What could possibly be worse than taking the risk of freezing to death outside at night, yet some of the homeless still chose to instead of going to shelters. Obviously, the current shelter system is not working to bring the homeless in from the streets. This is why we need to create a safe and sanitary environment in shelters. We also need to work with the homeless to ensure transitional housing includes the resources and services they want and need to encourage them to actively use shelters. In this essay we will discuss the spreading of the germs and diseases in shelters. Next we will talk about the design and services in shelters, and finally violence in shelters. This essay will prove that homeless people deserve sanitary, safe and useful …show more content…
This is one reason homeless people refuse their help. Studies have shown that HIV, Hepatitis B and C, as well as Tuberculosis are all very prevalent in the homeless population. Other common issues are scabies, lice, influenza and pneumonia. All of these conditions are highly communicable and many of them can be life threatening. In an NPR interview David Pirtle says, one of the reasons he doesn't go into homeless shelters is because, “there's bedbugs and body lice.” Some of the simplest ways to prevent the spreading of these diseases/infections is through improving the living conditions within the shelters. "They don't clean the mats....they don't clean them at all" says an occupant named Gregory in an interview with OC weekly. As we can tell by that quote proper bed care, and disinfecting surfaces is something that shelters need to improve on. Other ways to improve hygiene in the shelter is to provide supplies such as a toothbrush. They should also encourage people to wash/bathe when they come. However, it's clear that hygiene isn't going to be enough to prevent all of these diseases. Shelters should also screen and treat TB, offer vaccinations, provide needle exchange programs and education about theses …show more content…
One improvement to consider would be to make smaller shelters with fewer people in them. Many of the homeless report that the shelters now are too large, crowded or don't have enough privacy, as seen in this quote by Robert Johnson on businessinsider.com “Jam-packed room with more than 100 other men”. We also need to think about a variety of shelters such as single men, single women, family and mixed gender so that families and couples don't have to be seperated. With this, there should also be a choice for the LGBTQ community to pick the shelter kinds that they identify with,“1 in 3 transgender youth will be rejected by a shelter on account of their gender identity/expression” says homeless hub.ca. Finally many of the homeless have animals for company and protection, if the animal is not accepted at the shelter many will choose to stay outdoors. As we can see we need a lot of work on providing varieties of shelter
The subject of the final paper will be concentrating on the homeless people in America, and how we, as American citizens can become a voice and reduce the number of people living in the streets, cars, or wherever they can find shelter for the night. This journal will look at the subject and the path I will need follow to accomplish the task.
While it is true that housing is correlated with positive outcomes in the homeless population, it does not account for supportive services that this population may also need. Housing is one plan of action for preventing homelessness, but it does not solve the problem. Persisting health problems may prevent an individual from ever reaching housing stability for them a permanent house would not be beneficial if the problem is their health. Housing without supportive services cannot end homelessness.3,4 Providing housing for the homeless is a measure taken after people have experienced the trauma of losing their home. Intervention efforts should be concentrated on preventing the loss of homes, and safety that can ultimately influence a person 's health
Food is the most important thing to survive, but for homeless, it takes miracle to find food even for a day. Some people got food from begging on the street or buy food by the money they received. Others find food in unfortunate places; trashcan, picking it on the road, or eat others’ leftover. Even if there are chances of getting food from, some also starve and even lead to death. Because of food being so hard to find, 57% homeless spends at least a day being starve (“Statics” 2). For not receiving food and not eating regularly, it affects health conditions. They become sick easily. Once homeless gets sick, it is not easy to get back on track because they do not have anybody that take care of them. While the population of homeless increase, the death rate of homeless people also increase.
Homelessness is a problem that happens in many different countries around the world. Definitions of homelessness are defined in different meanings by different people. However, the Stewart B. McKinney Act defines a homeless person as “ one who lacks a fixed permanent nighttime residence or whose nighttime residence is a temporary shelter, welfare hotel, or any public or private place not designed as sleeping accommodations for human beings” (McNamara 1025). It is impossible to find out exactly the number of homeless; however, the researchers can do a study to estimate that number. Based on different statistics from different researchers, the homeless population in America has been increasing as “an alarming rate” (Markos and Lima). Therefore, even though America is one of the most powerful countries in the world, homelessness, which has many common causes, has always been a big problem in society.
