...Homelessness in America Student’s Name Institutional 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argue that such people have the potential to sustain themselves if the government and the society’s support system are withdrawn and therefore, assisting them only burdens the government and the society.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...
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...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). Another problem is that there is no consensus about what being homeless truly is. “The problem is, there are...
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...Introduction Homelessness is a critical issue within the United States of America. According to the United States federal law and the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, if a person lacks a fixed, regular, or adequate nighttime residence the person is then considered homeless. The National Alliance to End Homelessness reported that on a single night in January 2015 564,708 people in the United States were considered homeless, meaning they had no place to sleep. In the 1870s the issue of homelessness in America emerged causing many homeless people to live in urban cities. In the 1930s this issue worsened due to the Great Depression, causing poverty and more than two million people were homeless and in search of work. The homeless...
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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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...Homelessness in America Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation The Topic: Homelessness in America The problem of homelessness in America is a complex issue often vulnerable to the changing demographic dynamics, political shifts as well as seismic cultural events including the ongoing wars in most parts of the world. Policy makers have often debated most of the issues surrounding homelessness, right from the causes of homelessness, the population of the homeless to the possible solutions to the problem (Hodges, 2010). National studies indicate that Americans are at a high risk of becoming homeless. More than 30% of the low incomes earning Americans spend more than 50% of their earnings to paying rent (Surveys/Studies/Stats, 2012). The most common reasons for homelessness are emergency health problems, missed paychecks, and pending bills. However, most cases of homelessness are caused by poverty (Karger & Stoesz, 2010). Although policies to control homelessness have been implemented, there is a need for reforms and further amendments to state laws. Controversies Surrounding Homelessness in America A section of the people argues that it is their morally responsibility to assist the homeless people while others may claim that it is the choice of the people to remain homeless. Those who maintain that it is morally right to help the homeless individuals in the society cite the following critical issues: The Homeless Access to Health Insurance and Critical Medical...
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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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...number of homeless in need is larger than the funds available to make a difference. People wanting to help are not up-to-date about how, where, and when they can help. Where funds should go is complicated for federal assistance determination. If one does get approved for assistance, they may have to wait six months before aid will arrive. One may ask what can they do help the homeless population? They can volunteer with donations and clothing drives, donate food to soup kitchens, and write to their senators with suggestions about the needs of the homeless. The donations may not be a large sum of money, but for someone that has no money it’s a lottery win (Targeted News Service, 2015). The many public and private non- profit agencies to benefit the homeless movement have the mission statement which is: Reduce Homelessness in America. Homelessness in America is being addressed by some of the following coalitions with overwhelming urgency. The National Alliance to end Homelessness in America (NAEH) provides data and research to policymakers in Washington (Targeted News Service, 2015). All established information along with the continuing research between national organizations follows the NAEH lead to end homelessness along with support of the determined mission to end homelessness in America (Targeted News Service, 2015). Agencies Involved with Ending Homelessness in America The following agencies are actively involved in the movement to end homelessness in America. The NGO...
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...Where Does America Go from Here? How close to being homeless are you? Any person living in poverty is one mishap away from living out on the streets. Many Americans live everyday with a risk of being homeless or becoming homeless, America has the highest homelessness rates in the world and the biggest problems are not enough jobs opportunities and outsourcing, not enough affordable housing, and mental illness. PROBLEM 1 Homelessness can be directly related to a shortage of jobs in America due to outsourcing and businesses being shut down. Although most of the population has jobs there is a small percentage that don’t and in that percentage lays the homeless percentage. Long-term unemployed individuals rates have not changed since June of...
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...Carla Hill Speech 108 Teacher – Ms. Margot Williams Homelessness in America To inform To inform the audience about the homeless crisis in America Homelessness in America I. Introduction Individuals nationwide are experiencing homelessness. Even the most educated people have joined the homeless. The major contributing factor of homelessness is the recession that our nation is experiencing. The country’s economical status is in a very critical state, causing numerous corporations and businesses to close. Our economical downturn based on documented statistics show there are high unemployment rates across the country. There are also other contributing factors that play a role in homelessness. II. Body The major reason for the homelessness in America is the recession. According to, The National Alliance to End Homelessness it is estimated that the recession will force another 1.5 million people into homelessness over the next two years. The second reason for the homelessness in America is high unemployment rates worldwide. This is a trickle down effect that has caused the recession. With the nation’s economy in such a critical state of downturn, numerous corporations and businesses around the world have either down-sized in the amount of employees on staff or closed altogether. There are other factors for homelessness in America: 1. Unaffordable housing is the result of individuals who have lost their jobs or simply...
