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.
Kathleen’s book brings up many detailed facts about how homelessness is a never ending situation due to mental illness, poverty, social structure and political parties. She discusses how much of society groups Illegal immigrants, mentally ill, jobless and many other categories under the homeless category.
In the United States, homelessness has remained a constant presence in all major cities. For example, in New York City, it is comprised of alcoholics, drug addicts, and other people (“American History”). It has largely moved into hidden places such as unused subway tunnels or under bridges. Whether or not we experience it ourselves, homelessness impacts all of us. Homelessness describes all normal life crisis. There is a difference between people who experience these challenges and become homeless and people who face them and do not use the support systems that they have in place.
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...
...erging Adult Homeless in Two U.S. Cities. National Association of Social Workers, 58(2), 173-175. doi: 10.1093/sw/swt006
Here in Tahoe, we are lucky enough to experience a great quality of life, and only a few have to face the horrible life of poverty and homelessness. However, nationwide, even right outside the basin, homelessness is a growing epidemic across the country. There are many ways one can become homeless; for the most part poverty. There are also different concentrations of homeless in different types of terrain, such as urban or suburban areas. Last, there is the ever- growing homeless population, and how much money it costs us for others to live in poverty. These are the questions we ask ourselves about homelessness, and the only way we can help is to know the facts about this lingering subject.
Homelessness is a major public health problem throughout the United States due to increasing income disparities.1 About 650,000 people are homeless on any given day.2 Homelessness not only affects individuals, but families which include adults, children who may also experience mental illness, disabilities, or substance abuse.3 Homelessness is correlated with mental illness, substance abuse as well as loss of employment, poor health and, limited access to resources. While the state budget immediately considers fund housing initiatives to solve chronic homelessness it may not be the most efficient policy that this population needs. Housing does not provide necessary health services, may offer unequal aid to individuals and families, and may not be a priority for those individuals who are homeless. The state government should not fund housing policies for the homeless.
Rosenfield, S., (1988). Homelessness and rehospitalization: The importance of housing for the chronic mentally ill. Journal of Community Psychology, 19(1). 60-69.
Gulcur, Leyla, Padgett, Deborah K., and Tsemberis, Sam. (2006). “Housing First Services for People Who Are Homeless with Co-Occurring Serious Mental Illness and Substance Abuse.” Research on Social Work Practice, Vol 16 No. 1.
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.
“Homelessness is a symptom of systemic poverty” (www.kansascity.com). Since 2012, the homeless rate has risen more than 7% in Kansas City, MO alone. According to a 2012 count survey by the homeless coalition services, roughly 2,434 unduplicated individuals were homeless in Kansas City. Of those 70% were sheltered and 30% were on the streets. Since reported on any given night here in the metro more than 3,000 adults and 7,500 kids are homeless in our area. We are not sure why the rate has risen so much over the years. “Maybe because the declining economy is almost certain for the external event most commonly said to make people homeless” (Shumoky, Neil Larry). Many people who are homeless are, victims of domestic violence, after deciding to leave an abusive relationship, they often have nowhere to go for those who have few resource. Also, Lack of money needed for housing and having to wait on a list for assisted housing means they have to chose between staying with an abuser or living on the street with their kids. People with HIV/AIDS, those people often get depressed and suicidal. The cost for medications and treatments for people living with HIV/AIDS get too high for people to keep up with. They also are at risk of losing their jobs because of discrimination or absences health-related. A few more are people with a mental illness and substance abusers. Also, Veterans, who once served in this country. They were also effected by the economic crisis that hit a few years ago. Many also dealing with PTSD, are unwilling to get the help needed because of the shame surrounding mental illness. So many turn to alcohol/drugs as an escape from the terrible and haunting memories of the war. Some of their families give up on them. Not being ...
McNamara, Robert Hartmann. "Homelessness." Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Social Issues. Ed. Michael Shally-Jensen. Vol. 3: Family and Society. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011. 1024-1031. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 May 2014. .
Grant, R., Gracy, D., Goldsmith, G., Shapiro, A., & Redlener, I. E. (2013). Twenty-Five Years of Child and Family Homelessness: Where Are We Now?. American Journal Of Public Health, 103(S2), e1-e10. doi:10.2105/AJPH. 2013.301618
A very debatable question arises when analyzing this, and the upsurge of homelessness. Is the increase of homelessness due to deinstitutionalization? I believe that homelessness is not a result of deinstitutionalization, but rather in the way it has been implemented. Approximately 20-25% of the single adult homeless population suffers from some form of severe and persistent mental illness (Website 2). According to the Federal Task Force on Homelessness and Severe Mental Illness, only 5-7% of the mentally ill homeless need to be institutionalized (Website 2). A majority of mentally ill can live within the community with the appropriate supportive housing options (Website 2). That is where the problem lies. The mentally ill individuals, who have been dependent on all aspects of an institution, are being thrown into a community with little help or guidance. The importance of the distribution of psychoactive medication and financial support were perceived, but the significance of helping to create a community status role for the mentally ill was overlooked. Once this became apparent, community mental health centers were very resistant to providing services for them. States were also extremely reluctant to distribute funds for these community-based servi...
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.
Imagine a man on the streets, who society has forgotten. This man emits the smell of garbage; he has not bathed in months. This man sits quietly mumbling to himself. To the outer world he is just one of the many homeless, but little does society know that this man has a mental illness as well. Homelessness and mental illness are linked. These two happenings have similar beginnings. Homelessness is influenced by drug and alcohol disuse, being homeless at a young age, money problems, and trauma symptoms. Mental illness is caused by many of the same things, but it can also happen at birth. The effects that each entity has on a person are comparable. Rehabilitation is a necessary process if a victim of homelessness and or mental illness wants to rejoin society. Homelessness and mental illness have similar, if not the same causes, effects, and rehabilitations.