Homelessness In Detroit Case Study

The number of homeless citizens and government unwillingness to provide assistance proves to be a persistent problem in the world today. In Michigan alone, there are 86,189 people striving to live without a home (HMIS, 1,2016). With this glaring statistic being presented, this pervasive issue continues to plague the city; as there are very few initiatives being implemented to reduce the homeless population. Due to their situations, these victims often take up nomadic lifestyles in search of temporary shelters, consequently putting their health and well being at high risk when weather conditions are harsh or when they’ve entered unknown areas. Without the proper care and shelter, victims have no means of survival, which far too often, leads

to further damage of their mental or physical states, as well as the possibility of premature death.

This being said, non-profit organizations such as the Salvation Army and Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries should become more present in housing the homeless and providing resources to enable independent living. In doing this, the homeless population will not only decreases, but also become self-reliant and help to stimulate the economy.

Although one specific cause of homelessness within Detroit cannot be pinpointed, there are four main areas in particular that have shown to be the greatest contributors to the increased homeless population. According to the Homeless Action Network of Detroit, these four main causes include eviction, no affordable housing, domestic violence, and job loss. 2 Eviction refers to individuals, or families, that are forced out of their homes due to several reasons including lack of payment,

illegal actions, or fraudulent claims. The second cause, no affordable housing, refers to insufficient funds being made on housing. The third, domestic violence, refers to violent or aggressive behavior coming from an abusive relationship in the home, often causing family members to flee their homes. Lastly, the fourth cause is job loss, referring to household members that have become unemployed. These four aspects are shown to play major roles in family’s financial and emotional statuses, thus affecting their living situations and increasing their chances of homelessness. Governments at the local, state, and federal levels provide policies for the homeless families, homeless youth, and homeless veterans population in order to decrease the number of victims, as well as bring attention to the issues and raise awareness. Aside from government affiliated programs and policies, non-governmental organizations (NGO) are also geared towards ending homelessness and increasing activism around their communities. Throughout this analysis, the issue of homelessness in Detroit is further discussed through the review and intervention of various public policies, governmental programs, and NGO’s.
The civil sector is defined as the non-profit, voluntary denomination of the society we live in. It is said to be a separate entity from market and the government due to its lack of funds and effect it has on the civil society. According to Biggs and Helms, entities provided through the civil sector are categorized as “Organization, Private as opposed to governmental, nonprofit distributing, self-governing voluntary, that is, with some meaningful degree of voluntary participation, and of public benefit.” 19 Organizations such as the Salvation Army, Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries and Capuchin Day Centre are just a few non-profit organizations created to address and assist the issue, despite their lack of funding and resources. Currently, there are few public policies set in place in order to address the issue of homelessness and the effects it has on various individuals and the city as a whole. Due to the failure of addressing the issue, nonprofit organizations have stepped up and found a way to assist the issue. Although they lack proper funding and are very limited in resources, NGOs have committed to making an effort of assisting homeless individuals by providing food, shelter, clothing and other necessities they need in order to survive. The Salvation Army is a household name around the world created to assist and aid the homeless and needy families around their neighboring areas. The mission statement of the salvation army is to use the love of God and faith in order to draw people closer to each other and assist those who are in need not only through food and shelter, but also through faith. 20 The Salvation provides assistance to the homeless and needy whether it is due to life circumstances or natural disasters. Not only do they offer a place to sleep and food for these individuals, they also offer them rehabilitation programs specified towards the individual to help them cope with their problems and learn how to assist themselves. Although the Salvation Army is distributed abundantly in many locations, the scope of their resources compared to the increasing number of homeless individuals does not compare due to their lack of resources and funding. Overall, the Salvation Army is able to effectively and efficiently accomplish their mission statement. The short-term effects of the organization are successful, while the long-term effects do not eliminate the issue. Similarly, the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministry (DRMM), is a nonprofit organization based on faith. The mission statement of DRMM is to help rehabilitate individuals by drawing hem closer to religion. Unlike the Salvation army, the DRMM solely is based on rehabilitating homeless individuals and individuals who suffer from substance abuse. 21 The DRMM recognized
the issue of substance abuse and the correlation to homelessness is one of the major issues in society, especially in the city of Detroit.

