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Causes and effects of homelessness
Solving homelessness
Solving homelessness
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Homelessness plagues many people throughout the US as well as the world. For those living in poverty or close to it, a tiny, minute factor is all that is needed to push one out of his house and onto the streets and into the elements of the world. On the other hand, some of the people that are homeless have experienced a tragic event that left them unable to continue living in their current house and out on the street. Whatever reason someone is homeless, they dictate their own lives after that.
Many reasons one might become homeless are because of situations that are out of his control. One being the loss of or inability to find a job, which most obviously creates a decrease in income. When income diminishes it becomes increasingly difficult
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To the people just walking down the street eye contact with the homeless is deadly. With the increasing amount of homeless people, a small proportion of cities and towns find it a necessary precaution to outlaw the giving of food publicly to those in need and sleeping on public benches. They believe it will encourage the homeless people to become more active in a job search ("Homelessness Is Not a Crime.").
Contrary to the popular belief that many people are homeless due to the fact that they abused alcohol or had a drug addiction, it seems those problems are more commonly derived from homelessness rather than the cause of it. This has been proven thanks to a new study from Northumbria University in the United Kingdom. Alcohol abuse and drug addiction are just some of the antisocial behaviors that are introduced with homelessness. Some of the aforementioned antisocial behaviors include drug addiction, violent behavior, alcoholism, and many different types of mental illnesses.
Money is hard to come by as a homeless individual. For whatever reason, the homeless individual did not possess the funds needed to maintain his household. To quell this problem, that individual may turn to undesirable activities in order to obtain money. Those activities may include prostituting, begging for money, and resorting to crime. The most common attempt at obtaining money is
This can range from divorce to mental illnesses (“Factors Contributing To Homelessness”). In some statistics taken from The Homeless Resource Network, the biggest cause of homelessness is from the loss of job or income someone is bringing in. If someone were to lose a job unexpectedly, they could have trouble finding a job with the same income they were used to earning, making it hard to keep necessities in their life. Another important element that contributes to people becoming homeless is the use of drugs and alcohol. Even though most people who have one of these addictions do not become homeless, it becomes a problem when they are poor and the addictions take over their life (“Homelessness in
The homeless have the ability to make the non-homeless feel threatened and unsafe (Marin.) “They are homeless, are strangers, alien and therefore a threat (Marin.)” The threat and danger that homeless pose to American society could easily be eradicated by shipping all of them to other countries. We would then no longer have to deal with them on a day to day basis.
It is true that some individuals are homeless not because of bad habits one might have, but because of financial reasons. A lot of society that is part of this problem is because they simply do not make enough at their low
This fact shows that many people who do become homeless become that way because of unavoidable situations. These are the people that have jobs but just can’t find jobs that pay enough. There are many other reasons as to why people become homeless. The break up of a marriage or relationship, the loss of a job, addiction to drugs or alcohol, or a mental illness are all reasons why many people become homeless (The Passage). Many of these causes can not be prevented.
“3.5 million people will experience homelessness in a given year,”(Los Angeles Homeless Services). This shocking number is one of the sad truths in today’s society. Homelessness is caused by a wide range of things including financial issues. The life of a homeless person is hard and comes with set-backs and the constant need to overcome them. Homeless people go through many challenges in surviving without a home. They can suffer from health issues, hunger, and poor emotional well-being.
These are the enactment of new laws and statutes that are intended to limit or restrict the activities of the homeless, disproportionate and discriminatory enforcement of existing laws and ordinances, and the manipulation of the physical environment to restrict its usage by people who are homeless. This includes hindering the use of public space by designing park benches so that people cannot lie down and sleep on them, or moving ventilation grates off of sidewalks and into streets. These also include the enactment and enforcement of laws that make it illegal to sleep, sit, or store personal belongings in public spaces where people are forced to live in and includes selective enforcement of more neutral laws, such as loitering, jaywalking, or open container laws, against homeless persons (National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty 2009; McNamara, Crawford, and Burns 2013; Simpson 2015). Others includes sweeps of city areas in which homeless persons are living to drive them out of those areas, which frequently results in damage to an individual’s personal property such as important personal documents and medication. Cities also enforce a wide range of “quality of life” ordinances related to public activities and hygiene (i.e. public urination) when no public facilities are available to people without housing (National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty 2009; Simpson 2015; Forst
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.
