...Homeless speech told everyone their struggles they had in their past and how society been treating them. Homelessness been problem for Sacramento for while ,however not in this large scale we have now. David become homeless when he got layoff from his job at campbell soup,but later on things got more worse for him. First thing he lost was his House,since he couldn't pay for bills then after that he had to sleep in his car. The next mess up thing that happen to him is that police took his car away with all stuff in it. He went to police department just get his stuff back that was in car,however the police didn't really care and never give stuff back to him. When Chris first became homeless he soon to learn the true struggle of living on streets....
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...A social problem that I find quite interesting is the homeless youth in Baltimore. After stumbling across several different articles about other communities with large group of homeless teenagers, I began researching the issue and its relevance to my own community. What stood out to me were the various ways the youth become homeless. When people see homeless adults, the often ignorantly attribute their circumstance to something that could have been avoided, or drug use and other behaviors that were their “fault.” I would love to work with the youth in the future because so many are homeless because they have nowhere else to go. It’s scary to think how young these children are often abandoned by their families as well as the system. Youth...
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...Homelessness is reaching epidemic proportions in the United States (American Medical Student Organization [AMSO], 2008, p.1). Problems inherent to homelessness are lack of shelter, food, clothing, and lack of health care. Living conditions of the homeless in and of themselves predispose the homeless population to a plethora of health problems. The problems associated with homelessness and healthcare have far reaching effects for a special subset of the homeless population – the population of homeless youth. Each year, more than 1.35 million children and youth experience life without a home, and one out of seven of all individuals treated by homeless health care projects is a child under age 15 (National Healthcare for the Homeless Council [NHCHC], 2003, p.1). Homeless children face the same illnesses faced by children in the general population, but their health issues are exacerbated by the circumstances inherent in their homeless status. Homelessness in and of itself is an independent predictor of poor health status among children (Kern Medical Center, 2003, p.3). Some of the health care issues especially prevalent in the homeless youth population are: psychosocial issues, nutrition and issues related to physical development, communicable diseases, dermatological disorders, respiratory disorders, dental health issues, sexual health issues, substance abuse issues, and issues related to medication use and adherence. Multiple studies have identified the adverse effects of homelessness...
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...Affiliation Homelessness remains to be a complex problem in the American society given the ever increasing number of the homeless people as time goes. There is a need for the government and the American society at large to help the homeless since it is shameful for society as wealthy as America to have homeless people in the society. On the other hand, there are several people who are perceived to be homeless in the streets of America's cities but are capable of sustaining themselves. The opponents of assisting the homeless argue that such people have the potential to sustain themselves if the government and the society’s support system are withdrawn and therefore, assisting them only burdens the government and the society. For all the stakeholders to develop an effective homeless policy, there is a need for the development of mechanisms that will lead to a proper identification of the homeless. Identifying the correct population of the homeless people involves coming up with a proper definition of homelessness. Different definitions of homelessness are widely used in America. Those definitions are controversial since different stakeholders use a specific definition of homelessness to justify their action. One of the most effective and all-inclusive definitions is called the point in time definition. It is a one-time survey of all the institutions, the shelters, and all the other places on the street with a high tendency of getting the homeless people. This method of defining homelessness...
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...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). Another problem is that there is no consensus about what being homeless truly is. “The problem is, there are so many definitions of homelessness for...
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...The Homeless Plight Student Name Course/Professor Date The Homeless Plight Homelessness is on the rise. Homeless people can be seen sleeping in a variety of places such as city subways, terminals, stations, and the underground world of transportation. In the winter, the homeless may be sleeping on top of grates for the warm steam; fires may be burning from cylinders on street corners, under bridges, or in alley ways for warmth. In the summer, buses, subway cars, malls, and fountains are but a slight relief for those homeless until an authority figure moves the person(s) on. In small suburban areas, most of the homeless are hidden and out of view. The United States faces many social problems; however, homelessness is a major dilemma. To understanding the issue of homelessness from a sociologist point of view, different lenses need to be used. The sociological perspectives of functionalism, conflict structuralists, and symbolic interactionism, provide the best angles to assess homelessness in the United States as well as analyzing the efforts to resolve the homeless dilemma the nation faces. There are approximately two million homeless men, women, and children, and the numbers are increasing. For the second consecutive year, homeless families are on the rise (AHAR, 2009). Causes of this dilemma are vast and include hardships from loss of employment, illness, lack of affordable housing, poverty, and the current economy. The number of homeless is constantly changing. Researchers...
