...During the past decade, our society seem to believe that homelessness is a new Phenomenon caused by various reasons to include, lack of governmental aid, downward spiral of the economy, loss of jobs, and increase in substance abuse. However history proves homelessness is not a new era, society just failed to give the issue the needed attention. There are over 2 million men, women, and children that are currently homeless in America. Yearly 1 in 30 children in Kentucky experience homelessness, according to an article by Cholkshi, which explains a notable increases in the number of homeless families as well. Though it maybe unknown to others but there are a number of homeless persons in the Radcliff and Elizabethtown area. Kentucky Interagency Council on Homelessness home page states “People are considered homeless if they do not have access to safe, affordable and permanent places to live. People become homeless for a variety of reasons. Health problems, family conflicts, limited life choices and the lack of a support system are frequent causes of homelessness, lack of affordable housing and...
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...Prevalence of Homelessness Among United States Veterans Martha Clark Adventist University of Health Sciences Abstract The purpose of this paper is to critique the article “Homelessness among a national representative sample of US veterans: prevalence, service utilization, and correlates,” which is a case study on the topic of homeless veterans in the United States. This article finds that low income, younger age, and poor mental and physical health had significant impact on whether a veteran would spend time homeless. The conclusions found in this article will be examined and compared with other related articles and data. This article shows that there is a correlation between veterans of foreign wars and periods of homelessness....
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...the population specifically is the homeless people. Homeless people need assistance with food, clothing, shelter, job training, and transportation needs, specially homeless people are in need of someone to speak for them, or to lead them to the correct path way. Homeless People & Problems Today there are between one thousand four hundred homeless in the El Paso TX, imagine what the population is in the whole entire United States. It is said that: "The most proximate cause of homelessness in America is poverty" (University of Richmond, 2003), not only poverty but employment better yet to blame the economy. The definition of being homeless means that a person does not have a permanent place to live or stay. No only being homeless is a problem also being poor in nutrition, unemployment, illnesses, drug addictions, and violence. Homelessness is growing tremendously each year and studies have showed that new programs and aid must be given to homeless people; to find a way to maintain it and or to preventing it from growing. Meeting those challenges how to help a homeless person. Being an advocate myself, working with the State, Health and Human Services Commission, I have directed homeless people on how they can be eligible to qualify for Supplemental Nutrition program, and the basic needs to be eligible. Empowering the client or homeless person to change their situation for their own benefits, leading them to the correct program or facility where they can get help, helping the...
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...population. I add a personal perspective on how I can assist with the problems that the homeless face such as shelter, food, clothing, transportation, and job training as an advocate. The most proximate cause of homelessness in America is poverty (University of Richmond, 2003). In the United States today there is approximately between five to six thousand people who are homeless. A person who is homeless is a person who does not have a permanent place to live; this also means a person who is sleeping in a relative’s sofa or floor (McKinney-Vento). Illness, violence, addictions, poor nutrition, and unemployment are some of the problems that come alone with homelessness. Since the population of homelessness is on the rise, new programs have been formulated by experts in order to aid the homeless and try to prevent the homeless population from increasing. Advocacy refers to influencing decisions that affect the welfare or interests of another individual or group (Barsky, 2000, pg. 219). Helping clients set goals, educating them of the resource they have available, helping them locate the available resources, and working towards changes in policies that limit their abilities would be a way of my advocating for the homelessness. Empowering clients to change their situation is an important way for me to advocate. I feel that one of the best ways that I would be able to advocate for the homeless would be by empowering them to make changes...
