...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)...
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...of Los Angeles: Homelessness Marqueta Oliver BSBO1ELEG6 10/29/2014 Paul Korzeniowski The True Face of Los Angeles: Homelessness Even though some people believe that tourism is a more important focus in Los Angeles than poverty, Homelessness is a crisis in Los Angeles because it affects everyone and reducing homelessness will improve the economy. Homelessness in our nation affects our, communities, economics and families at large. Being a native Angelino, I grew up not realizing that homelessness is an epidemic. I did not understand why there were so many homeless people, nor did I think of seeing panhandlers asking for money and food as a crisis, but I viewed it as “normal”. I always knew local transients by name and would try to help with spare change or a meal when I could. I had no idea of the staggering statistics of homelessness in my community; I didn’t understand the effects of homelessness on our economy and that the alarming rate of poverty level in my metropolitan city, affects us all. By focusing more attention, resources and time to housing our poverty-stricken communities in the long run it would cost less and would also create a more humane society. In the beautiful city of Los Angeles, tourists from all over world fill the cities top attraction sites daily. What most tourist may not know is that every morning before dawn, Los Angeles has a long history of using police to control public spaces by limiting the appearance of homelessness in the city. While...
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...There’s no place like home | | Homelessness started as far as the 1930’s when the stock market crashed causing “The Great Depression”. During this time people lost jobs and their homes. People were devastated at the fact that that they were forced to sell their belongings. Later on in the years homelessness began to increase after the war because the vets couldn’t find jobs and were forced to live on the street because no one would hire them. The reason that there are so many people homeless is because the economy. People can’t find jobs so they have to sell their home and downgrade to a smaller home or apartment. Often there are times when families are broken up because the husband can’t provide for his family and they end up on the streets. The root cause of being homeless can be explained by economics, it’s said that people who become homeless are going through a financial issue and are unable to obtain or maintain their homes. Research shows that 83% of the homeless population experience episodic, transitional, or temporary periods of homelessness. The challenges that people in poverty ridden areas in trying to keep their get a home is the level of the housing cost burden. When housing is 30% or less of monthly income then it is considered to be affordable. Data collected from the US Census Bureau’s 2010 American Community Survey shows that 75% of the households at or below the poverty line are severely housing cost burdened. When your housing accounts for 50% or...
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...There are two sides to every story, as if that explains and justifies everything you know what I say when someone tell me that? I say well of course there are two sides to every story. The two stories there are sides to are the cause of been homelessness in America is not something that was created overnight, it’s been around for a long time; often we choose not to see the homeless, or bother them, so we think it’s alright to look the other way. We frequently falsely accuse homeless people to be existing/former drug abusers or once patients released from mental institutions. Homelessness is not a disease that you can catch if you come in contact with a homeless person, but it certainly has afflicted many of us. Isn’t this the country called the “Land of Opportunity”, while there’s millions of Americans deprived of such success-but why? There has been 4 major trends that are largely responsible for the rise of homelessness over the past 25 years: a growing shortage of affordable rental housing, a rise in the increase of poverty, and an increase in mental illness and chemical dependency. The shortage of low rent housing in the US reached a record high in 1995 when the number of low income renter households exceeded the number of low cost rental units by 4.4 million (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities). The shortage of affordable housing grew extraordinary even in the 1990s despite the strong economic growth. Between 1991-95, when the recession of the early 1990s reached bottom...
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...Homelessness and how it affects children Lewana Streeter Introduction Homelessness and poverty are ongoing issues that have existed for many years. Poverty has always been with us. But in the United States, poverty emerged as a political issues about 50 years ago (Dinitto, 2011). Along with poverty come many issues such as homelessness and going without food and clothing. These are basic necessities that everyone needs to survive. Also with poverty comes poor education. Usually the poorer the education the more likely an individual is to fall into poverty. One of the main issues with poverty is defining it. How do we know who are faced with poverty and homelessness, if poverty is not able to be defined? History of Poverty Many think that poverty will diminish over time (Dinittto, 2011). However, if there is a continued decline of education for women it is safe to believe that poverty and homelessness will continue to be a social policy issue. Poverty affects men women and children. Unfortunately, children are affected the most because they are the most vulnerable. Families are left without homes, jobs or the means to support their families. These same children are left without food or adequate clothing. And this has been the issue for years and years. Poverty as a political issue only came to light in the last 50 years (Dinitto, 2011). More Education Educating more women seems like a reliable alternative to homelessness and poverty. Is it reasonable to say the more...
