A New Shelter for the Homeless Population

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The Rural Appalachian region of southeastern Ohio is stricken with lack of jobs, transportation, resources, housing, and healthcare options. All of these factors affect the communities that are a part of the rural Appalachian area. A community is defined as a combination of social units that share common functions important to the locality (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2012, p.128). “For example, one may think of a community as having specific geographical boundaries, like a city, or as denoting a group with shared interests and beliefs, such as the social work community. The community may be seen as a target for change, as the problem, or as the context within which change occurs” (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2012, p. 129). One community that is in need of a context for change is the homeless individuals in the southeastern Ohio counties whom experience a mental illness, disability, or economic instability.

Deinstitutionalization in the mental health hospitals around the United States, has been occurring over the past few decades at an increasing rate. This is where the hospitals are beginning to shut down and send individuals back into the community; this is one of the major issues affecting homelessness in people who experience mental illness. Another reason for the mental health population who are homeless is because the difficulty they may face maintaining jobs and working in general. A study done on “919 found that the top reasons for the individual’s homelessness included economic factors at 45.0%, family problems 30.4%, 5.1% said because of drug and alcohol issues, 2.4% said they liked to move around, and 1.7% said it was due to deinstitutionalization” (First, Richard J., Rife, John C., & Toomey, Beverly G., 1994, p. 101). This shows ...

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Martinez-Brawley, E. E. (2000). Close to home: Human services and the small community.

Washington, D.C.: Washington, D.C. : NASW Press, c2000.

Works Cited

"American FactFinder - Community Facts." American FactFinder - Community Facts. United

States Census Bureau, 18 Jan. 2011. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. .

First, R. G. (1994). Homelessness in Rural Areas: Causes, Patterns, and Trends. Social Work, 39(1), 97.

Good Works, INC. A Community of Hope. Athens, Ohio: Good Works, INC., 2013. Print.

Kirst-Ashman, K. and Hull, G. (2012). Understanding Generalist Practice (6th edition). Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole. ISBN: 0-840033-3826

Martinez-Brawley, E. E. (2000). Close to home: Human services and the small community.

Washington, D.C.: Washington, D.C. : NASW Press, c2000.

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