...HOMELESS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA So who exactly are Homeless? According to the Stewart McKinney Act (1994)[1], a person is considered as homeless if he/she is not able to acquire a “fixed”, “regular” and “adequate nighttime residence” and has a primary nighttime residence that is either used as a place to accommodate people on temporary basis, e.g. motels, rehabilitation centers, shelter homes, etc., or a place that is intended to be used as an institution, e.g. schools, hostels, etc., or a place that is not intended to be used as a nighttime residence (temporary or permanent) i.e. places like public parks, bus stops, subways, streets, etc. So this concludes our definition of Homeless. Now we shall take a look at some statistics obtained through reliable national data sources. Speaking broadly, people face homelessness because they cannot afford suitable housing. In fact, homelessness is clearly visible in urban areas of the country, where people lag enough resources to meet their housing requirements and eventually end up homeless. Homelessness can attributed to lack of money, higher living costs, scarcity of economic residence, etc. Moreover, data gathered by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, through point-in-time count shows that; a) There are 610,042 people facing the problem of homelessness on any given night in America[2] i.e. almost 19 people in 10,000 will be suffering from Homelessness. b) Of these homeless people, 222,197 are...
Words: 1711 - Pages: 7
...Homelessness in America seems to happen with alarming frequency. Homelessness affects millions of Americans each year, with approximately one third of the population suffering from severe mental disorders. It is a devastating experience for families. Every year, the United States conduct an enumeration of homeless people around the nation. These reports of homeless people conducted by the National Alliance to End Homelessness are based on the definition set by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in what is commonly known as a “point-in -time” count. Point-in-time counts are the only measure that captures unsheltered persons experiencing homelessness. Last year's point-in-time count is the most recent national estimate of homelessness in the United States. As of January 2013, the national count of unsheltered people experiencing homelessness decreases by 11.6% between 2012 and 2013. There is a common misconception that homelessness is an issue that only pertains to single men and women, but in reality over 600,000 families a year will experience homelessness. The problems of family homelessness are not solely restricted to urban areas; rural area and suburban communities are increasingly plagued by the problem. The three main reasons for the abundance of dispossessed families within America are the following: 1) the lack of affordable housing, 2) poverty, and 3) mental illness. In today's society, these causes are the main contributors towards...
Words: 2264 - Pages: 10
...Running head: HOMELESSNESS Homelessness in America Victoria M. Williams SOC 331, Social Justice & Ethics Cari Lynn Beecham-Bautista, Instructor November 23, 2015 HOMELESSNESS Homelessness in America Homelessness is a multifaceted social problem that is difficult for America to solve. Over the past three decades, there has been an increase in the homeless population in America (“Opening Doors Plan,” 2015). Even when America’s economy is progressing, there is still a high number of citizens who are facing homelessness (“Opening Doors Plan,” 2015). A lack of federal financial assistance, fragmented services and the difficulties in accessing these services have played a major role in hampering the solution to this social problem (“Opening Doors Plan,” 2015). As a result, these factors have necessitated a shift in federal, state and local policies to end homelessness. America has learned that homelessness can no longer be viewed as a short-term crisis where an abundance of emergency shelters can solve the problem. The demand for emergency shelters has always exceeded the supply for them. In order for justice to occur, there is an urgent need for more preventive measures and long-term solutions to end this problem. Homeless individuals and families are a vulnerable population whose rights have to be protected. A just response to America’s homeless problem has to include prohibition of criminalization laws, permanent housing with supportive...
Words: 4319 - Pages: 18
...Vietnam War. As a direct result of Post Traumatic Syndrome and other mental/medical disabilities many in this group may not have a permanent home to call their own. To define homelessness according to the site for National Health Care for the Homeless Council (retrieved 2014), one of the official definitions for the state of being homeless or homelessness is presented as follows: A homeless individual is defined in section 330(h) (4)(A) 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 facility (e.g., shelters) that provides temporary living accommodations, and an individual who is a resident in transitional housing.” A homeless person is an individual without permanent housing who may live on the streets; stay in a shelter, mission, single room occupancy facilities, abandoned building or vehicle; or in any other unstable or non-permanent situation. [Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C., 254b)](National 2014) This is one of the definitions that tries to explain this large sociological perspective based on trends or patterns and the fact that this social situation requires such a broad explanation to attempt to cover all aspects of homelessness. This explanation does show how widespread and complicated the state of being homeless is and how socially there is not one simple...
