Changes Oh, the changes that need to be made to our community before we start to see a huge diminish of homelessness throughout Canada would be to stop avoiding and turning a blind eye to the problems that we see daily, on our way to work, school or even on the subway. For a country that is very developed, we seem to be missing a national poverty line cut off, or a policy addressing homelessness. “Canadians are paying the most in the least productive areas, trying to fix costly problems linked to inequality, insecurity and poverty that are preventable” (National Council of Welfare, 2011). Our government needs step in and finally realize that we are the cause to the current crisis on homelessness, and we can fix the social issue at hand. Yes, it might take a couple of years to have everything fully implemented but if we do not try and put forth all our fighting effects, the rise of homelessness in the next couple of years will be …show more content…
There should be more supportive houses built, the amount of money that it cost for the government to either house someone with social housing would be $199.92 a month compared to $10,900 a month to keep a person experience homelessness in a hospital bed (Gatez,2017). One major thing that the government needs to start doing is building more supportive housing instead of emergency shelters, as you see on the picture below it is very costly for the government to do so. Supportive housing is the least expensive option, but why is it not being done. “A growing number of research studies have shown that permanent supportive housing is associated with reductions in emergency shelter use, hospitalization, incarceration, and other social costs” (Wolff, Larson, O'Brien, & McGraw, 2010, p. 214). Having supportive housing step up throughout the city would not only help end chronic homelessness for youth, but it would continue to support them and can have a continuous routine so they do not fall back into the cycle of experiencing
Furthermore, facilities frequently concentrate on “quick-fix” interventions instead of focusing on their qualities that empower them and concentrating on long-term aspirations (Heinze & Jozefowicz-Simbeni, 2009). For the most part, it is extremely hard to access health care for the youth population because they face various restrictions. It is not surprising that many homeless adolescents do not have a way of seeking services even if they are the population that needs it the most. Homeless youth are at a higher risk of adverse outcomes such as not being able to further their education, getting incarcerated, developing a mental health disorder, and engaging in alcohol dependency and unsafe sexual behavior (Heinze & Jozefowicz-Simbeni, 2009). Children without a home are more prone to live in inconsistent and harsh living conditions categorized by family and school issues. Although; many homeless youths do not experience desirable outcomes housing programs and similar services serve a primary support system to help reduce homelessness. Services that promise better living conditions are shown to enhance lifestyles and a positive development into adulthood.
I have heard stories from my friends that are horrible, especially considering they were all under 18 during these events within their lives. Therefore, I believe the homeless youth in our community need more attention due to their age and lack of confidence. For example, my boyfriend Alex was homeless when we started dating. All of his siblings were taken away separately from child services due to abuse, addiction and neglect within his family. He lived in a shelter where teens were using drugs, stealing and some were even into prostitution. I do understand that not all shelters are this way, but in his experience, he has lived in three different ones and all of them had some of these factors within them. I used to believe there were many options for the homeless, especially teenagers, but from my own second-hand experiences there are really not that many alternatives. “Sometimes it is safer to sleep on the street than some homeless shelters we came across”, suggests Alex Black, a former homeless youth. These shelters can be horrifying to the point that many teens, including Alex, run away. Society looks down on the homeless, creating a barrier surrounding our social structure, placing them at the bottom. Many people in our community believe it is not their place to help, some just are selfish or look the other way and keep on walking.“Whoever closes
Secondly, I would like to state that the government is cutting funds each year towards helping the homeless, for example, in 2014 they cut the funding by $21.13 million. So its no wonder why we see homelessness growing all over Australia, when more and more people become homeless and the agencies that are there to help
Shelters, however, only represent a small percentage of homeless individuals. Hidden homeless persons, the largest percentage of the homeless (Gerdes, 2007), are people who live in cars, abandoned buildings, family or friends, and often with strangers (Jencks, 1994)). An official estimate was released by the National Secretariat who estimated that there were 150,000 Canadians who were homeless (Think Student Canada, 2009). However, this estimate was mostly based on shelters. Most organizations and groups estimate a larger number of 250,000 homeless Canadians including hidden homeless individuals (Echenber & Jensen, 2005). This paper examines the importance, causes and solutions to a problem of such critical importance and suggests that the government must fund a variety of long-term solutions to aid and rehabilitate homeless persons in order to end this social concern.
