Argument - Essay 3

Most people aren’t familiar with ways our government is trying to lower health care costs of the homeless by putting them in houses, here is their chance to learn. “Housing First” approaches are aimed at reducing the number of homeless people in metropolitan cities, especially in USA and Canada. In Tulsa, the Mental Health Association operates housing models that are successful using the Housing First approach, but only with a success rate of around nine percent. These programs are able to help people achieve self-sufficiency. Special consideration is given to people who have mental illnesses. The main advantage of the approach is it makes an efficient use of the existing systems and services, and then eliminates the need for new ones. The approach has been said to lead to better quality of life, less alcohol and substance use among the beneficiaries, and less use of emergency services by the beneficiaries. Despite all of the advantages and purposes, the program has many challenges that make one think it’s not as successful as first projected. This could lead to program loss or the challenges being dealt with appropriately. If the government wants to use money to help end homelessness, they should put it towards resources and organizations that can, not towards homes where the homeless go to be ignored.

The largest function of the Housing First program is to ensure that people with mental illness have somewhere to stay on a permanent basis. This will help the government to take better care of their health since they can easily be accessed. The program helps deal with the senior demographic in the country and helps ensure that medical care can be provided in the comfort of a home. In most cases, service participants that are suppo...

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...hey may not have anything to eat or feed to their families. The program should be called off unless the whole issues that it has brought are addressed. The Housing First Approach it uses funds the incorrect way.

All the above evidence is enough to show that the program is a failure owing to the majority of the negative facts and non-existent care brought up. “Homelessness isn't about a housing problem. It’s about all those support issues and needs.” (Johnsen). The approach should not be allowed to continue unless a way of supporting the lives of the settled people is formulated by the government. Otherwise, the taxpayer’s money is going for something with an effect that does not really help the target group. Instead the money is spent on settling the homeless, leaving them ignored, and isn’t helping them receive the resources they truly need to live a better life.