Words: 1358 - Pages: 6
...every day, as passersby ignore their existence on sidewalks, in parks, in subway stations. Based on the U.S. Conference of Mayors report from 2008, 19 of the 25 cities reported an increase in homelessness from 2007. More specifically, 16 cities reported an increase in the number of homeless families. Also, due to the recent foreclosures crisis, homelessness has been on the rise. In the U.S. Conference of Mayor’s 2008 Report, 12 of the 25 cities surveyed reported an increase in homelessness. There were some campaigns have been done after the increasing of the population of homelessness in America. Firstly, The National Center on Family Homelessness launched the Campaign to End Child Homelessness in 2009 to ensure that not one child in America goes to sleep for one night without a home. They believe it unacceptable for any child in the United States to be homeless. The Campaign's legacy will be that all children who are homeless will have stable housing, vital support services, and the same opportunities available to more fortunate children. The campaign plans to better address the needs of homeless children, improve programs and services to meet the unique needs of homeless children. Unfortunately, according to the America’s Youngest Outcasts 2010 State Report Card on Child Homelessness the numbers of homeless children increase by more than 448,000 from 2007 to 2010; 1.6 million (one in 45 children) are homeless in 2010—that is a 38% spike from 2007. Base on my own opinion...
Words: 1068 - Pages: 5
...In Allegheny County, homelessness has been an ongoing issue in need of attention. Each year the Continuum of Care (CoC) program assists in providing point-in-time (PIT) data to the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regarding the demographics of the homeless population throughout the country. People become homeless for a number of reasons. Primarily homelessness is due to a lack of funds. Homelessness can also be attributed to severe mental illness and chronic substance abuse. In the United States, 20-25% of the population is affected by some form of severe mental illness. People affected with mental illness are more likely to become homeless than the general population. Mental Illness can disrupt a person’s ability to carry out essential daily tasks of living, such as self care and household management. Mental illness can inhibit...
Words: 379 - Pages: 2
...Homelessness, Poverty and Politics in America At no time in American history is the poverty and homelessness problem more salient than it is now. Jabs and insults are hurled at political opponents like dirty bombs are hurled during war. Words like “food stamps” and “working poor” and “47%” become a regular part of the national rhetoric and almost seamlessly, they enter the ugly arena of bad words that people use to denigrate and demean. Meanwhile, the nameless and faceless majority of people living at or significantly below the poverty line still yearn for a voice. In days past, impolite rhetoric was covered up with a thin shroud of political correctness, today, there’s no such need as social media opens the floodgates for frankness and politics gets dirtier and uglier than ever. And still, the homeless men, women and children in America have no voice. On the left, President Obama’s administration reminds America that the 47% of people who rely on government programs of some kind and who legitimately need assistance are a group of people forgotten by the right. On the right, Governor Romney’s obsession with cuts and reductions on everything from taxes (paid by the top 1%) to government programs (that benefit everyone else) sound a lot like the fiscal policies espoused by President Bush and President Reagan three decades before that. Reagan has been credited with exploding the homeless problem in the United States (BBC News, 2004; Kengor, 2012) and yet there are many whose...