1 in every 30 children are homeless, that is nearly 2.5 million. These children should have an opportunity to go to college and be able to help situations back at home and finish their college to get their degree. This idea of many being homeless expands to be something bigger but being to start off with something as little as giving free college tuition can make a difference . A driver of homelessness is poverty. There is a high poverty rate for single parents struggling with education and unemployment. These children should not be seen for who they are in the temporary living situations but who they will be in the future. With help, the number of homeless children will go down and the number attending college will
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
Take a drive down town and the problem will be apparent, take a look to the left and there one stands, take a look to the right and there’s another. Homelessness is a term used to define a person who does not have a home to go to at the end of the day. Homelessness does not discriminate against age, sex or gender. What is startling to many people is that reasons why so many people succumb to homeless ness in their life; people assume that when someone is homeless it’s because of bad choices that that individual made in their life, which might be true but not for all, “approximately 1 and 5 Phoenix residents live below the poverty line” and that in itself has a lot to do with the current
We need to ask our selves what causes homelessness, why are so many youth involved with homelessness and what can we change so that the homelessness problem in Canada lessens? Many people put the issue of homelessness aside because there are many programs that people can go to so that they can get help but not all people have the capability to push themselves to turn their lives around. The basic needs in your own life like food, water, personal hygiene and a place to sleep are something that the homeless do not have. Everywhere we look nowadays you see homeless people including in the streets of Toronto, which is said to have one the highest homelessness populations in Canada.
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.
Many people debate on weather homeless people should receive guidance or just be abandoned. Do homeless people deserve our service and to be supported, or are they just lazy individuals trying to take advantage of people? Homelessness is a growing dispute in cities. It has became an extensive problem for the community. Homelessness can not and should not be ignored. The number of homeless people in the United States is quickly growing. It seems like no one cares to help them. Even our heroes like police officers show no sympathy towards the homeless. “Homeless people appeared on the streets of Bucharest in 1990. Since then, their number and the problems created by this phenomenon have steadily increased in all major
Water, food, shelter, sanitation are basic human needs that many people in the United States are not fortunate to have. In Gary Beck’s article “Not Your Everyday Homeless Proposal," he proposes that homelessness should be the highest priority but, it is improbable that there will be additional funds to alleviate the resurgent homeless situation therefore cities cannot afford to build a sufficiency of low-income housing and other options should be explored. Beck provides evidence to support his claim with Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration homeless shelter report, “Bloomberg administration continues to house the homeless in tawdry hotels and motels at the cost of $3,500.00 to $4,500.00 per month, for rooms that most people would deem uninhabitable”
Driving around downtown Houston you may notice many people living in the streets. Many people complain about the homeless in the Houston area. This has been a problem that has been going on for quite some time. Homeless people in many cases lose everything forcing them to live in the streets. This can be caused by many factors, poverty and lack of affordable housing are the main two. As a community we can come together and find a solution to help those in need, but what can the
“Homeless is more than being without a home. It is tied into education needs, food, security; health issues both mental and physical, employment issues, etc. Don’t forget the whole picture.” (“Boxed In” 2005 pg. 108)
Permanent housing is also the most economic solution. While it costs somewhere around $40,000 a year for a homeless person to be in the streets, permanent housing only costs $10,000 (Covert). Permanent housing is not only cost effective, it can end the vicious cycle of incarceration many people face in larger cities. As previously mentioned being homeless has basically become an illegal activity in many cities and permanent housing will end this cycle. Sharon also mentioned that with housing accountability is increased. For many homeless people they have never had anything. They have never had money to budget, a place to keep clean, a job to maintain, or anyone checking in on them. When they are placed in permanent housing, or simply transitional housing, this changes. They start to be held responsible for the things in their
The mindset of the homeless needs to change they need to start thinking ‘hey why don’t I get cleaned up and look for a job!’ The homeless are also part of our community and us as a community need to Do Something! I am Just a 9th Grader stating my issue but you’re the adults ,the adults that can make things happen; whether a petition needs to be signed or a picket put up for the city to do something ,we need to do something to change the human lives living on the streets .