Capitalism And Homelessism

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There are many components that contribute to the homelessness in America. Neoliberalism and capitalism are very important contributors to discuss. Under these practices lies multiple factors that not only perpetuate, but also maintain homelessness. In a neoliberal era, there’s a shift of deregulating and privatizing public spheres/programs and move it under the authority of private and individual entities. This includes the lack of support and funding in access to affordable housing, employment, income, public health, and other public assistance. Neoliberalism, poverty, and capitalism has play a key role in sustaining the unequal distribution of wealth and resources among people, which has resulted folks in losing their sense of self.
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In order to be radical about poverty, we need to understand the difference between wealth and income. Income is a transfer of money by working or by gifts. On the other hand, wealth is more of a total of accumulated assets that has been stored for a period of time (Conley, pg. 253). Wealth is not distributed equally among the public. (NCH, 2016, http://nationalhomeless.org/about-homelessness/). Declining wages has also caused a lot of stress and increase people’s inability to pay for their housing or other needs. If there are affordable housing, it’s usually in an unsafe and polluted environment or it’s extremely overcrowded that people have a higher chance of being homeless or inadequate housing arrangements than getting their applications accepted (Why Are People Homeless Research, 2016, NCH). Also, privatizing housing will increase the accumulation of wealth of the power elite or those that own property and lands by their pricing in rents. Most people go through depression because of loss of home, jobs, or a sense of self. Often times, the lack education about health and they don’t receive adequate support for medical care if they are homelessness. Poverty is also treated as a criminal offence and if people were to ask for public assistance, they have to prove their eligibility. If they have a criminal record, they are …show more content…

National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH), is a network of different groups, individuals and organizations that are working together to eradicate homelessness, provide resources and protect their civil rights. NCH is doing a lot of work in providing awareness around the issue of homelessness. They do this through their four educational programs: Faces of Homelessness Speakers’ Bureau Panel Presentation, Organizing for Housing Justice, Homeless Challenge and Outreach Runs. They also organize many campaigns to engage the public in this issue. One project that stood out is their speaker’s bureau panel presentation in which the public are engaging in the dialogue of homelessness by hearing the stories of those that have experienced it. In Chapter 4 of When We Fight We Win, it talks a lot about the importance of storytelling and its importance for it creates a sense of understanding, healing, and commonality that unites people to build coalitions and stand in solidarity about it to address

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