Words: 1184 - Pages: 5
...Flor Payan Prof. Jane Doe ENG 1102 November 17, 2014 Homelessness: Its Roots and Implications Everybody has been in touch with homelessness in America in one way or another. Either by looking at homeless people on the streets while driving home, or in a more unfortunate way, by dealing with it personally or knowing someone who deals with homelessness. It is clear that homelessness is a multifactorial problem, and its ramifications and consequences go beyond the simple fact of not having a home to call our own. Homelessness seems to affect more some segments of the population and some ethnic backgrounds more than others. With such facts, we can ask: what is the origin of homelessness? How someone becomes homeless? What can we do, as a society, to fight homelessness? And more importantly, why the strategies designed to fight homelessness are not working as effectively as expected? Considering the fact that hundreds of thousands of people are homeless and millions more at risk, as moderate estimates tell, the problem is clearly worse than we would like to think. There are clearly understood circumstances that create homelessness in America. Now “it is generally believed that the increase incidence of homelessness in the US has arisen from broad societal factors”, and economist and sociologists have found that homelessness is directly related to “changes in the institutionalization of the mentally ill, increases in drug addiction and alcohol usage, etc” (Quigley and Raphael)...
Words: 2085 - Pages: 9
...Homelessness: Understanding Why Abstract In January of 2014, 578,424 people were going through homelessness, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The three main reasons for the large measure of homeless families and people in America and other countries as well are affordable housing, low wages, and mental illnesses. Other reasons also include addictions, abuse, health care, and/or natural occurrences are contributors towards the distressing circumstances of homelessness, which often leads to divorce, health concerns, and educational obstacles. This paper introduces where homeless began and where it needs to end. Homelessness: Understanding Why T.S, Elliot stated “Home is where we start from”. David Belgum, a volunteer Chaplin with the Salvation Army Corp, asked these simple questions, “Is the length of residence in one place a criterion? How substantial does it have to be to be classified as a home? Who should judge whether or not the category of homelessness is to be applied in a given situation—the resident or residents, or someone from the "establishment"?” (Belgum). For many people this is true, but for many it’s not, but whose call is it to make? Many studies are inadequate when it comes to know accurately knowing how many people are in shelters or on the streets. The information found through these studies can be helpful when it comes to knowing roughly the amount of people that use the places like shelters and soup kitchens, but it could...
Words: 2443 - Pages: 10
...Homelessness and Its effects on the Community A common social concern talked about often in the United States is homelessness. 610,042 young adults, adolescents, and families can be found living without a place to call their home. The amount of homelessness is increasing at an alarming rate; this resulted fundamentally from America’s present-day economy system and the lack of prevention help. Homelessness has an effect on the community economically, socially, and politically; specifically taking an impact on public safety, local governments, and living costs. Anyone can become homeless; nobody chooses to be put in such position. According to Fargo et al., as stated in their article about the variations of homelessness, “as of a single night...
Words: 1273 - Pages: 6
...Introduction Homelessness is a crisis faced across the globe. Homelessness can be simply defined as a person living without a home, forcing them to reside on the streets. Some homeless people exit the situation quickly, but many more fall into homelessness long term. Much of this trend is due to many social-economical factors in the society. Drugs, finances and abuse are some of the root causes to this problem. The lack of jobs, rise in living costs, addictions to drugs, and domestic disputes are what drive people to become homeless. According to a report released by the US census Bureau, (2014), the rise in homelessness is significant, hitting 3.5 million people who experience the situation in every year. Out of the 3.5 people experiencing homelessness, 35% of them are families that include children. The families in the United States are the fastest growing segment of homeless individuals. The military veterans who are homeless constitute 23% of the total people who are homeless in the United States. Of the 3.5 million homeless people, 25% are minors who are aged below 18 years (U.S. Census Bureau 2014). The minors become homeless when their families or the caretakers become homeless. Some of the homeless children lack paternal families and may have run away from the orphanage and children homes to make lives on their own. The statistics showed that 30% of the homeless people had experienced domestic violence and 25% suffered from mental illnesses. In the urban settings...
