of the homeless. As a result many cities use the law enforcement and the criminal justice system to punish people living on the street for doing activities needed to survive. These measures often prohibit activities such as sleeping/camping, eating, sitting, and/or begging in public spaces and often include criminal penalties for violations of these laws (National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty 2009). Some cities have enacted food sharing restrictions that punish groups and individuals for serving food to homeless individuals. In 2009 the U.S. Congress recently passed and the President signed legislation, the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009, which requires the federal Interagency Council on Homelessness to develop constructive …show more content…
These are the enactment of new laws and statutes that are intended to limit or restrict the activities of the homeless, disproportionate and discriminatory enforcement of existing laws and ordinances, and the manipulation of the physical environment to restrict its usage by people who are homeless. This includes hindering the use of public space by designing park benches so that people cannot lie down and sleep on them, or moving ventilation grates off of sidewalks and into streets. These also include the enactment and enforcement of laws that make it illegal to sleep, sit, or store personal belongings in public spaces where people are forced to live in and includes selective enforcement of more neutral laws, such as loitering, jaywalking, or open container laws, against homeless persons (National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty 2009; McNamara, Crawford, and Burns 2013; Simpson 2015). Others includes sweeps of city areas in which homeless persons are living to drive them out of those areas, which frequently results in damage to an individual’s personal property such as important personal documents and medication. Cities also enforce a wide range of “quality of life” ordinances related to public activities and hygiene (i.e. public urination) when no public facilities are available to people without housing (National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty 2009; Simpson 2015; Forst
The McKinney-Vento as amended by S. 896 the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009 also known as McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, signed into law in 1987, covers many aspects of homelessness. The National Coalition for the Homeless states that the “McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act was the first—and remains the only—major federal legislative response to homelessness” (NCH). Originally, this act contained fifteen different programs that were included to aid the homeless population (United States Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD], 2007). The goal of this act is help the homeless receive the services this population needs. This act also defined what is considered homeless by the United States Government. In this policy analysis, I have chosen to focus on Title VII-B of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Title VII-B addresses homeless children and their rights to equal access to an education. The goal of this Title is to meet the needs of the children who meet the definition of homeless.
The simple definition of oppression is the cruel and unfair treatment of an individual or group of people. Oppression can be systemic, meaning it is deliberate, and designed to marginalize a section of people by forever keeping on the outside of society. One such group of people who have been historically and continue to be oppressed are the homeless. According to Johnstone, Jetten, Dingle, Parsell, and Walter (2015), homeless men, women and children are denied basic civil rights even though they are members of society solely because they do not reside in a “home”. The homeless are a vulnerable and victimized population as they experience personal and economic hardship as well as discrimination and exclusion because of their housing status.
The homeless population is growing in America. There are more and more Americans living in boxes, sleeping on park benches and panhandling on the streets each day. These people tend to make us, the non-homeless, feel uncomfortable and unsafe. They are also placing increasing stress on the nation's economy. In short, the homeless are a burden on the rest of society. There needs to be action taken against them. "I shall now humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection (Swift.)" I propose that all of the homeless be relocated to foreign third world countries. They can then be hired in American factories producing shoes, automobiles and other various goods at less than one dollar per hour.
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.
Studies have shown that, due to the sheer stress and anxiety of being homeless, 30% of the population increase their use of drugs and alcohol. Many homeless people are employed either fulltime or part-time. According to the US Conference of Mayors2008 report, approximately 2% of the homeless population is employed for a period longer than 30 days. Most homeless people are men. The number of homeless families, single women, and unaccompanied youth continue to be a large growing group. Men currently make up 43% of the homeless population. (US Con. Of Mayors 2005). Homelessness is an issue that has become prominent within the last century because of government handouts and assistance programs. The homeless are more likely to be the victims rather than the perpetrators of crime. They are less like to commit crimes against persons or property. Crimes associated with the homeless population are non-violent and non-destructive crimes. At least one homeless person is murdered each month due to hate crimes.. Many of the homeless don’t even report crimes committed against them. Creating more shelters and programs for e homeless will only enable them to stay in their situation. The goal of projects and programs all over the
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 a problem that happens in many different countries around the world. Definitions of homelessness are defined in different meanings by different people. However, the Stewart B. McKinney Act defines a homeless person as “ one who lacks a fixed permanent nighttime residence or whose nighttime residence is a temporary shelter, welfare hotel, or any public or private place not designed as sleeping accommodations for human beings” (McNamara 1025). It is impossible to find out exactly the number of homeless; however, the researchers can do a study to estimate that number. Based on different statistics from different researchers, the homeless population in America has been increasing as “an alarming rate” (Markos and Lima). Therefore, even though America is one of the most powerful countries in the world, homelessness, which has many common causes, has always been a big problem in society.
