There are over 85,000 homeless people in Michigan. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless the population is estimated to be: Forty-two percent African American, Thirty-nine percent White, thirteen percent Hispanic, four percent Native American and two percent Asian. Fifty percent of the homeless people include adult and children families. More than half of Michigan’s total homeless population is children. The average age of homeless child is 7.6 years old.
Federal law defines homeless children as children who lack “a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence.” Michigan ranks 29th in the nation in child homelessness and has been rated the 4th worst when it comes to student homelessness. According to the Department of Education, there were 43,418 homeless students in Michigan during the 2011-2012 school year. That was approximately 42% more than what was reported for 2010 – 2011 school year and 96% from 2009 – 2010. (National Center for Homeless Education, 2013) This is a huge problem and it affects teaching staff, students, parents and the economy.
Homelessness can result from children running away, being abandoned by parents, extreme poverty within the family and/or unsafe/unstable living conditions. Being in situations where a child has worry about where they are going to sleep or where there next meal may come from gives them little time, if any, to focus or even think about attending school. In addition, attending school means a need for the upkeep of personal hygiene, having clean clothes and most importantly transportation to and from school, which can add more stress to a child outside of the fact they are homeless. Not having these things causes high levels of depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. Th...
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National Center for Homeless Education. (2013, October). Education for Homeless Children and Youths Program. Greensboro: U.S Department of Education. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/programs/homeless/data-comp-0910-1112.pdf
News Briefs. (2013). Journal of Housing & Community Development, 10-11.
Stein, M. L., & Roseman, M. (1990). Homeless Children: A New Vulnerability. Child and Youth Services, 89-109.
The National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, N. (2012). Homeless Education 101. Retrieved from Michigan Department of Education: http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7-140-6530_30334_40067---,00.html
Finkelstein, M. (2005). With no direction home: homeless youth on the road and in the streets. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.
Although The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act is a program that guarantees education for the homeless youth population, many homeless do not receive the proper services they need because they are not aware of available resources (Heinze & Jozefowicz-Simbeni, 2009). Many homeless youths do not have a safe place to stay during the night or do not have any family or friends to rely on for support. In addition, approximately 7% of youth members in the United States are left without a home because of high dependence on an addictive substance or because they have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder (Heinze & Jozefowicz-Simbeni, 2009). Services that could provide shelter for the youth are often underused. Research in homeless youth
Gwinnett County Public School (2010, June). Education for Homeless Children and Youth. Retrieved February 4, 2014, from http://www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/gcps-mainweb01.nsf/F42D74FA4ECBBFED85257754006DDA21/$file/HEP_Parent_Brochure_10-11.pdf
Homelessness is a condition of people who lack regular access to adequate housing. As this condition becomes a growing problem in Canada people are forced to deal with the issues. Who are the homeless? They range from children to adults and even in some cases, families. Why are they homeless? Poverty, lack of jobs or well paying jobs, decline in Social Services, domestic violence, mental illness, and chemical dependency contribute to the majority of the homeless within our society. What effects does being homeless have on members of the family? It contributes to many physical and mental health problems for both parents and their children. Homelessness is a world-wide issue, yet zeroing in on Canada, the majority of the homeless live on the streets of Toronto and Vancouver where they seek shelter anywhere from a park bench to dark alleys. The fact remains that homelessness will always be a problem yet over the years, the number of homeless people has been on the rise and something must be done. Homelessness, specially in families, is a devastating experience. It disturbs nearly all aspects of family life, damaging the physical and emotional health of family members. In addition, it interferes with children's education and development and often results in the separation of family members. It is hard to say exactly who the homeless are because it is usually a temporary circumstance and not a permanent condition. -2- Therefore more appropriate manner of estimating homelessness is to look at the number of people who are currently experiencing homelessness rather than the number of "homeless people". WHO ARE THE HOMELESS Homeless people range anywhere from 11 to 65 years of age. Most studies show that homeless adults are most likely to ...