Words: 1356 - Pages: 6
...Homelessness: America’s Invisible Numbers As each decade passes there comes to light a new or growing national problem that faces our country. Our nation’s history is blanketed with social problems the American people have encountered, such as civil rights, recessions, political struggles, warfare, and increasing unemployment. Each of these issues has received media attention for the problems, complications, and obstacles they provide for the population. Each of these issues in their own right is important and needs to be addressed because it affects every person in the country. However, there is another problem that poses a challenge to the American people that does not receive the attention it so desperately needs. The issue is American homelessness, a segment of the population that continues to grow with each passing year. Homelessness is caused by a number of factors that differ for each person. The most significant causes of homelessness are the lack of affordable housing coupled with a national increase in poverty, mental illness and addiction disorders. According to the McKinney-Vento Act of 1987, a homeless person is defined as any person who lacks housing. This includes individuals whose primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private facility that provides temporary accommodations or an individual who is a resident in transitional housing. This means an individual who lacks fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, and an individual...
Words: 1900 - Pages: 8
...302 July 18, 2011 Karen Miner Abstract Most Americans have heard the term hobo, which is defined as a vagrant or transient among other definitions. The term is well known because a large number of Americans have been named such who lived on the streets, or “skid rows” of this country. Homeless individuals have existed throughout history; however, more recently, a larger number and many categories of homeless individuals occur. In this paper the subject to examine is the history of homeless persons in America, the nature of the social problems and issues experienced by the homeless, demography of the homeless, common clinical issues and intervention strategies, and a discussion of future interventions. Vulnerable Populations Homeless Persons Homelessness has been a phenomenon in America beginning in the late 1700s according to author Kenneth Kusmer. “Kusmer begins with an examination of homelessness from the late seventeenth century through the early nineteenth century. Although the number of homeless fluctuated somewhat in this period (rising in the late eighteenth century and in the 1820s), concern about the homeless was not widespread. The homeless were also largely an urban phenomenon; rural residents rarely encountered homeless persons. The Civil War introduced soldiers to railroad travel and to foraging, and after the war, some veterans continued to ride the rails and lead a homeless existence. However, it was during...
Words: 1468 - Pages: 6
...Running head: Homeless in Seattle Homeless in Seattle Melissa Elliott PAD 500 Dr.MCCue August 17, 2012 Abstract The epidemic of homelessness has taken a great toll on our society as we know it. America has been noted as the land of great opportunity and provision for one who wants to get ahead in life, it is often times referred to as the land of milk and honey. How did America get in such turmoil in housing its own citizens? America is noted to help other countries with all types of aid food, clothing, protection etc. .We must get back to the basics and create a solution to house our homeless population. Homeless is defined as a person or people not having a permanent residence or dwelling place. Mayor Schell’s Zero Homeless strategy was written to help combat the serious issue of homeless citizens in Seattle. Mayor Schell’s declaration was very pure ad heart felt concerning the homeless. He made decree that some may have viewed as an unrealistic goal. His firm decree declared that by Christmas of 1998 there would be no homeless families with children or single women out on the street. This was a great goal for a six month period and definitely not attainable. There are several reasons, taken from the public administration literature, why the strategy is not likely to be appropriate in this case. Principally, as Ring & Perry (1985) concisely...
Words: 1544 - Pages: 7
...February 24, 2013 The homeless population in America, as well as the metro Atlanta region is not what it used to be 20 years ago. The Giving to Live organization is working hard and often to see that the rate continues to decrease as well as offer up as much help as they can to take care of those who are still in need. The Giving to Live organization feeds about 50,000 homeless people per year. 40%-60% of those homeless people are employed but cannot afford meals. This organization not only provides food assistance to the homeless but also to others with varying circumstances on a daily basis. This is not an easy task. Several steps and precautions go into making sure this happens. Sometimes, circumstances that are beyond man's control causes changes to take place without notice and some may suffer still. But Giving to Live works diligently with many community workers and volunteers to see that meals are prepared and food is available for homeless families/children, low-income families with children, the elderly, transitional facilities, and orphanages. The number one benefit of Giving to Live is to decrease the number of hungry people in city of Atlanta and in the southern region of America. This factor, though not the only one, is what keeps our director, Ms. Miriam Wilson and her team working around the clock to take care of so many. As a member of this organization, I have been doing some research on Child Hunger in America. * Did you know that Atlanta, Georgia is...
Words: 1320 - Pages: 6
