Homelessness is an issue that seemed to be prevail across many developed countries. In Canada, the rate of homelessness is increasing, and it no only limited to one specific group of people Currie, Greaves, Golden, & Latimer, 1999, p. 17). There are many faces that homelessness has, which are, males, females, young, old, immigrants, refugees and the borne Canadian citizens. One of many topics that homelessness is connecting to is poor health. To understand the health of a population, many researchers usually only look at the biological or genetic predispositions that make up the group. There are many other factors that is important which are the life experiences, social and economic experience. All these factors have been an important due to the role that it plays within the individual or people lives. Within the studies of social determinant of health, some of the factors that many peoples agree that have affect the individual or people health is income and the social- economic status. There are many evidences that have proved that the individual income plays a big part in determining the person health. People who are in upper class are more likely to be more health than average or poor family. People or …show more content…
Some of things that they are expose to are the extreme weather, unhygienic living areas, and the danger of assault that they face everyday will living on the street. Due to their living condition, it also have a impact on their health, which are usually worse than normal people. The Homelessness action plans for Toronto (19990, explain homeless people are at a higher risk on infectious disease, premature death, acute illness, and chronic health problems. Also have a higher risk of suicide, mental health problems, and drug or alcohol addiction. Their state is worsened by poor nutrition, poor hygiene, and a higher likelihood of experiencing violence or trauma on the street or in a shelter (p.
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’.
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).
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.
Many believe that a common thread among the homeless is a lack of permanent and stable housing. But beyond that, the factors leading to homelessness and the services that are needed are unique according to the individual. To put them into one general category ? the homeless- suggests that people are homeless for similar reasons and therefore a single solution is the answer. Every homeless person shares the basic needs of affordable housing, adequate incomes and attainable healthcare. But a wide range of other unmet needs cause some people to become or remain homeless which include drug treatment, employment training, transportation, childcare and mental health services (Center 8.)
Many individuals would define leisure as time free from paid work, domestic responsibilities, and just about anything that one would not do as part of their daily routine. Time for leisure and time for work are both two separate spheres. The activities which people choose to do on their spare time benefit their own personal interests as well as their satisfactions. While some people may enjoy one activity, others pay not. Leisure is all about personal interests and what people constitute having a good time is all about. Some may say that the process of working class leisure can be seen to contribute their own subordination as well as the reproduction of capitalist class relations. Self-produced patterns of working class leisure can lead to resistance to such reproduction. This leads to social class relations and inequalities, and the fact that it they can never be completely reproduced in the leisure sphere. This film Home Feeling: Struggle for a Community, gives some examples of the role of leisure within a capitalist society dealing with issues such as class inequalities, and how they are different among various societies.
“Homeless is more than being without a home. It is tied into education needs, food, security; health issues both mental and physical, employment issues, etc. Don’t forget the whole picture.” (“Boxed In” 2005 pg. 108)
Bibliography 1 Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Health Care for Homeless People. Homelessness, Health, and Human Needs. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1988. 3, Health Problems of Homeless People. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK218236/
Homeless Canadian women have issues accessing feminine hygiene products. There are as many as 235,000 Canadians experiencing homelessness, with 27% being women.1 Menstruation is unavoidable, and lacking the resources to cope with the monthly issue leaves homeless women vulnerable to certain diseases and prone to infection by resorting to homemade pads/tampons. Furthermore, a gap in research pertaining to this issue exists with very limited knowledge beyond the barriers to access. To address this issue an anthropological lens must be applied to research for understanding why and what limits access in this population.
Boundaries enclosing poverty line in Toronto increasingly widens from year to year. Differences in economic status are evident throughout the GTA due to many factoring problems. Some of which are lack of affordable housing, government aid, and the growing pressure on homeless services while oblivion from Torontonians aggravates the situation. Homelessness is a major element of poverty in Toronto.
This is related to the lack of social support networks for homeless youth, which is a social determinant of health that will be later discussed. The reason that this key issue is related to community health is because homelessness creates many obstacles and barriers for the youth (Hughes, et al., 2010). This prevents the new generation from being autonomous and contributing members of society. When living on the street, there is exposure to abuse, poverty, unaffordable housing, and inadequate accessibility for healthcare (Hughes, et al., 2010). If the population continues to be homeless and have mental health problems, then it will further affect the number of people who are active members in society.
“In Canada around 235,000 people become homeless per year”. (The State of Homelessness in Canada) Homelessness is a substantial issue in Canada because many people die per year from being homeless. The expected life span of a homeless person is 39. The government have several programs as well as other organizations, charities, support groups, and rehabilitation centres to help the homeless.
These people are deprived from the basic necessities of life and survival is the major task which they need to tackle down. There are other loads of difficulties which they go through from. It’s not easy spending days without having proper or no food, a comfortable place to sleep, a hygienic surrounding, personal security or privacy. Homeless people face many problems beyond the lack of a safe and suitable home. They are often faced with many social disadvantages also.
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.