Family homelessness is a fairly new social problem in America. Beginning in the early 1980’s, families with children have become the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.
The youth homelessness population is increasing because of the many challenges that these children or teens face in everyday life; It also continues getting larger every year because of the many youth who are getting into dangerous situations that force them to be homeless or thru their own choosing. One third of the homeless population is between the ages of 16-24, which is incredibly young and it is the prime years for an adolescent or young adu...
Over half a million people are homeless in the United States. A quarter of these homeless people are under the age of eighteen, or also known as children. 50 percent of the homeless that are over eighteen years, are fifty and older with health and injury prone problems. One in five homeless people suffers from untreated severe mental illness, and half of these people self medicate themselves. Eight percent of the homeless population are veterans, and forty-five percent of that number is blacks or Hispanics. Most people think that being homeless means begging for money on the streets with a sign, or sleeping on the sidewalk with your dog or cat and maybe even a bag to store some things in; but what does “being homeless” actually mean? Homelessness in the United States and is a bigger problem than most people think.
Based off the attention from modern media, youth homelessness has been on an unfortunate upslope in the United States within the past decade. Various factors tie into why this issue is becoming more prominent such as low income households being unable to afford children, LGBT youth rejection, and domestic abuse leading to children leaving home. Now, vagrancy has a severely negative impact on the development of young people as it inhibits them from developing academically, socially, and mentally and can also expose them to diseases and potentially various types of abuse, such as sexual and substance abuse. This is an issue that should be addressed, for the rising generations are America’s future, and so investing in the overall well-being of the
This great nation of awesome power and abundant resources is losing the battle against homelessness. The casualties can be seen on the street corners of every city in American holding an ?I will work for food? sign. Homeless shelters and rescue missions are at full capacity. There is no room at the inn for the nation?s indigent. Anyone who has studied this issue understands that homelessness is a complex problem. Communities continue to struggle with this socio-economic problem while attempting to understand its causes and implement solutions. The public and private sectors of this country are making a difference in the lives of the homeless by addressing the issues of housing, poverty and education.
Homelessness is one of the biggest issues society (Unites States) faces today. Homelessness is caused by lack of affordable housing, economic situations and decline in federal funding for low income families and the mentally ill. A homeless person is defined 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 (shelters) facility that provides temporary living accommodations and an individual who is a resident in transitional housing. This definition of housing is used by the U.S Department of Healt...
McNamara, Robert Hartmann. "Homelessness." Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Social Issues. Ed. Michael Shally-Jensen. Vol. 3: Family and Society. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011. 1024-1031. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 May 2014. .
Giffords, E., Alonso, C., & Bell, R. (2007). A Transitional Living Program for Homeless Adolescents: A Case Study. Child & Youth Care Forum, 36(4), 141-151. doi:10.1007/s10566-007-9036-0.
Vissing, Yvonne. "Homeless Children: Addressing the Challenge in Rural Schools." ERIC Digest. Jan. 1999. 4 Apr. 2001. http://www.ael.org/eric/digests/edorc981.htm.
Students typically spend 7-8 hours in school, five days per week. Being homeless contributes to disadvantages in education, their health, and additionally to their family status. Our nation is experiencing more homeless persons now than they had since the Great Depression and this is affecting our educational framework. Nearly 1.2 million public school students were identified as being homeless during the 2011-2012 school year, 73 percent more than before the Great Recession (The state of America's children 2014, 2014, p. 26). The experiences students receive from an early age carries on to all other aspects of their lives, whether it is positive or negative, and follows them for the rest of their lifetime.
Homeless has changed in the past years, in the first beginning of homelessness, it meant people who were very poor but stayed in cheap hotels. Today being homeless means being houseless. Several changes in the 70's through the 80's may have been reason for homelessness due to the cheap hotel prices going up and of course one simple cannot afford housing if he or she is homeless ("Homelessness.”). Today America has many young adults on the streets because of issues at home. There are several issues that would cause a student to become homeless. Running away from family or an intolerable house situation because of physical, emotional, sexual a...