“What if you woke up today with what you thanked God for yesterday?” I saw this sign hanging on a wall at a friends house, and it shocked me when I read it. I would have absolutely nothing. I have so much to be thankful for, but I never thought about any of it. I would not have any of my possessions, that at this point in time seemed like necessities, or any of my friends and family. I am not saying you have to become religious to be thankful for something, but there are people that do not have any of these things that we find necessary for basic survival. After a long day at school or work some people do not have the privilege of laying in a nice comfy bed, and have the privilege of having food at their disposal whenever they desire. These less fortunate people make up the homeless population in not only the US, but the world. Homelessness is a problem, because society stereotypes and discriminates against them, it has been on the rise without any effort to stop it, and it is dangerous to peoples health.
Stereotyping is something that everyone subconsciously does, and sadly, something that people are very good at. The common view on someone that is homeless is that they are dirty and disease ridden, but they are still human beings that are not as lucky as the rest of us. It is not just one mistake or bad choice that causes someone to end up on the street, it is a series of mistakes, and a little bad luck, that turns these peoples lives from bad to worse (Thibodeau). More often then not most of the things that put people on the street our things that can normally be dealt with alone, but when faced with these challenges it is easy to find a bank account drain quicker than it can be replenished. Most people can afford to make mor...
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Kann, Ashley. "Unequal Funding Crippling Mass. Homeless Shelters." GoLocalWorcester. N.p., 2 June 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. .
Kozol Jonathan.”Untouchables,” Book, Patterns for Purpose, Ed. Clouse, Barbra, McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, June 12, 2008. Print.
Malagna, Steven. "The Professional Panhandling Plague." The City Journal. The City Journal, n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. .
McKinney-Vento Act (Washington DC: National Coalition for the Homeless, 2006).
O’Flaherty, Brendan. Making Room: The Economics of Homelessness. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996..
Thibodeau, Tom. Personal interview. 10 Oct. 2013.
Homelessness is a social suffering experienced by human beings throughout the world. In 2013, the NYC Department of Homeless Services reported that about 1 out of every 2,662 people out of the general New York City population of 8,244,910, experienced homelessness (NYC Department of Homeless Services, 2013). Preceding these findings, in 2012, the US Department of Housing and Development reported that New York’s homeless population accounts for about 11 percent of the US’s homeless population (2012 Annual Homeless Assessment Report). In our society, the homeless are a highly stigmatized group that is subject to negative stereotypes about their situation of being homeless (Knecht & Martinez, 2009). Stereotypes are generalizations about a group of people (cultural, ethnic, racial, social, socioeconomic status etc.) that are held as rigid beliefs despite not being true. They can be positive or negative, and can be attributed to a person’s internal characteristics or external characteristics (Mio, Barker & Tumambing 2011). Some of the common attributed stereotypes to individuals experiencing homeless are that they are all alcoholics, mentally ill, dangerous, or substance abusers (Knecht & Martinez, 2009). As a result, homeless individuals are often overlooked as being human beings who can benefit from increased help from society in terms of policy and advocacy. What part of human beings leads them to be inclined to aid or ignore a homeless individual as a result of their understanding, or lack of understanding of “the other’s” current emotions?
.... The homeless community is a growing problem that only worsens with time. If we don’t make an effort now, to help the most vulnerable among us, then we are only contributing to this problem. With our unsure economy, nothing is guaranteed, so just be considerate for others who are in an inferior situation, because who knows when you might need a hand.
It’s discouraging to witness a fellow human being sitting on the corner with a sign claiming to be homeless, starving, and desperate. When you witness a generous citizen hand the needy a couple dollars, hoping they fulfilled their wish of eating for the day, you experience a feeling of caring and joy. However, I have witnessed this several times, that same desperate woman on the corner in raggedy clothing and clumped hair. I felt contemplative about doing a so-called good deed until I witnessed her one night board a fairly new Jeep Liberty in a nearby parking lot. This baffled me and made me wonder who are desperate from the dishonest. Panhandling is a growing problem and what seems to me has become a trend in the United States today. It is hard to get away from panhandling and the negative effects it brings on society, including the panhandlers themselves. Thus, if I could ban anything in the world, I would ban panhandling.
