Homelessness Is Not A Crime Essay

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

to maintain a house, especially when one has children. Families with children account for more than half of the homeless population.
Natural disasters such as hurricanes, tsunamis, and earthquakes can physically damage the house rendering it unfit to live in if the funds needed to repair it are not available. Natural disasters account for making more than twenty two million people homeless worldwide (Philips, "Natural Disasters "). Hurricane Katrina left more than eight hundred thousand devastated and without a house. In the history of the United States, Hurricane Katrina was one of the five most lethal storms ("11 Facts”). The tsunami in Japan destroyed 120.000 buildings and severely damaged 220,000 other buildings ("Tsunami in Japan "). Seventy-eight thousand of the total buildings destroyed were entirely wiped away by the tsunami.
Death or sickness of a loved one can cause major problems if not dealt with appropriately and correctly. The death of a loved one not only induces psychological trauma, but it also affects the total income of the household. When a loved one is deathly sick and bed ridden, panic and worry begin to ensue. Having to take care of the ill person takes precedence and takes up time and money. There are a variety of illnesses that can keep one bed ridden and dependent upon outside help. The same situation can occur with the injured. The health bill alone could put a family out on the street.
In society today, we have grown accustomed to the luxuries that come with progress and mistaken them for necessities. Everyday life activities become exceedingly difficult for some. Most people complain about not having the latest in technology, but for those without a home it is a struggle finding fresh water they can drink, let alone bathe and wash with, unless they live near a creek or river. Hygiene becomes last on the list of priorities. It is within reason that overall hygiene becomes a difficult task to perform when not suited with the appropriate tools and environment to do so.
Homeless people are treated like they have a disease.

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

begging.