The problem I am going to discuss is homelessness in Long Island. What is homelessness and who defines it? Homelessness is a person lacking adequate shelter or otherwise residing below the minimal standard of what is considered a safe dwelling. The federal definition of homeless is an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, or adequate nighttime residence (HUD, 2011). Homelessness is not just a problem in big cities like New York or Los Angeles, but rather it is a global epidemic affecting small towns and suburbs such as Long Island.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is a United States federal department that administers programs dealing with better housing and urban renewal since 1965. HUD issued a draft to change the definition of homelessness that is described in the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid transition to Housing Act. The definition affects who is eligible for different programs in HUD-funded homeless assistance programs. HUD defines homelessness in four categories to include people living in places not meant for human habitation, people losing their primary residence, families with children or unaccompanied youth who are unstably housed, and people who are fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence and have no other residences (HUD, 2010). Last year HUD conducted a survey, which found that homelessness remained steady at about 1.6 million people but that the percentage of rural or suburban homelessness rose from 23 percent to 32 percent nationwide (HUD,2010). In addition, the 2009 HUD report, which reflects the 12 months ending September 30, 2008, found the number of sheltered homeless families across the U.S. grew from about 473,000 to 517,000. It is estimated that between Nassau and Suf...
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Federal Definition of Homeless, February, 18, 2011 FFFFRID FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2011 AY, FEBRUARY 18, 2011
http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/homelessness/definition
Jeanty, J., (2010) What Are the Leading Causes of Homelessness? Updated: October 27, 2010:
http://www.ehow.com/about_4587661_what-leading-causes-homelessness.html
Polgar, M., (1999) National Coalition for the Homeless. Updated February 1999.
http://www.minddisorders.com/Flu-Inv/Homelessness.html#ixzz1EMnarJZX
Reingold,D. (2006). The Characteristics and Causes of Homelessness among A Risk Families with Children in Twenty American Cites. University of Georgia.
http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/homelessness/improving-data08/apd.htm
www.nassaucountyny.gov/agencies/dss/Housing.htm
www.nsch.org
www.co.suffolk.ny.us/upload/dss/.../overviewofhousingoutline.pdf - Similar
In the United States, homelessness has remained a constant presence in all major cities. For example, in New York City, it is comprised of alcoholics, drug addicts, and other people (“American History”). It has largely moved into hidden places such as unused subway tunnels or under bridges. Whether or not we experience it ourselves, homelessness impacts all of us. Homelessness describes all normal life crisis. There is a difference between people who experience these challenges and become homeless and people who face them and do not use the support systems that they have in place.
Homelessness is primarily a poverty issue. The persistence of poverty in the United States reflects more than just an aggregation of individual failings. Structural factors, such as the way we understand and define poverty, the inherent features of our economic system that produce income inequality, social inequities and our policy responses to these problems shape current trends. Economic changes have had the strongest association with trends in overall rates, regardless of how poverty is measured. Poverty rate is high amongst minority groups, children and female-headed households (Iceland, 2003). According to professor Iceland’s research, rates of extreme poverty are higher among children and African-Americans and lower for whites, Asians and the elderly. Among families with children, married couples were less likely to be poor (6.9 %) than single parent male (17.5%) and single parent female (35.3%).
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...
Homelessness is a major public health problem throughout the United States due to increasing income disparities.1 About 650,000 people are homeless on any given day.2 Homelessness not only affects individuals, but families which include adults, children who may also experience mental illness, disabilities, or substance abuse.3 Homelessness is correlated with mental illness, substance abuse as well as loss of employment, poor health and, limited access to resources. While the state budget immediately considers fund housing initiatives to solve chronic homelessness it may not be the most efficient policy that this population needs. Housing does not provide necessary health services, may offer unequal aid to individuals and families, and may not be a priority for those individuals who are homeless. The state government should not fund housing policies for the homeless.
Torrey, E. Fuller, M.D. (2011). Homeless Mentally Ill Fact, Figures, and Anecdotes. Retrieved from http://mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mentally-ill.html
“Why are people homeless?” National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH). Web. July 2009. February 15,2011.