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
There are many other cases of why the homeless are homeless like domestic violence, mental illness, addictions, and unaffordable health care. Homelessness is a problem which has been caused by many different aspects but mainly money because of massive unemployment rates. A hidden aspect to homelessness that we may not think of is ...
Homelessness is a vast predicament in America and around the world. It is severely overlooked as people don’t really think of homelessness as real world problem. However, there have been ways that people have tried to fix the problem. They have come up with homeless shelters, emergency shelters, food banks and soup kitchens. These solutions have limitations though, which will hopefully come to an end.
Homeless situations are a concern because there are a number of homeless children in the United States and continues to rise (McDaniel, 2012). Homeless people struggle to survive because they live in housing that is not livable or does not have a home and therefore, they live in cardboard boxes, in the alley, or wherever they can find shelter. In reality, this affects the ability for a
Homelessness can happen to anyone unexpectedly. Many poor people are at the risk of homelessness. The cost of living and trying to find affordable housing can be very difficult. Many who are homeless are in poverty, have a mental illness, or addictions. Homelessness happens from personal, as well as structural factors. Many aren’t able to make enough for rent, as well as, utilities, food, and other expenses each month. More than 6 million Americans pay more than half of their income towards rent (Reamer, 1989). The trend is once someone becomes homeless, it is likely they will be homeless repeatedly. To end homelessness, affordable housing will have to be created because it is peoples largest single expenditure (Anderson, 2013).
Homelessness is not something that was created over night; it has existed for a long time; often we choose not to see the homeless, or bother with them, so we look the other way. Homelessness is not prejudice toward race, creed, or religion--it has no boundaries; all homeless people should not be stereotyped as being drug abusers or the mentally ill that have been released from mental hospitals. Homelessness is not a disease that a person can catch from bodily contact, but it certainly has afflicted many Americans. We need to find the cause of homelessness before we can find a solution. More money for more programs is the typical response, but we should look at what has already been instituted and reevaluate them.
The same research indicates that a segment of the total homeless population, precisely eighty percent, will have the opportunity to enter and exit a shelter quicker and never return for a protracted period or somehow never return. The temporal or transitional homelessness is catapulted by series of life-long experiences such as job loss, natural disaster, abuse or divorce, or medical conditions. This kind of people can only over...
Walking down the streets of large cities it is common to see men, women, and sometimes even whole families laying beside buildings. Some people may ignore them and keep walking, some feel frightened, and some see the homeless as a human being and treat them like one. These people tend to be dirty, smelly, or they have a sad look that has overtaken their faces because of their struggle to survive. The people sleeping outside of buildings are homeless. Being homeless means not having anywhere to call home, although it also can mean living in a place that was never intended to house humans, such as a bus stop or a highway underpass. It is tempting to wedge the homeless together under a single label but there are an abundance of contrasting causes
Homelessness has not always been such a substantial issue. Homelessness “did not emerge until the 1980s” (Stergiopoulos et al., 2016, p.1). “There are between 700,000 to 800,000 people that are homeless on any given night” (Stergiopoulos et al., 2016, p.4). This issue has many involving factors; the following discussion will answer the question created by Open Arms Ministry of are there examples of effective programs, coalition, cities, communities that eliminate or attempted to eliminate homelessness? To prepare, there will be a definition of homelessness, new homelessness, usual care and a description of the issue of homelessness. This will be continued by the discussion of effective strategies that have helped end homelessness
Hopper, Kim. “Housing the Homeless.” Social Policy 28.3 (1998): 64+. Academic OneFile. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.
Many believe that a common thread among the homeless is a lack of permanent and stable housing. But beyond that, the factors leading to homelessness and the services that are needed are unique according to the individual. To put them into one general category ? the homeless- suggests that people are homeless for similar reasons and therefore a single solution is the answer. Every homeless person shares the basic needs of affordable housing, adequate incomes and attainable healthcare. But a wide range of other unmet needs cause some people to become or remain homeless which include drug treatment, employment training, transportation, childcare and mental health services (Center 8.)