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...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...
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...live a normal life requires having a home to live in. Yet people with no home and unable to afford anything can be found in all countries. The main reason is the individual cannot get the housing loans or welfare accessible to others. The causes of homelessness can be caused by family altercations or tragedy (or prison), or even a natural disaster. The larger proportions of homeless parents who are separated from their children in the US and the larger number of families in the homeless population are both likely because of the US social policy. Higher levels of inequality and lower levels of social benefits are associated with higher rates of homelessness. The Stewart McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 describes a homeless person as any place not meant for regular sleeping accommodation by humans. In 2005, an estimated 744,313 men, women, and children were homeless in the United States (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2007). Adults that are homeless are poor and have high rates and they don’t qualify for health care. There are also a large number of former veterans who become homeless. It is estimated that between 23 percent and 40 percent of homeless adults are veterans (National Alliance to End Homelessness). Poverty is related with higher risk...
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...Homelessness HSM/240 March 14, 2010 CHRISTINE COX Introduction Think about all the obstacles which you had to overcome in your life time. What if you awoke one day and your bed was a box and you where not able to took a shower, had to wear the same cloths, had nothing to eat, and didn’t know what you where going to do to survive that day. Simple needs in which we often take for granted on a regular basis and the privileges in which many individuals in the United States disregard because we have everything at our disposal. There are many people living among us who don’t have the command essentials to survive, but many homeless individuals face these ordeals daily and their life’s as they knew it has been replaced with false hope and broken dreams. There are far too many of our citizens within this country we call home living on the streets without a place to call home. Wearing only the cloths on their backs; eating out of the trash, stealing, and at times prostitution, and all because they have no one to reach out or no place to turn for help. Homelessness The dilemma of homelessness is an issue in our society that is largely ignored. It seems as if the problem of homelessness is invisible to many and at times hardly noticed. When people do recognize individuals who are homeless they automatically view them as beggars who need to go get a job or someone who uses drugs and mentally ill people who are beyond help. However...
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...Why can’t we end Poverty in America? Jake Hauser English 102 12/6/13 Today in the United States, more than 46 million Americans are living in poverty. The word poverty is defined as; the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. In other words, poverty is essentially the state of being poor. In a broad perspective, there are two types of poverty. There is relative poverty which refers to people who live in poor accommodations, cannot afford certain necessities, and struggle to make ends meet. In most cases for theses people, there is welfare available to help them so it would be rare for them to go without somewhere to live or to go starving. The other kind of poverty is known as absolute poverty. This is the kind of poverty that you would see in third world countries. These people have no food, no water and no help and it usually leads to death. Believe it or not, poverty is a worldwide problem that is taking place in every nation on the globe. In fact, half of the people in the world today are living on less than $2.50 per day. Statistically, Haiti is the most poverty stricken country in the world, with 77% of it’s population living below the poverty line. It also has a 40% unemployment rate, and many poverty-stricken people live on less than $1 a day. The United States may not be the most poverty stricken country in the world, but that doesn’t mean that there still isn’t a big problem in our...
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...Michelle Cooper 2/3/16 Part 1 There are many ways to reduce poverty in America, but I believe the very first step we must take is to change our thinking and how we interpret the phrase “people living in poverty” and those who are “homeless”. We need to realize that poverty and homelessness occurs for more than those who are out of job and those who are addicts. We must use deep thinking to see that poverty can occur from a unplanned illness or surgery and when the medical bills start piling up, then those individuals begin to lose everything. We can reduce poverty and homelessness in America by looking at the root causes of each. We can reduce it by being “far sighted” and looking at long term solutions for poverty stricken people such as job creation and training programs. Job retention programs can also be created with incentives to work. When we consider all of our possibilities we are then engaging in critical thinking to reduce poverty and homelessness. Part 2 I think there are basic principles for critical thinking that can always be applied the some way. In critical thinking, you are always striving for the best, not perfect solution. As I mentioned above, in reducing the number of those who live in poverty starts with us looking at the true reasons why someone is living in poverty and not just our perception or what society tells us. Society tells us that those who are homeless and living in poverty are drunks, dirty, and will always be that way. Perception is...
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...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...
