Homelessness is a real serious health issue all over the world that must be addressed. A lot of people in a public frequently misunderstand the cause of homelessness. Remarks regarding homeless people such as “they need to just get a job” or “go to school” are normally used liberally by members of society because they neglect to look at the complete issue. Homelessness does not discriminate. Individuals that have previously experience or may experience being homeless can be from different regions, have different cultural backgrounds, ages, and could be of any gender. Minorities seem to be mostly affected by homelessness. A study done in 2012 found that the homeless population is consisted of 39% non-Hispanic Whites, 42% African-Americans, 13% Hispanic, 4% Native-American, and 2% Asian (Now on PBS, 2012). The End Homelessness website provides the following statistics:
• There are 643,067 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the U.S.
• Out of that number, 238,110 are people in families, and 404, 957 are individuals.
• 12% (67,000) of the homeless are veterans, and
• 23 % of the homeless population in the United States is considered “chronically homeless”
• 39 % children under the age of 18
• 42 % of these children were under the age of five. (End homelessness organization. 2012).
A well-known program in New Orleans is The Covenant House. It is a well establish program that offer assistance to thousands of youth. Each day, scores of kids walk into Covenant Houses across the Americas for the first time. They get what they need immediately: a shower, a meal, clothes, a warm bed, and medical care if they require it – more than a third do. Then, Covenant House has expectations of the kids. Once they’re safe, clot...
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Endhomelessness.org. 2014. Ways to Donate. [online] Available at: http://www.endhomelessness.org/pages/donate1 [Accessed: 28 March 2014].
la Haye, K., Green, H. D., Kennedy, D. P., Zhou, A., Golinelli, D., Wenzel, S. L., & Tucker, J. S.
(2012). Who Is Supporting Homeless Youth? Predictors of Support in Personal Networks. Journal Of Research On Adolescence (Wiley-Blackwell), 22(4), 604-616. doi:10.1111/j.1532-7795.2012.00806.x
Pbs.org. 2014. Facts and Figures: The Homeless . NOW on PBS. [online] Available at: http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/526/homeless-facts.html [Accessed: 20 March 2014].
Thompson, S. J., Bender, K., Windsor, L., Cook, M. S., & Williams, T. (2010).
Homeless Youth: Characteristics, Contributing Factors, and Service Options. Journal Of Human Behavior In The Social Environment, 20(2), 193-217. doi:10.1080/10911350903269831
Finkelstein, M. (2005). With no direction home: homeless youth on the road and in the streets. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.
Although The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act is a program that guarantees education for the homeless youth population, many homeless do not receive the proper services they need because they are not aware of available resources (Heinze & Jozefowicz-Simbeni, 2009). Many homeless youths do not have a safe place to stay during the night or do not have any family or friends to rely on for support. In addition, approximately 7% of youth members in the United States are left without a home because of high dependence on an addictive substance or because they have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder (Heinze & Jozefowicz-Simbeni, 2009). Services that could provide shelter for the youth are often underused. Research in homeless youth
Gwinnett County Public School (2010, June). Education for Homeless Children and Youth. Retrieved February 4, 2014, from http://www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/gcps-mainweb01.nsf/F42D74FA4ECBBFED85257754006DDA21/$file/HEP_Parent_Brochure_10-11.pdf
This paper has given the reader a brief overview of homelessness in Australia, in particular, youth homelessness. Social research methods have also been explored, looking at the definition of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods, and the purpose for each. It has been concluded that in order to examine young people’s experiences of homelessness, researchers should focus on qualitative methods of data collection.
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.
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.
Take a drive down town and the problem will be apparent, take a look to the left and there one stands, take a look to the right and there’s another. Homelessness is a term used to define a person who does not have a home to go to at the end of the day. Homelessness does not discriminate against age, sex or gender. What is startling to many people is that reasons why so many people succumb to homeless ness in their life; people assume that when someone is homeless it’s because of bad choices that that individual made in their life, which might be true but not for all, “approximately 1 and 5 Phoenix residents live below the poverty line” and that in itself has a lot to do with the current
The youth homelessness population is increasing because of the many challenges that these children or teens face in everyday life; It also continues getting larger every year because of the many youth who are getting into dangerous situations that force them to be homeless or thru their own choosing. One third of the homeless population is between the ages of 16-24, which is incredibly young and it is the prime years for an adolescent or young adu...
Based off the attention from modern media, youth homelessness has been on an unfortunate upslope in the United States within the past decade. Various factors tie into why this issue is becoming more prominent such as low income households being unable to afford children, LGBT youth rejection, and domestic abuse leading to children leaving home. Now, vagrancy has a severely negative impact on the development of young people as it inhibits them from developing academically, socially, and mentally and can also expose them to diseases and potentially various types of abuse, such as sexual and substance abuse. This is an issue that should be addressed, for the rising generations are America’s future, and so investing in the overall well-being of the
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.)
...those who live in poverty, those who have insufficient economic resources, those who lack affordable housing, who have health issues, and those who face unjust racial bias (criminal justice system). We also looked at the domestic circumstances among the homeless and how minorities are doing when it comes to education. Unless these racial disparities and inequalities are addressed in every level, including employment, housing, health, criminal justice, mental health, domestic violence, and as well as other disparities that exist in this society are addressed there would continuously be a higher number of minorities that are homeless in New York City. There are many more other factors that lead to homelessness besides those that are mentioned above, but for this research, two factors will be examined; insufficient economic resources and lack of affordable housing.
Youth become homeless for a number of reasons, including: family violence and neglect, rejection due to sexual orientation or gender identity, the overwhelmed child welfare system and extreme poverty. These youth almost always have experienced unimaginable abuse and trauma, in their homes, their communities, and on the street. It is the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA)-funded services and programs that help to rectify the deep injustices that homeless youth experience on a daily basis.
Hudson, Angela L., and Karabi Nandy. "Comparisons of Substance Abuse, High-risk Sexual Behavior and Depressive Symptons Among Homeless youth with and without a History of Foster Care Placement." EBSCOhost. EBSCO, Oct 2012. Web.11 Dec.2013.
This source is an ethnographic study to explore the culture of homelessness in youth. Data for the study were obtained from nineteen homeless adolescents from the northeastern part of the US. Oliveira and Burke (2009) identified some of the cultural features of homeless youth including material possessions such as musical instruments and equipment, relationships with other homeless individuals to create a street family, selling drugs and panhandling as well as a street language. They found that the decision to make the streets their home was a rational option to staying unsafe and harmful home environments.
There are various social issues that we are currently facing as a nation, I believe that all are of importance and should be addressed. One social issue that is important to me is that of youth homelessness. The National Center for Housing and Child Welfare states that there are between 1 million and 1.7 million homeless youth in the United States (Fernandes-Alcantara, 2013). There are various reasons on why there are so many homeless youth; one reason is that a good amount of these kids are in the foster care system and once they age out of the system, some have no where to go and are unable to financially support themselves. Between 11% to 37% of youth aging out of foster care experienced homelessness and around 25% to 50% of youth aging