Have you ever thought about the possibilities of becoming homeless? I think about that almost every day; I try to comprehend and picture in my head the life as someone that lives on or off the streets of New York. New York isn’t one of the cleanest places in the United States, but it sure has one of the highest percentage rates in the U.S. for homeless people. In the 21st century, people raised in the U.S. are not taught about the struggles of homelessness and what they have to go through to survive; most people don’t plan on becoming homeless and became homeless due to the fluctuation in the market and various other problems. Also not only the homeless, but people in depth (people struggling to pay bills or drug addicts) and other people suffering also has to survive.
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. .
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
Keyes, Scott. “Everything You Think You Know About Panhandlers Is Wrong”. Think Progress. 30 Oct.
...em to come to the same general conclusion: public health programs for the homeless are not as effective as they could be. Whether it is not providing full attention in the type of service that is provided or a lack of outreach by the programs, a majority of people are not receiving the care they need. Instead of criticizing homeless people for crowding the emergency rooms consider the fact that they typically do not have an easily accessible alternative for medical care. “Systems like the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program have spent the past decades building a public health program that now has helped find insurance for 76% of patients who come through” (Oppenheimer et al., 2010, p.1401). It is important that cities all across the country begin programs that will improve and eventually completely eliminate the health care inaccessibility for the homeless.
"Overview of Homelessness In America." Homelessness In America. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2013. .
Zlotnick, C., Zerger, S., & Wolfe, P. B. (2013). Health care for the homeless: What we have learned in the past 30 years and what's next. American Journal of Public Health, 103(2), 199-205.
Most of these stereotypes are bad perceptions of the homeless. One of the myths is that homeless people are taking advantage of the system (“Myths about the Homeless”). What most people do not realize is that only a small percentage of homeless people receive government aid; it is projected that 40% of homeless people are eligible for disability services, but only 11% take it or claim it(“Myths about the Homeless”). Another myth is that people may think that homeless people are different from them, and that they would never be homeless. The truth is that one simple disaster or unfortunate event could lead someone to homelessness (“Myths about the Homeless”). For example, someone could be very rich and a natural disaster, like a hurricane, could strike leaving them with nothing to their name and nowhere to turn to. One more major myth that people think about the homeless are that they are criminals when in fact, most of them are victims of crimes (“Myths about the Homeless”). John Hopkins University did a study about the homeless and crimes and found out that even though some did commit crimes, most were never against a person or property. People not knowing the true facts about homelessness should be educated about it because labeling them with a stereotype that is not accurate does hurt
This disadvantage is based on a reduced access to goods, services and accommodations which all contribute to increased rates of poor health. Furthermore, those who are homeless have limited opportunities to protect their well-being. Authors Johnstone, Jetten, Dingle, Parsell, and Walter (2015) claim, as being homelessness is often viewed as to some extent controllable due to reasons such as unemployment, drug addiction or mental illness, those individuals are perceived as responsible for their lack of adequate housing and therefore not worthy of assistance or as a matter of fact not fully human. The homeless, as a group, are seen as incompetent and “the lowest of the low” which elicits the disgust and contempt as well as a prejudice that can make people associate the homeless as subhuman. Noted by author Fischer (1992), data indicates that crimes perpetrated on homeless victims including offenses against property and against the person between seven and forty times more often than the general population. Also, one fifth of homeless adults surveyed in New York had been raped and one of every thirteen shelter users in St. Louis reported sexual
The Homeless in America I never imagined that I would be homeless. " Although I have read this statement over and over again, the facts behind it remain astonishing. The facts are that there are millions of homeless people in America today. Many of these people had no choice but to become homeless. Economic problems such as being laid off work, or the rise in the cost of housing, have led people to live on the streets.
In the article “Homeless” Anna Quindlen states that people without homes are being discriminated and stereotyped as the homeless. She uses personal knowledge and examples to build her argument. Anna Quindlen states that people in America think that they know that a shelter is best for them, but emotional and physical issues can make the homeless not want to go to these shelters. I always used to think that they should be in a shelter, too, but like most Americans I never really thought about what is preventing them from going. I agree with Anna Quindlen’s points that people with homes do not know what’s best for the people without one and that they are not the homeless if they had a home before, but
Hopper, Kim. “Housing the Homeless.” Social Policy 28.3 (1998): 64+. Academic OneFile. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.