Homelessness in the United States has been an important subject that the government needs to turn its attention to. There has been announced in the news that the number of the homeless people in many major cities in the United States has been increasing enormously. According to United States Interagency Council on Homelessness reported that there was an estimation of 83,170 individuals have experienced chronic homelessness on the streets of the United States’ streets and shelters on only a single night of January 2015, which is a small decrease of only 1% from the previous year (People Experiencing Chronic Homelessness, n.d.). The United States must consider this subject that most of the people underestimate it and not pay attention
"Who Is Homeless?" Nationalhomeless. National Coalition for the Homeless, July 2009. Web. 3 May 2014. .
Defining where the homeless stand in our society scale is one of hardest aspects in conducting a study of the population and understanding the definitions used in research is one of the most challenging tasks for people who want to use its results. Most would agree that people in Shelters or literally living on the street are homeless, but there is less agreement regarding people in the following circumstances: Youth on their own, with no permanent residence or even an usual place to sleep; children who have been separated from their homeless parents and are in foster care or are living with relatives; People living in stable but physically inadequate housing (having no plumbing, no heating, or major structural damage, for example) Which of these people should be consider homeless? There is no right answer; there can only be agreement on a convention. Homelessness is a term that covers a big territory. It seems that homelessness is at best an odd-job word, pressed into service to impose order on a hodgepodge of social dislocation, extreme poverty, seasonal or itinerant work, and unconventional ways of life.
Homelessness is defined as a person who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night time residence, and has a primary night time residence that is:
In fiscal year 2006, the HUD, Department of Housing and Urban Development, was presented a budget by the Bush Administration consisting of $528.5 billion for homeless programs (Romeo 1). The problem of homelessness and extreme poverty is not a new occurrence; but in past years more extreme measures have been taken to combat the issue as more people become homeless. Expensive social programs and housing developments for the homeless have been created to help battle the increasing issue. Homelessness is an expensive problem that will never end; furthermore, the condition of homeless people in America is affected by the type of education they receive, the state of the economy, and the amount of funds that are available to house and feed them.
Grant, R., Gracy, D., Goldsmith, G., Shapiro, A., & Redlener, I. E. (2013). Twenty-Five Years of Child and Family Homelessness: Where Are We Now?. American Journal Of Public Health, 103(S2), e1-e10. doi:10.2105/AJPH. 2013.301618
Homelessness has different meanings to different people; someone who has never been homeless might think homelessness is a person who lives on the street, in a tent or in a box. Many people don’t realize that there are a number of homeless people, who couch surf with friends, family or the ones who live in motels which are unaccountable in the numbers of homeless people. People including families with children, seniors, single parents, youths and those that are single are living in accommodations that are below standards and consider themselves as homeless.
Overview of Homelessness in America. Homelessness in America. National Student Campaign Against Hunger & Homelessness, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. http://www.studentsagainsthunger.org/page/hhp/overview-homelessness-america.
Although most people know what homelessness is and it occurs in most societies, it is important to define because the forces of displacement vary greatly, along with the arrangement and meaning of the resulting transient state. The Stewart B McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 defined a homeless person as “an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence or a person who resides in a shelter, welfare hotel, transitional program or place not ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation, such as streets, cars, movie theaters, abandoned buildings, etc.” Resent surveys conducted in the U.S. have confirmed that the homeless population in America is extremely diverse and includes representatives from all segments of society, including: the old and young, men and women, single people and families, city dwellers and rural residents, whites and people of color, employed and unemployed, able workers and people with serious health problems. The diversity among people that are homeless reflects how difficult it is to generalize the causes of homelessness and the needs of homeless people. Robert Rosenheck M.D., the author of Special Populations of Homeless Americans, explains the importance of studying homelessness based on subgroups, “each subgroup [of homeless people] has unique service needs and identifying these needs is critical for program planning and design.” Despite these diversities, homelessness is a devastating situation for all that experience it. Not only have homeless people lost their dwelling, but they have also lost their safety, privacy, control, and domestic comfort.