The Causes of Homelessness

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Walking down the streets of many metropolitan areas, a person is often faced with an often ignored problem: homelessness. Homelessness in America could be considered a major issue considering that over six hundred thousand people are homeless at any one time. Of those homeless, 46% were individuals not regularly occurring homelessness, 37% were individuals with chronic homelessness, and about 16% were families (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2013).
One might ask themselves, “How does this affect me?” Currently, it might not, however if you look at the statistics, homelessness was not a regular occurrence for almost half of those found homeless. The reason for homelessness varies greatly. Culturally, many people consider those who are homeless to be lazy, unmotivated, and mentally-unstable individuals. Many people feel safe because they think to themselves, “I’ve got no mental health issues, so I probably won’t end up homeless.” But is that truly the cause? Is mental illness one of the leading factors in homelessness?
In 2011 Johnson and Chamberlain conducted a study to address this question. They fielded data from 4291 homeless individuals in Australia. Their findings indicated that 15% of the individuals had mental-health problems before homelessness, 16% encountered mental-health problems after homelessness, and 69% had no mental health problems (p.36, 2011). That means that about 30% of the individuals who experienced homelessness had mental health related concerns, and over half of those concerns were experienced after experiencing homelessness. Is it a shock to anyone that there were mental health concerns affecting those who experienced homelessness? A homeless individual often has no clue where they will sleep, n...

... middle of paper ...

... to address the needs of those who are classically considered homeless and those that may not even know they are homeless.

Works Cited

National Alliance to End Homelessness. (2013). The state of homelessness in america 2013. (p. 5). Retrieved from http://www.endhomelessness.org/library/entry/the-state-of-homelessness-2013
Johnson, Guy, and Chris Chamberlain. "Are The Homeless Mentally Ill?." Australian Journal Of Social Issues (Australian Council Of Social Service) 46.1 (2011): 29-48. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Anderson, Isobel, and Julie Christian. "Causes Of Homelessness In The UK: A Dynamic Analysis." Journal Of Community & Applied Social Psychology 13.2 (2003): 105-118. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Sikich, K. (2008). Global Female Homelessness: A Multi-Faceted Problem. Gender Issues, 25(3), 147-156. doi:10.1007/s12147-008-9062-8

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