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...Homeless LGBT Youth Patricia Lynard Literature Review SOWK 469 Applied Social Work Research Kofi Danso, Instructor Minnesota State University, Mankato March 6, 2013 Background/Intervention Someone who identifies as homeless LGBT youth is someone who fits into three categories combine. Firstly, they are young usually between the ages of 13-17 years of age. They are also homeless which loosely describes a person without a regular dwelling. There are several reasons why someone may become homeless; some examples include financial difficulties or family problems that force someone out of their home. The last category is an individual who identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). It is estimated that people who identify as LGBT make up 20% of the homeless population (Van Leeuwen, Boyle, Salomonsen-Sautel, Baker, Garcia, Hoffman, & Hopfer, 2006). When these categories are combined the individual is considered homeless LGBT youth, which is the focus of this literature review. The interventions for homeless LGBT youth are limited, but they can access local homeless shelters they however run the threat of being harassed by other people using the facilities for their sexual orientation. There a few organizations designed to help the homeless LGBT youth these interventions provide emergency housing for LGBT youth who have either been thrown out or have run away from their homes (Rosario, Schrimshaw, & Hunter, 2012). Purpose The purpose of this literature...
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...The 28th Amendment Many problems are caused by the homeless. The rapid increase in the homeless population is causing these problems to be amplified. Some commit crimes, some block foot traffic in front of stores, and some just make loud noises, upsetting the domestic tranquility. The 28th Amendment works on giving the homeless jobs to support themselves off the streets and lower these problems. Most homeless people aren’t homeless by choice, but by circumstance. Due to jobs not hiring the homeless, many don’t have the money to visit a licensed doctor. This causes many of the homeless to die of sicknesses that could've been prevented. If this amendment gets passed, the individual rights of the homeless and the rest of the population will benefit....
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...people see on a daily basis as they are driving down the streets, but that most ignore. In an age that questions whose problem the homeless population is, controversies arise over who should be taking care of these people. Homelessness is not a new concept in America. Having been around for over a century, the past few decades has become exceptionally worse. Homelessness is not something that is easily defined. Alex K. Rich and Geraldine Wagner tell their readers that most who study the problem of homelessness define the issue as “those who are forced to sleep in places not designated for sleeping.” Jennifer Bringle defines the homeless as people who do not have a “fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence” (4). However defined, the fact that they do not have a permanent residence is only the beginning of the problem. Although there are many controversies today surrounding the problem of homelessness and whether the government is responsible or not, the nation as a whole should take responsibility and work collectively to strive for an end to the problem. To some the way to end homelessness means leaving the change up to the homeless themselves. Critics today focus on the idea that people are homeless because of their own actions. In Ted Gottfried’s book Homeless: Whose Problem Is It, Ronald Reagan is quoted as saying, “The homeless . . . are homeless, you might say, by choice” (50). Also quoted in Gottfried’s book, radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, says that the...
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...have learned that “Social problems” are the central issues and conflicts that are not “personal problems”. These problems can never be resolved by a single human. It takes many people of the given society to work together in order to reach a solution. Social problems are very much complex that it threatens the values of society. The cause and the solutions are responsibilities of the society Affected Population The meaning of being homeless in the United States helps define who is able to receive shelter and assistance from health and social service providers. In order to 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...