They offer housing, counseling and rehabilitation, and job opportunities in order to assist and decrease the growing population of homeless individuals and families. Although they offer housing, food, treatments and various other resources to the people of the community, due to the number of individuals and families suffering from homelessness in Detroit, DRMM cannot compare or end the growing problem because they provide free of charge services and do not have the resources to fulfill the needs of every individual in the city of Detroit. 22 Unlike the Salvation Army, DRMM is able to have greater long term, as well as short term effects, due to the fact that they also assist individuals to find jobs and have a greater reliance on one’s self. Capuchin Day Centre is also an organization created to assist the homeless and it also revolves around faith. The organization is inspired by St. Francis who is known as the father of the poor. The mission statement of Capuchin Day Centre is, “Inspired by the spirit of the St.Francis of Assisi, we at the Capuchin Day Centre welcome people in need of food aid who have no home or are socially excluded and respecting their dignity, provide a caring, pastoral, holistic and non-judgmental service response to their needs.” 23 Similar to the other nonprofit organizations, Capuchin suffers from the lack of

resources and funding compared to the amount of homeless and needy individuals presented to them. Brother Kevin Crowley states, “... nothing has prepared us for the level of demand for the services… the greatest challenge is both physically and financially…” 24 The lack of funding and assistance presented to non-profit organizations does not suffice to the needy individuals in the society, therefore causing slim long term effects and gives the homeless individuals the opportunity to continue to rely on the organization instead of oneself. The effectiveness and efficiency of the organization is only based on the day-to-day help they provide. The organization does not provide any long-term effects and potentially causes a greater reliance rather than promoting individualism.
This being said, non-profit organizations such as the Salvation Arm

y and Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries should become more present in housing the homeless and providing resources to enable independent living. In doing this, the homeless population will not only decrease, but become self-reliant and help to stimulate the economy.

There is a lot more we can do as a community and as students to help this problem. Many of the organizations that put their effort towards helping the homeless are mostly non-profit meaning they are unable to pay a large work force to carry out tasks in day-to-day operations. In these situations, volunteering is critical to keep these organizations running. Wayne State students, specifically are set up to an advantage to reach out to homeless, considering the university's location. Being located in the heart of Midtown, the campus is within miles of homeless shelters, food banks, and service organizations, all of whom reach out to thousands of people in the community and are always in need of help. Any of the students wishing to volunteer can simply access one of the shelters or food bank's website and sign up to donate their time. Others accept walk-in volunteers, depending on their circumstances, and per usual all have volunteer coordinators that assist with scheduling times best for you and them. It is not a difficult process to begin volunteer work and it certainly has a much larger impact than what some may think, but there is a huge lack of motivation to begin the process.
Other means of assistance that could potentially benefit the victims of homelessness are by implementing new policies or amending previously enacted ones. One such policy was proposed after President Obama released his fiscal year 2016 (FY) budget proposal. His administration had proposed that a 16% increase in funding go to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants program. According to this proposal, 67,000 additional Housing Choice Vouchers aimed specifically to vulnerable groups, including those suffering from homelessness. This would mean that a significant number of homeless victims would be helped, and programs aimed toward helping the homeless would receive additional funding. This proposal however, has yet to pass and must go through a long process of approval by several branches of the government before it can be passed. Still after constant discussion over the proposal, it remains under jurisdictional review.
The graph below, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was used in a report written by Andy Kiersz, to show the decrease in amount of volunteering done by Americans from 2002 through 2013. Based on the information from the graph, it is clear to see that from 2005 there was a dramatic decrease in the number of volunteers. That being said, the rate has not reached over 27% since then, and the most recent year, 2013, shows the lowest rate recorded at 25.4%.

Although volunteering in general has been something that only causes positive results, it is typically only accomplished through having it as a requirement. Some of the different clubs around campus such as, Pre-Professional Medical Students (PPMS), Community of Scholars, Medical Equity, and groups that are culturally based already have set requirements for their members to go out and volunteer. The problem is that there are over 250 clubs on campus and only a small amount has set this requirement. If a desire for volunteering among all students was applied, the shelters, food banks, and organizations would be able to work more efficiently and help a larger number of people. Encouraging fellow members to donate their time within different clubs on campus is great way to become involved and has the potential to place you with a different position and title within the group.
In addition to this, a bigger impact would be created through collaboration and forming groups to go out together. Volunteering helps “build a more cohesive, safer, stronger community, increase the social network between communities and neighborhood”. In addition to this, has “positive effects on volunteers as individuals, increase the self- esteem, enhance various skills and capacities, expand career paths and be healthier physically and mentally.” Not only should this be spread among campus, but also throughout your own neighborhood. Similarly, to campus organizations, forming a group in your neighborhood to take care of issues in the community and also volunteer may set you apart from your peers as well. This may benefit you even further as you are now able to network with different individuals from different backgrounds.
Volunteering is helpful, however for those who are not capable of volunteering have many other options to explore to help. Spreading awareness in itself does not require for you to go to different places and does not require a lot of your time. You may do things like post future events going on within the community on social media pages.

In today’s society, we are constantly surrounded by what seems like a magnitude of never-ending social issues. More than often, we are steered away from helping these problems because of their intimidating size and impact made on so many people’s lives. In some cases, it may even be hard for us to visualize how big a problem really is because it is not directly affecting us. In any of these cases, we must put aside the doubt and hesitation, and stop turning a blind eye to the problems around us. Issues in specific, like homelessness, may be difficult to help directly, but a change can always be made. Through volunteering, spreading activism, and raising awareness, we could already be doing more in our communities to lessen the effects of homelessness.