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...market entirely (Folks, 2013) and are now facing housing crises. As the demand for affordable housing continues to grow as adults are unable to find work, many Americans are facing homelessness and have no affordable housing available to them. All across America, more people are finding themselves homeless. Whether in big cities or small urban towns, the homeless rate continues to grow as the inability to pay for affordable housing grows. The number of people paying more than fifty percent (50%) of their income toward rent increased by more than six percent (6%) from 2009 to 2010. The United States Housing and Urban Development (HUD) classify those paying that high of a percentage as “severely housing cost burdened”. In a survey conducted by the Low Income Housing Information Service, more than 17.6 million households with children experience at least one major housing problem, meaning that one out of every two households with children in this country experience an issue with housing (Kaufman, 2013). Per The National Alliance to End Homelessness (2012) the national rate of homelessness was 21 homeless people per 10,000. Nearly four in ten of those homeless are unsheltered, living on the streets or in cars, abandoned buildings or other places not intended for human habitation. Homelessness affects people of all ages, races, ethnicities and geographies but studies have found that people recently discharged from prison, young adults leaving foster care and people without...
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...Homeless in Prince William County Introduction and background: Homelessness is one of our nation’s most misunderstood and vexing social problems. Many individuals of all races struggle with the devastating effects of homeless including families with children, single adults, teenagers and the elderly. This is an issue that can be defined as living in unsuitable, unsafe and overcrowded environment. “On a single night in January 2013, there were 610,042 people experiencing homelessness in the United States, including 394,698 people who were homeless in sheltered locations and 215,344 people who were living in unsheltered locations” (Henry & Cortes, 2013). This shows homelessness in American is a crisis, many more individuals become homeless everyday. They struggle moving from place to place, night after night, in constant state of fear and survival. People become homeless for a variety of reasons. Homelessness is primarily an economic problem, and is also affected by a number of political and social factors. Economic factors include the lack of affordable housing, “housing costs have risen steadily across the country, and they have skyrocketed in many areas. Further, the inability to afford housing is concentrated among households with incomes below the poverty level, whose members account for the vast majority of people entering homelessness” (Burt, 2001). The growing gap between wage earnings and the cost of housing leaves millions of families and individuals unable...
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...THE PLACE OF DEEMED HOMELESS IN GOOD GOVERNANCE AND INCLUSIVE GROWTH OF INDIA TITLE: GOOD GOVERNANCE AND URBAN POVERTY PROGRAMS Author 1: Priyanka Bhattacharya, 1st Year, BBA.LLB(Hons) Author 2: Bharat Aseri, 2nd Year, BBA.LLB (Hons) ABOUT THE AUTHOR A girl from a metropolitan city of India, Priyanka Bhattacharya, was always in her way to be at the top. Doing her schooling from two famous schools of India, South Point High School and Gokhale Memorial Girls’ School, her capacity to write, think and dream increased and was ready to reach the top. Ups and Downs were a part and parcel of her life but hope and sincerity was her ultimate. After passing her first boards examination in class 10 her passion towards success increased because she knew in this world if one has success one is admired else are nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ. Working hard was not her part of the meal but the impulsive nature to get something and thirst of success which she always wanted to quench made her to this way. She passed her 10+2 examination with 88% of marks and being the state topper in accountancy in her WEST BENGAL BOARD OF HIGHER SECONDARY EXAMINATION, securing 98% marks out of 100. Awarded NATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP by the Central Government she pursued corporate law for a better future and a better career and she is currently studying BBA.LLB in NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, ORISSA. Deprivation from all the enjoyment and happiness of the poor and homeless people touched her...
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...The Empathy Project: The Homeless Introduction We see it every day yet it is so easy for us to ignore it: homelessness. It is more common and a larger problem than we realize but we have accepted it into our society and that it is not easily preventable. Certain people under difficult financial circumstances can easily fall below the poverty level with our highly competitive capitalistic system. A social stigma, as defined by Dalton Conley, author of You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking Like a Sociologist, is “a negative social label that not only changes others’ behavior toward a person but also alters that person’s own self-concept and social identity” (Dalton 211). Homeless stigmas are so overtly present in our society that we overlook the actual problem and possible solution. It has been ingrained into our society that wealth defines “good” and poverty defines “bad.” Characteristics associated with this understanding of “bad” include deviance, laziness, and lack of capability. Our system has shaped us to believe that everyone has an equal chance at wealth and success, ignoring the underlying cases of the struggling individuals in our society born into their socioeconomic status that prevents them from this “American” opportunity. We have these preconceived notions of homeless people that have been proven to be untrue yet we only pay attention to the fewer examples that support it and pre-judge based on these mere instances. The situation of being homeless...
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