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...(Lee 502). In 2010, almost 649,917 people were considered homeless by the HUD in America (Curtis 2229). Within the population, at least 15% of the people were considered chronically homeless, which means they have been homeless for fifteen or more years (Semuels). In today’s world, the definition of homelessness is constantly changing every day (Curtis 2228). Many people consider homeless people to all be the same, but each homeless person is heterogeneous because they have their own characteristics and personalities (Lee 505). Much like Americans who...
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...Homelessness in America Tonight, across America, as many as 3.5 million people will not have a safe place to go to sleep. The homeless will be sleeping out in the cold, on a park bench or in the gutter. The lucky ones may be sleeping in a shelter tonight. These so called shelters are sometimes even more dangerous because they are frequently over-crowded and understaffed. But the real question is, in the land of opportunity, where the typical family has more televisions than family members and an average of two cars, why are there so many citizens on the street, struggling to survive from day to day? How are so many people, fellow human beings, sleeping on sidewalks, begging for spare change, and digging through garbage cans just to find food to eat? While the general impression is that the homeless are primarily alcoholics and drug abusers, more than half the homeless are families with children. The vast majority of these have been thrust into homelessness by a life altering event or series of events that were unexpected and unplanned for. There are many reasons these unfortunate individuals are seen living on the streets of our cities. Homelessness is caused by tragic life occurrences like the loss of loved ones, job loss, domestic violence, and divorce. Other impairments such as depression, untreated mental illness, post-traumatic stress disorder, and physical disabilities are also responsible for a large portion of the homeless. Many factors push people into living on...
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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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...essay titled “A Single Lucid Dream," about his adventures and volunteer work in Papua New Guinea through the Peace Corps. While in a remote village in Papua New Guinea, Soderstrom described the humble living conditions of the people living there. They lived in grass huts and survived off the lands and an average income of two hundred dollars a year. Although the people did not have much they sustained themselves and helped sustain the others around them. Those who needed help in the village received help no matter what, due to the spiritual desire of the native people. One day Soderstrom brought up the idea of homelessness, and showed the people a picture of two homeless men. Their reaction to the picture was pure confusion, and they immediately wanted to help. The solution the people came up with was to bring the two homeless men to the village, where they would take care of them. They would build them grass huts and plant gardens for them to sustain themselves with. The people in this village lack material wealth but can make up for this with their spiritual wealth. Soderstrom believes that America...
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...Homelessness in America. This issue has gone un-solved in many places in the United States. It is a complex social issue with many variables. Homelessness is when an individual does not have a stable or reliable place to live. Many homeless people can’t provide themselves or family with a decent meal and clothing. People are homeless for several different reasons such as, eviction, domestic violence, and some situations pertaining to not having a place to live. Many natural disasters ruin homes and places of employment, which is another cause of homelessness and unemployment in America. Minorities make up a huge percentage of homelessness. Minorities are a huge percentage of homelessness. According to National Coalition for The Homeless fifty one percent of homeless people were Latinos and African Americans. Many reasons why minorities are homeless is because the lack of education and problems within their families and homes. Domestic violence shelters are available for those we have gotten into a physical altercation with their partner and feel threaten. These individuals are usually placed in shelters outside of their borough in order to protect them. Government aid for the homeless varies from state to state. Some states don’t have a good system, which does not help those who are in need of housing. Many homeless people suffer from heat strokes and/or hypothermia because they have no choice but to sleep in the streets. The main cause of homeless in America is the lack of...
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...Homelessness in America Homelessness in America is a social problem that we are faced with on a daily basis. Despite the vast number of research done by Americans on homelessness, little is still known about the effect that it has on our society. The overall image that emerges from the effects of homeless people is negative: they’re seen as lazy, drug users, alcoholics, and worthless. This study recovers some of the homelessness perspective for an American audience through research, data, and an interview by a homeless person living in Georgia. This study will allow explanations and will challenge three widely held assumptions of the homeless people living in America: 1) Homeless people are lazy; 2) Homeless people are all drug and alcohol users and abusers; 3) Homeless people brought it on themselves. This research is to add nuance to our understanding about the social problem stated. Homelessness qualifies as a “social problem” because it doesn’t just affect the homeless but the nation as well. This paper will hopefully contribute more knowledge and understanding about the effects of homelessness in America. There has been a plethora of research done on homelessness in America since the 1980’s, but there has been changing quality and has left areas uninvestigated. According to Ravenhill (2011), In 2000 there was a survey done by researchers...
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