Homelessness is a person or a family that don’t have a place to use as a house or shelter. US government provides emergency/winter shelters for homeless people living in the United States. Winter shelters are really useful for homeless people, but there is one problem about this service. States have the control of opening and closing these shelters. Before the beginning of winter, every state chooses a temperature to open winter shelters, and they open shelters when the weather is lower than the chosen temperature. For example New York City decided to open its winter shelters when the weather is colder than 32 F previous winter. Every state has a different temperature to open its shelters. Lethal hypothermia can be caused when the temperature is 50F and lower, however most of the cities wait until it is much colder. Opening emergency winter shelters under 50 F, doesn’t make sense because it causes pain for some unlucky and innocent people on the streets, is harmful for homeless people’s health and is being stingy by saying human life is less important than money.
Homeless people suffer, as cities wait for a chosen temperature to open winter shelters. The lowest chosen temperature appears in Baltimore, which is 13F. 13F is really too cold. Basically saying homeless people to sleep outside when it is 15F outside is definitely not fair for that people. Nobody deserves such pain. There are some causes that people cannot prevent. For example a huge number of homeless people in the USA are veterans. Yes, that is true. Those are the people, who risked their life for their country, got wounded and are not able to work anymore. US should look after them by giving house and money, but government doesn’t even open its shelters for those unk...
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Homelessness is a social issue that has been overlooked for too long. It can be observed in many states worldwide. The rising population of homeless people affects those characterized as homeless, their families subjected to the lifestyle, and the communities where homelessness exists. There are many solutions but only a few will be discussed. Improving existing shelters and building new shelters are general solutions. More in depth solutions within the shelters include programs that assist the homeless with opportunities for re-entry into the community. I would first like to discuss reasons why this issue should be looked into and conclude with recommendations.
When people see the homeless, they are quick to assume whether the homeless are where they’re at because of drugs, or not being in a stable environment. However, homeless people rarely receive an opportunity to tell their life stories or even have the chance to explain how they ended up in the situations they are in. Homelessness in Boston has persisted and increased for decades. Though there have been efforts to combating the issues of homelessness and housing, it appears that there is no solution in sight. Winter have become nightmares for most of the homeless population in Boston. Weather ranges from thirty degrees down to ten, sometimes single numbers. Weather that is below freezing are moments where people like myself, need to be in warm places. Kourtney McLean is a woman financially and emotionally not stable enough to take care of herself. Ms. McLean has been living on the streets for almost all her life --homeless and struggling to get on her
Homelessness in the United States has been an important subject that the government needs to turn its attention to. There has been announced in the news that the number of the homeless people in many major cities in the United States has been increasing enormously. According to United States Interagency Council on Homelessness reported that there was an estimation of 83,170 individuals have experienced chronic homelessness on the streets of the United States’ streets and shelters on only a single night of January 2015, which is a small decrease of only 1% from the previous year (People Experiencing Chronic Homelessness, n.d.). The United States must consider this subject that most of the people underestimate it and not pay attention
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.
In the early hours of the morning on Thursday, January 3, 2013, James G. Fulmer was found frozen to death on the steps of a Nashville Church. James Fulmer was 50 years old, homeless, and physically handicapped (wsmv.com). His tragic story is just one of almost 1,000 homeless men and women will suffer death caused by hypothermia each year. (nationalhomeless.org). Every night in the United States, over 600,000 people encounter homelessness. Their stories are diverse and their paths to homelessness, varied. Many have found themselves on the streets due to domestic violence, job loss and mental illness (npr.org). Some were teachers, accountants, musicians, painters, and even doctors. So many of the homeless population once lead normal lives. Yet, there is a social stigma that views the homeless as lazy, unwilling to work, uneducated and even untrustworthy. In a Capitalist society that places the highest value on image and the almighty dollar, there seems to be little desire to interact with these “outcasts”.
Romeo, Jim. "Homelessness in America Is a Growing Problem." Poverty and Homelessness. Ed. Noël Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Current Controversies. Rpt. from "A Roof of One's Own: Homelessness Is Growing, but Solutions Are Out There." Planning 71.11 (Dec. 2005): 12-16. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.
"Overview of Homelessness In America." Homelessness In America. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2013. .
This great nation of awesome power and abundant resources is losing the battle against homelessness. The casualties can be seen on the street corners of every city in American holding an ?I will work for food? sign. Homeless shelters and rescue missions are at full capacity. There is no room at the inn for the nation?s indigent. Anyone who has studied this issue understands that homelessness is a complex problem. Communities continue to struggle with this socio-economic problem while attempting to understand its causes and implement solutions. The public and private sectors of this country are making a difference in the lives of the homeless by addressing the issues of housing, poverty and education.
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...
Homelessness is primarily a poverty issue. The persistence of poverty in the United States reflects more than just an aggregation of individual failings. Structural factors, such as the way we understand and define poverty, the inherent features of our economic system that produce income inequality, social inequities and our policy responses to these problems shape current trends. Economic changes have had the strongest association with trends in overall rates, regardless of how poverty is measured. Poverty rate is high amongst minority groups, children and female-headed households (Iceland, 2003). According to professor Iceland’s research, rates of extreme poverty are higher among children and African-Americans and lower for whites, Asians and the elderly. Among families with children, married couples were less likely to be poor (6.9 %) than single parent male (17.5%) and single parent female (35.3%).
The economic component of the homelessness situation can be broken down into two interrelated parts: housing affordability and a low income rate. The economic recession that followed the financial crisis of 2007 left many individuals unemployed during a time that saw a spike in the price of housing. So not only did the cost of living increase, the rate of income also decreased accordingly. Unsurprisingly, during these same years homelessness rose from 24.2 percent in 2007 to 29.4 percent in 2009 (citation).
Homeless Shelters are described as “temporary residences” to protect vulnerable populations. Homeless shelters basically supply a bed for the night and are also a first come...
“Homeless is more than being without a home. It is tied into education needs, food, security; health issues both mental and physical, employment issues, etc. Don’t forget the whole picture.” (“Boxed In” 2005 pg. 108)
Homelessness is not something that was created over night; it has existed for a long time; often we choose not to see the homeless, or bother with them, so we look the other way. Homelessness is not prejudice toward race, creed, or religion--it has no boundaries; all homeless people should not be stereotyped as being drug abusers or the mentally ill that have been released from mental hospitals. Homelessness is not a disease that a person can catch from bodily contact, but it certainly has afflicted many Americans. We need to find the cause of homelessness before we can find a solution. More money for more programs is the typical response, but we should look at what has already been instituted and reevaluate them.
Fitzpatrick, Joanne. “ONI Opening Doors Project—Improving Health for Homeless People and Families.” Community Practitioner 85.2 (2012): 19+. Academic OneFile. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.