Laws that make the lives of the homeless more difficult are meant to decrease the amount of homeless people however they are counterproductive. Many of the cities enforcing these laws don’t have enough affordable housing available for the homeless. Also fines and criminal charges only make the lives of the homeless more challenging when applying for housing. Not to mention one night in jail costs on average three times as much as one night in a shelter. “The US Interagency Council on Homelessness has strongly advised local governments not to enact laws criminalizing homelessness as it fails to increase access to services and tends to create additional barriers for homeless people while also undermining the impact of service providers Building a Movement to End Homelessness).” Criminalization of the homeless sends the message to the public that homeless people are criminals and should not be helped. What needs to be understood is that
Many people debate on weather homeless people should receive guidance or just be abandoned. Do homeless people deserve our service and to be supported, or are they just lazy individuals trying to take advantage of people? Homelessness is a growing dispute in cities. It has became an extensive problem for the community. Homelessness can not and should not be ignored. The number of homeless people in the United States is quickly growing. It seems like no one cares to help them. Even our heroes like police officers show no sympathy towards the homeless. “Homeless people appeared on the streets of Bucharest in 1990. Since then, their number and the problems created by this phenomenon have steadily increased in all major
The government has the power to help reduce the risk of becoming homeless due to economic reasons. Nan Roman, president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, points out that, in order to end homelessness, the government could make housing more affordable to lower income families “or figure out some way to supplement people 's income through vouchers or tax credits" (qtd. in Housing the Homeless). This would mean that even if a person, or an entire family, lost their main source of income, they would still have the me...
(101). As a result, the homeless cannot look for food or lie down to rest; therefore, their means of survival is limited. Furthermore, Bender explains that many states have vagrancy laws. These laws deal w...
There are countless laws today that subliminally discriminate against homeless people. One such law was passed in 2014 that made it illegal to sleep in public areas of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Philosopher Jeremy Waldron and author of the essay “Homelessness and the Issue of Freedom” would view this law as extremely unconstitutional and immoral. Waldron would argue that making it illegal to sleep somewhere takes away the homeless persons freedom to live. I agree with Waldron on the claim that outlawing sleeping in public spaces is unconstitutional because by doing so one is taking away the homeless persons only home. For those who do not have a place to sleep the streets are their only homes. The law banning sleeping in public spaces therefore discretely makes it illegal for homeless people to even exist.
...his Website provided me with many facts on civil rights violations dealing with homeless people as well as basic facts on homelessness and poverty in America. Ott, Jeff. My World. Van Nuys: Sub City. 2000. This is a book written by a former homeless man. He has overcome drug addiction as well as sexual abuse as a child. In this book he describes personal feelings as well as facts about homelessness. Rick. Personal Interview. May 8, 2000. Rick is a homeless man who works at the River Street Homeless Shelter. He has worked with many different homeless shelters in northern California. He feels that the Mayor needs to spend a night with the homeless people of Santa Cruz so that he understands what they go through. Rick is fighting the camping ban as well as working towards receiving funding for a year round shelter. United States. Constitution. First Amendment. United States: 1788. The First Amendment states that ?Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.?
Homelessness is descriptive condition of someone without a permanent or regular dwelling. Homeless people most often are not in a position to acquire as well as maintain a safe, regular, and adequate housing. Being that one of the most fundamental human needs is shelter, it is important and health for every human to at least acquire one. Unfortunately, it is becoming rather a difficulty to own a home in the current century given the economic recessions frequently occurring in almost globally. Although the legal definitions for homelessness may vary from country to country, the central idea includes people whose primary nighttime residence could be a homeless shelter, a domestic violence shelter, cardboard boxes or ad hoc housing circumstances. They could also be people who take shelter at night in a private or public place that is not primarily designed or suitable for use as a regular sleeping housing for humans.