There are many things that can cause one to be homeless but this research will focus on the two main reasons, insufficient economic resources and affordable housing. Other causes include lack of education, domestic violence, mental illness, substance abuse and etc.
Homeless individuals are known for taking hand outs and they prefer to plead for money rather than to go work for it. People assume most of the the money that is given to homeless people they spend it on drugs and alcohol because of the fact that many homeless people have drug and alcohol addictions. It is not uncommon to come across homeless youth and older homeless population that are known to abuse substances like drugs and alcohol. Because of the fact that homeless people have substance abuse problems, they tend face illnesses and infections. Many hard working Americans ask themselves “why don’t homeless people just get jobs?” The assumption is they are just lazy and unmotivated. Homeless people choose to live the life they live. Everyone goes through problems but not all people take the path homeless people do. The problems homeless people face is not an excuse for them to be helped and maintained by other hard working people. Although homelessness might be a choice to some, no one knows the hardships these people have gone through. Some assume these people are just lazy but in reality a lot of these homeless people have jobs of their own, they just can’t afford housing and a decent life. Everyone has their own opinion on homeless people, but that does not change the fact that one should still serve the homeless. Not because homeless people need help but because we are
Here in Tahoe, we are lucky enough to experience a great quality of life, and only a few have to face the horrible life of poverty and homelessness. However, nationwide, even right outside the basin, homelessness is a growing epidemic across the country. There are many ways one can become homeless; for the most part poverty. There are also different concentrations of homeless in different types of terrain, such as urban or suburban areas. Last, there is the ever- growing homeless population, and how much money it costs us for others to live in poverty. These are the questions we ask ourselves about homelessness, and the only way we can help is to know the facts about this lingering subject.
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 increasing more every year. In fact, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, over 640,000 people experience homelessness every night. (Hunger and Homelessness in North America) By definition, the homeless are groups of people that do not have a home. They can be people who are mentally ill, unemployed, veterans, or even children born into unfortunate families. Since they have nowhere to go, the homeless usually live inside abandoned buildings, in the streets, or in makeshift homes, such as a cardboard box or homemade tent. Although some work to find a decent home, many still suffer from depression or are psychically disabled and cannot work. (Overview of Homelessness in America) These people do not choose to be homeless, instead they become homeless due to a series of unfortunate events; namely losing their source of income or becoming homeless by birth. One instance of this occurred in the life of Hazel Washington. Hazel was fleeing an abusive relationship when she moved in with her relative and his girlfriend, but she was not told about their impending eviction. Because of this, her roommates took everything she owned an...
Many times people who end up homeless do not grow up in the best of homes. Most of the time they do not have very stable homes or they were born homeless. For example, Monty became homeless when he was thirteen or fourteen years old because his home-life was so terrible that he would not be living today if he had not left. Also, their families could have left them because they have a physical or mental disability. In 2016, 564,708 people in the United States are homeless and 83,170 of those people are chronically homeless (2016’s Shocking Homelessness). That means that they have a disability, such as behavioral health problems, mental illnesses, substance use disorders, physical illnesses, injury, or trauma. It is evident that these people need help and few people are giving them the help they
Homelessness, despite what people perceive, isn’t just about not having a roof over their heads. “It erodes a person’s dignity, hope and health,” says Yolanda Saiz (The Many Faces of Homelessness). It is the homeless that among the most marginalized in today’s society, they are vulnerable and disadvantaged with little to no voice being heard.
Homelessness is a problem virtually every society suffers from. There are many things that cause people to become homeless, such as unemployment, relationship problems, and being evicted from ones domicile either by a landlord, friend or even a family member. However, with every cause there must be an effect. Some of the effects of one becoming homeless, besides the obvious change of lifestyle, are various health problems which often times may lead to death.