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...The Streets are not A Home for Youth Carlton Crayton English 147 August 31, 2015 University of Phoenix The Streets are not A Home for Youth The United States of America; the "Land of Milk and Honey," also known throughout the world as a place of prosperity. While this may be true for some, there is a significant percentage of the American population who lives in poverty. There are many who are so impoverished that they do not even have a place to call home. While homelessness has always existed in America, never before has this nation seen such a high percentage of its youth population living on the streets. Even though Young people often become homeless due to family conflict and substance abuse, youth is at a higher risk for homelessness than adults ("Starry Children At Heart Ministries, Inc.", 2015). In order to reduce the number of homeless youth, society needs to address the high rates of substance abuse, mental illness, and sexual trauma that is experienced by today's young adults. Substance abuse of alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs are prevalent amongst homeless youth. Many, young adolescent young people who became or on the verge of becoming homeless, were brought up in households where drug and alcohol were being used on a regular basis by parents or guardians. Domestic violence and some form of abuse within the home was present. Therefore, prompted the youthful pre-adult youth, encountering a horrible and traumatic adolescence. Subsequently;...
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...Homelessness There is an urgency to save the homeless in this country, but it seems less altruistic than it in fact is. The urgency is related to an out of sight out of mind philosophy. People who live in residences paid for with their own income have many misconceptions about the homeless: For example their social nature, beliefs, cause of despair, and what to do to fix the broken system of feeding and sheltering those in need. People cannot solely want to cure homelessness because they do not want to see it, or panhandlers bother them, it has to come from an unselfish place. It is the responsibility of human service agencies to educate the public, and find ways to empower the homeless so they do not have to suffer. A reform in intervention is necessary; with so many homeless adults and teens having mental illnesses, a way to return them to a societal reality needs to be addressed. History of Homelessness in the United States Animals, including humans, have always sought to find shelter. The basic needs for survival include food, water, air, and shelter. These four necessities are mentioned in every philosopher’s or psychologist ideologies of what humans need for survival. Even Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has safety as one of the most basic needs. When someone loses or has never had a permanent residence they are considered homeless. Cars, friends’ couches, shelters, and abandoned warehouses are not considered homes. In the middle-ages the homeless were a way to make...
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...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 forced to choose from the abusive relationship or becoming homeless. Mental illness issues also force people to become homeless. They are unable to find supportive housing or adequate treatment. Addiction issues also put so many people on the streets to feed their addiction...
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...Advocacy and Homelessness BSHS 441 Joann Wherry 6/6/2013 Advocacy and Homelessness What is advocacy? The classic definition is simply “The act of pleading or arguing in favor of something, such as a cause, idea, or policy; active support. “(Free Dictionary, 2013). To brand this definition more explicit to advocacy inside the Human Services field we need to add just a little more information. A more exact, directed to human services, definition of advocacy could be: to provide assistance to a certain population by supporting or communicating for them to attain the services in which they require. The amount of homeless individuals in America is disturbing. The need for advocacy amongst the homeless populace is in extreme igh demand today. “The recession will force 1.5 million more people into homelessness over the next two years, according to estimates by The National Alliance to End Homelessness.” (PBS, 2013). People find themselves homeless for a multitude of reasons. A lack of affordable housing and the limited scale of housing assistance programs have been the main driving force contributing to the current housing crisis. Homelessness and poverty have always been intricately interconnected. Poor individuals are regularly unable to pay for shelter, food, daycare, health care, and schooling. The main reasons why homelessness continues consist of stagnant or dropping incomes and less secure occupations which offer little to no benefits. Other less underlying...
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...way and ignore the ache of a person in need, a person who doesn’t have a home. Today in America there are more than 600,000 people are afflicted with homelessness. While there...
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...This speech will try to persuade people joined together at a fundraiser dinner to donate to the National Alliance to End Homeless, an organization dedicated to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States. This alliance has become well-known in America by improving policy, building capacity, and educating opinion leaders on the topic of homelessness. Donations can be done online, by check, or by credit card and substantially help the organization find ways to improve the lives of homeless individuals and families. Paragraph 2 — Explain the objections or obstacles your audience might have for doing what you ask and how you will counter their objections (counter-argument) There has been news coverage in the past discussing panhandlers...