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...Fontana is a city in the Inland Empire (Southern California) with a population of 200,003 people. In the 1990’s one of the city’s biggest problems was homelessness. Businesses would constantly complain to police about the homeless committing crimes in and around the area. It soon became an epidemic and it became a problem for all of the citizens. Police officers were constantly receiving calls that involved crimes related to homeless people. The police officers’ way of handling the situation would only relocate the homeless to another area but shortly after they would receive calls from that certain area complaining about the same homeless people. It was an ongoing cycle and something different had to be done. They were in need of a permanent...
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...Homeless Persons Heather Gustafson Axia College of University of Phoenix Homeless Persons A problem that continues to grow in the United States is Homeless people. Millions of people are homeless due to a variety of circumstances and the number still grows daily. History In the United States, de-institutionalization of the mentally ill -- unaccompanied by promised outpatient psychiatric and social services -- led to a large increase in the homeless, mentally ill population in the late 1970s. The number of homeless grew in the 1980s, as housing and social service cuts increased. This was in part a consequence of the transfer of federal dollars to a huge military buildup (including the spectacularly wasteful and unsuccessful "Star Wars" strategic missile defense initiative) and consequent large budget deficits. Fortunately, public compassion soared, and in 1986, 5 million Americans joined hands across the country to raise money for homeless programs (May 25, 1986 Hands Across America). In 1987, the McKinney Act authorized millions of dollars for housing and hunger relief (Donahue, 2007). Nature and Issues of Social Problems Homeless and poverty go together. People are unable to pay for food, clothing, shelter, child care, health care, and education. Choices have to be made to have what they need for their daily life so they have to put other things behind to cover necessities. Domestic violence leads people to become homeless because they are...
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...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 you view the problem and the judgment in which you pose, the clear crucial point remains; they are homeless because they are incapable or unwilling to help themselves. These sorts of beliefs provides a more disturbing truth; and that is for many in our society today we think that doing nothing is easier; and helping those who are already on the streets will not make a difference...
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...Homeless Veterans in America Name Institution Part 1 Statistics show that there are between 130,000 and 200,000 homeless veterans in America. Homeless veterans amount to about one-fourth and one-fifth of the entire homeless population in America. Homeless veterans are a population of Americans who have at one time or the other served their country in war. An estimated 131,000 veterans spend a night homeless, and this population doubles if one considers the population of homeless veterans over the course of the year. An approximate of 40% homeless men are veterans that are a significant considering 34% of the general adult male population is composed of veterans. Besides being homeless, this population faces other problems which include; social, economic, and psychological problems (Alker, 2009). Homeless veterans are more likely to suffer addiction as compared to the general population. According to Alker (2009), 76% of homeless veterans are alcohol or drug addicts. Because of the painful memories and the new reality of homelessness that dawn on them they turn to alcohol and drugs. Coupled with all the problems these homeless veterans experience social problems such as isolation. For this reason, they have no one to share their pains with and, therefore, they rarely receive help for treatable conditions such as addiction (Center for American Progress, 2008). Economic stressors are a root cause of homelessness for American veterans. The skills acquired from their military...
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...strongly believes that there needs to be more done in the state of North Carolina for the homeless. Teresa M. Holmes HS5401 March 14, 2014 Dr. Edward Muldrow Abstract The homeless population is aging faster that the general population in the U.S. As this vulnerable population continues to age, and having to address the health and housing needs is becoming increasing important. This will address overlooked concerns of homeless older adults, including their poor health status and unique care needs, the factors contribute to homelessness in this population, and the costs of homelessness among older adults, including to the U.S. health care system. The majority of homeless populations are people of color. There has been little study of racial differences among the homeless population, and racial finding have not been reported separately for homeless man and women. There is a study which the (MCKV) The McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Improvement Act of 2001 which provides funds to local educational agencies (LEAs), is almost a decade old, yet no evaluations of its academic effectiveness have been reported. Social networks analysis has utilized mathematical models and graphical constructs to examine information exchange and diffusion. Poverty has existed in some form in American society and individual shortcomings and inadequacies in explaining the raise of the homeless over the past several decades. Poverty has existed in the some form in America society since...
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