ashamed to live with other relatives. Homeless families sometimes become separated because some kids are sent to foster care or there are a certain requirements for that shelter. Some people who are homeless have long-term issues like mental illness, drug addiction, and alcoholism, homeless people that have these addictions does not have health insurance and this could be a major if they become seriously ill. Most people don’t care about the homeless people who are drug addicts, alcoholics, or mentally ill but people should help the homeless that have those problems instead of ignoring them, making fun of them, or just being plain scared of them, they also need people in their lives that care enough abo...
... middle of paper ...
...Present." Street News Service. Street News
Service, 7 July 2010. Web. 02 May 2014.
Hombs, Mary Ellen. Modern Homelessness: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-
CLIO, 2011. Print.
Hombs, Mary Ellen. Modern Homelessness: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-
CLIO, 2011. Print.
"HOMELESS STATS." Homeless Article, Facts About Homelessness, Homelessness Statistics.
Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness, 2008. Web. 02 May 2014.
"Overview of Homelessness In America." Homelessness In America. National Student Campaign
Against Hunger and Homelessness, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
PBS. PBS, 26 June 2009. Web. 01 May 2014.
"Homeless Mentally Ill Facts, Figures and Anecdotes- MENTAL ILLNESS POLICY ORG." Homeless Mentally Ill Facts, Figures and Anecdotes- MENTAL ILLNESS POLICY ORG. Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, Feb. 2011. Web. 13 May 2014.
Harrison, Erica. "Homelessness Among the Seriously Mentally Ill: What We Can Do to Help." Clarityhumanservices.com. N.p., 5 Mar. 2013. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
This paper will explain approaches to resolve the social issue of homelessness in the state of Delaware. It will also explain a few reasons why homelessness should be addressed the correct way to potentially end it. I will describe the correlations of homelessness and health, the crimes involving and against the homeless, and lastly the families subjected to homelessness. A few solutions will be recommended in this paper also to optimistically achieve the goal of assisting the homeless and improving the assistance already given.
In the word homeless there are two root words, home and less. Home is what most people would define as the place where they live, or grew up. Less, simply means not as much as. When you combine the two together homeless equals someone who grew up in a home that was held to less standards than what they would normally be held up to. For example, someone who is homeless could live in a box, it sounds terrible but unfortunately it is a part of our reality. Not everyone can afford to live in a house, pay mortgage, and all the other expenses that come with the responsibility of owning a house, or home. Today homelessness still has an affect on many people.
“3.5 million people will experience homelessness in a given year,”(Los Angeles Homeless Services). This shocking number is one of the sad truths in today’s society. Homelessness is caused by a wide range of things including financial issues. The life of a homeless person is hard and comes with set-backs and the constant need to overcome them. Homeless people go through many challenges in surviving without a home. They can suffer from health issues, hunger, and poor emotional well-being.
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.
Encouragement from one 's community plays a significant role in the ability to overcome homelessness; without such motivation from peers, a lack of trust and confidence can occur, lowering their self-esteem and want to get out of homelessness. Through the article, Homelessness: Perception of Causes and Solutions, written by Lindsay Phillips, the study shows the way in which those within a community perceive the homeless, and their inability, or the inability they believe they possess, to benefit the community as a whole, this Phillips calling a stigma. Addressing the idea of social biases. Where those not conformed to society, seem to pose a threat to the rest, believing that without a roof over your head you 're inadequately qualified to hold a job.
Homeless individuals are known for taking hand outs and they prefer to plead for money rather than to go work for it. People assume most of the the money that is given to homeless people they spend it on drugs and alcohol because of the fact that many homeless people have drug and alcohol addictions. It is not uncommon to come across homeless youth and older homeless population that are known to abuse substances like drugs and alcohol. Because of the fact that homeless people have substance abuse problems, they tend face illnesses and infections. Many hard working Americans ask themselves “why don’t homeless people just get jobs?” The assumption is they are just lazy and unmotivated. Homeless people choose to live the life they live. Everyone goes through problems but not all people take the path homeless people do. The problems homeless people face is not an excuse for them to be helped and maintained by other hard working people. Although homelessness might be a choice to some, no one knows the hardships these people have gone through. Some assume these people are just lazy but in reality a lot of these homeless people have jobs of their own, they just can’t afford housing and a decent life. Everyone has their own opinion on homeless people, but that does not change the fact that one should still serve the homeless. Not because homeless people need help but because we are
Torrey, E. Fuller, M.D. (2011). Homeless Mentally Ill Fact, Figures, and Anecdotes. Retrieved from http://mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mentally-ill.html
There are too many connecting issues that have caused homelessness to escalate from a lifestyle that was really only lived by middle aged individuals with a substance abuse problem, to a condition that is endured everyday by a diverse number of people. The 2013 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress reveals that 36 percent of the homeless population consisted of individuals in families--over half of which were children--17.8 percent was made up by the chronically homeless, and an estimated 10 percent was comprised of veterans.
Homelessness is a vast predicament in America and around the world. It is severely overlooked as people don’t really think of homelessness as real world problem. However, there have been ways that people have tried to fix the problem. They have come up with homeless shelters, emergency shelters, food banks and soup kitchens. These solutions have limitations though, which will hopefully come to an end.
There are many other cases of why the homeless are homeless like domestic violence, mental illness, addictions, and unaffordable health care. Homelessness is a problem which has been caused by many different aspects but mainly money because of massive unemployment rates. A hidden aspect to homelessness that we may not think of is ...
Homelessness is increasing more every year. In fact, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, over 640,000 people experience homelessness every night. (Hunger and Homelessness in North America) By definition, the homeless are groups of people that do not have a home. They can be people who are mentally ill, unemployed, veterans, or even children born into unfortunate families. Since they have nowhere to go, the homeless usually live inside abandoned buildings, in the streets, or in makeshift homes, such as a cardboard box or homemade tent. Although some work to find a decent home, many still suffer from depression or are psychically disabled and cannot work. (Overview of Homelessness in America) These people do not choose to be homeless, instead they become homeless due to a series of unfortunate events; namely losing their source of income or becoming homeless by birth. One instance of this occurred in the life of Hazel Washington. Hazel was fleeing an abusive relationship when she moved in with her relative and his girlfriend, but she was not told about their impending eviction. Because of this, her roommates took everything she owned an...
After watching the video “Sociological Perspective Project: Homelessness,” and read the article “Community Level Characteristics Associated with Variation in Rates of Homelessness among Families and Single Adults I started to think about this more and started to read more on the topic and have I concluded , America could support its citizens better than it currently does by eliminating the progressive tax system, in which as wealth increases so does their income tax and implement tax incentives to encourage job creation. Loop holes should be eliminated in such systems as taxes, as well as welfare in order to prevent people from playing the system. The system should not be set up in such a way that filing for unemployment can be and often times is more profitable that holding a minimum wage job, which defeats the entire purpose of the welfare system. By adding these tax incentives to big business, it would encourage them to create new jobs, decreasing the number of people on welfare. While welfare should not be entirely disbanded, it should be made more restrictive and it, along...
Homelessness is a problem virtually every society suffers from. There are many things that cause people to become homeless, such as unemployment, relationship problems, and being evicted from ones domicile either by a landlord, friend or even a family member. However, with every cause there must be an effect. Some of the effects of one becoming homeless, besides the obvious change of lifestyle, are various health problems which often times may lead to death.