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...To often we are approached while waiting at a traffic light by some unfortunate homeless person walking from car to car in hopes of a quarter or if lucky, a dollar. Most roll their windows up and lock the car doors, turn their heads and ignore the fact this person is asking for help. The homeless population in America is growing. There are four main areas that may cause homelessness; poor families unable to afford rent, substance abusers, deinstitutionalized mental patients and runaways (Rogers, 1990). The current regulations and standards are working to improve homelessness, but surely, as the homeless situation continues to grow these legislative acts will need new acts to be introduced to meet the needs of this population. Affordable housing is becoming a desperate need for this population. According to the United States Census of 2010, about 34% of our population is homeless ("United States Censes 2010", 2011). This is a staggering number. Although some of the people are substance abusers or mentally ill, the larger part of this population is homeless because of low income jobs, unemployment, and the lack of affordable housing. These are families with children to feed and may suddenly find themselves in the street, with nothing. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in which the United States is signatory, states housing, is a fundamental human right (Head, n.d.). Many politicians, unfortunately, look at the homeless person as property value or public image...
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...How do personal problems intertwine with public issues? In this paper I am going to talk about how personal problems intertwine with public issues. The example I am going to use is homelessness. I am going to talk about all the different types of homelessness, the causes of homelessness, and also examples of homelessness I see around me every day. I will also talk about my personal experiences in this subject I have dealt with in my own life. For many years now homelessness has been an issue not only in the United States, but around the world. No matter if you are living on the streets, in a shelter, or even in assisted housing of some kind, it is defined as being homeless. According to Jeanty (1999), “The National Coalition for the homeless showed a population of 30,000 to 7,000,000 homeless people in the United States as of 1995”. The reasons for becoming homeless vary from working low wage jobs, not being able to receive public assistance, and even having mental health issues. But the real main issue that causes a person to be homeless mostly is poverty. According to Jeaty(1999), there are also theories that say that personal problems cause homelessness such as: not wanting to work, excessive substance abuse, and poor money management skills. Also growing up many could have been struggling all there life and they don’t know any other way to live, but in the low income branch of living. Many may be uneducated where they can’t get a great job to support their family...
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...intended to have, and shall have the same validity as my handwritten signature. Student's signature (name typed here is equivalent to a signature): Christopher Holland Introduction The purpose of this paper is to explore the homeless population in the United States while thinking critically. The research for this paper shall detail the history of homeless from its first noticeable conception. The paper will examine the time line of homelessness stating contributing factors as well as detailing the homeless struggle. This paper shall research the nature of the social problems or issues experienced by homeless people meanwhile showing the stereotyping and discrimination of homeless people. This paper will explore the different demographic groups along with common clinical issues and intervention strategies. After the research has explored the many aspects of homelessness then this paper will detail the future intervention to alleviate the the struggle of homelessness. The History of Homelessness The history of homelessness teaches us the epidemic dating back as far as the Middle Ages where most emphasis was put...
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...Picture This: A Snapshot of Homelessness David Mello HCA430: Special Populations Instructor: Monica Vargas May 2, 2015 Picture This A Snapshot of Homelessness Imagine if you will, for one moment, a reflection of your daily life. For most, it began like any other day; you awoke from your warm and comfortable bed, showered, chose your outfit for the day, ate breakfast, and then went to work or school. As the day came to end, after earning a solid days wage, you went home to a nice warm dinner ready on the table, a bed with fresh linens awaited your tired and heavy eyes, and for the rest of the evening and into the night you slept on a pillow of dreams. This is in essence the American dream is it not? To have the basic needs that to some may come as a surprise, many Americans do not have. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, “In January 2014, there were 578,424 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the United States” (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2015). Many people would be in agreement that the above noted agenda is fairly normal; shelter, food, clothing, education, and family are all blessings and amenities that we take for granted but nonetheless are things that every individual deserves to have. Unfortunately, these are things that many people must suffer without. Scholarly research that spans over the course of two decades has continually and firmly established the emergence and persistence of indigent and homeless...
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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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