I was walking through Market square in Knoxville with my friends walking around to find someplace to eat. My boyfriend Shae works a lot with the homeless so he started getting kind of upset because the other people kept passing the homeless ignoring them or being just pain rude. Then this lady named Alyssa asked if she could talk to me so I said yes and asked my boyfriend to stay and talk to her with me. While talking to Alyssa I began to cry because I slowly realized her story matched up with my story from when I was a little girl. Me and her have a lot of things in common especially being homeless, I was homeless for a week when I was a child. So just knowing that automatically put emotional ties on my end to her. I wanted to get to know her more and about the things they went through daily living on the street for several years or months. It drew me in I wanted to get to know more and see if I could help these people or at least Alyssa. “In 2014, 1.49 million people used various types of homeless shelters and 578,424 were recorded as being without shelter: sleeping on the …show more content…
streets, in tents, in cars, and other exposed places.” (Plunkett, Mary the Richest) In the United states the number one state with the most homeless is “California with 136,826 homeless people. Where” 86.6% of the homeless people there are unsheltered.”(Plunkett, Mary the Richest) Homeless people are represented in many areas in Knoxville, there are a few places they can go to get a room for the night, or places that house them for a certain amount of days.
Some of these places are located on Broadway street downtown, Ball camp pike road and Breda Dr. These places are just to name a few that are close by to where the homeless hangout, like for example on Broadway street under the bridge you can see a large group of homeless but right by the bridge there is Rescue Ministries to help the people there. With the help of this ministry they provided meals for “676 people and housed 340 people overnight as of 4/11/17.”(Karm)The ministry on Ball camp pike road educate low income families and homeless to help bring the number of homeless down. This organization has “served 1210 homeless in assistance and has prevented and helped 67 people get off the street.”(The
Economist) Alyssa grew up in a low-income family, living paycheck to paycheck but that never really mattered to her. Her parents always gave her and her brother what they needed and sometimes even a little treat like a popsicle or a soda. Then one day she walked in on her dad sniffing some white powder off the table, and her mom with a needle in her arm. So, she went to the library and researched what it was, when she found out she cried. From then on, she knew things would be different and they were a month later they were bouncing from house to house. Then eventually with little to no money they ended up on the street, begging for food and money. Every bit of money she earned as a child and a teen went to her parents, she tried to hide the money but they always found it and used it on drugs and alcohol. So, Alyssa never had the opportunity to bring herself out of the street, she does however apply daily to different job sites and puts in applications. She has earned a cell phone issued by the government, and will visit the food pantry, or a meal site to get food every other day. She is still on the street and looking for a job so she can earn money to put in a savings account to get off the street one day. There are major differences between her life and culture and my life now and my culture. For example, she must find a new place to set up her tent every night to sleep, and during the day she must hide her tent someplace so it does not get taken. In contrast to her I go back to the same place every night, in my bed, always with food to eat. The money she has and sometimes earns goes to things she needs such as cloths or hygienic things and does not get the change to start saving money. Whereas us Americans with all the money we make goes into a savings account after we pay our bills. Being in our safe homes we never must be afraid of being robbed, killed, or rapped, like Alyssa must fear while being on the street. When Alyssa was a teenager she believed, there was a God but always yelled at God for putting her on the street and letting her parents stay addicted to drugs. As she got older into her early 20s she began going to a church mainly because they would feed her after church service. She would worship but never let it fully overwhelm her, or would walk out if the message got too deep. On one ordinary Sunday, she went to church and they happened to hear a sermon about trusting in God. It so happened that someone was getting baptized who used to be homeless but overcame it and now is successful holing a job and owns their own apartment. This was the fire she needed to fully commit herself to God and trust him with her life and the urge she needed to get baptized. Now she is still a follower of Christ but feels as they need to open there hearts more, and not be so hypocritical or judgmental of the homeless or people who follow Christ but not in the way they would like
The homeless population is growing in America. There are more and more Americans living in boxes, sleeping on park benches and panhandling on the streets each day. These people tend to make us, the non-homeless, feel uncomfortable and unsafe. They are also placing increasing stress on the nation's economy. In short, the homeless are a burden on the rest of society. There needs to be action taken against them. "I shall now humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection (Swift.)" I propose that all of the homeless be relocated to foreign third world countries. They can then be hired in American factories producing shoes, automobiles and other various goods at less than one dollar per hour.
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
“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.
With the rising number of homeless rising every night it is becoming harder for the shelters to house them since they do not have enough space or resources available to help. Since 2013 there has not been a new report done to count how many homeless people are living in Phoenix, but one thing that is known is that an “anticipated 250 families in Maricopa County are homeless every night”(Taylor ). There are currently 13 shelters that house the homeless each night in Phoenix, AZ, many of them not only provide housing but also “services such as alcohol and drug rehab treatment along with clinics’ (Phoenix Homeless Shelters & Services for the Needy.) Though the shelters do provide some help there is not enough of them to provide the assistance and housing needed to help the homeless. The number of shelters is not enough and more need to be built with proper staffing and resources to help keep the homeless people out of the unforgiving Phoenix heat and possible death. If
While Soup Kitchens are a way to feed the poor or homeless, it not a program that effectively helps the homeless onto their feet, it simply keeps them fed. (www.merriam-webster.com) These do help the unsheltered homeless population though. While there are shelters, not everyone has access to them or some even chose not to go. In the city of Los Angeles, there are about 27,000 homeless people who are unsheltered, that’s 1 in 378. There are various factors that cause homelessness; these include a decline in public assistance, domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, job loss, divorce, low wages, poverty, severe depression, physical disabilities or mental illnesses. From the year 2011 to 2012, the number of homeless people skyrocketed. In New York City alone, there are more homeless people in the year 2014 than there were in the recession of the 1980s. (www.studentsagainsthunger.org)
Youth become homeless for a number of reasons including: family violence and neglect, rejection due to sexual orientation or gender identity, the overwhelmed child welfare system and extreme poverty. These youth almost always have experienced unimaginable abuse and trauma, in their homes, their communities, and on the street. It is the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA)-funded services and programs that help to rectify the deep injustices that homeless youth experience on a daily basis.
It is logical that there are numerous health, nutritional, developmental, and psychological problems that are associated with being homeless as a youth. Health problems start even before birth if a mother is homeless and pregnant then her baby is more likely to be born with a lower birth weight than compared to normal children (Rafferty, Y., & Shinn, M., 1991). Children who are born into homelessness have higher death rates (1991). This could be due to the lack of prenatal care for homeless pregnant women. Furthermore, homeless children are more likely to have “upper respiratory infections, minor skin ailments ear disorders chronic physical disorders and gastrointestinal disorders” (Rafferty, Y., & Shinn,
I would like to start by saying how I see it and define it in my own words. It is the state where an individual doesn’t have a normal house and are not financially stable in life. It is the situation where you have to look after yourself or another person that is also homeless. You won’t be able to find the proper housing like a normal and secured place to live. All day and all night, you will be trying to sustain yourself from everyday challenges, like looking for food to eat, a place to live, and proper clothing.
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...
The population of Los Angeles continues to grow each day because people perceive that the opportunities will improve their economic and social well-being. Most of them get good jobs manufacturing, business and the government giving them the ability to provide for themselves and their children. Those who are not lucky enough do not realise their goals and depend on the government and the society for basic needs. The effort of the city and the government to house the homeless cannot take the pressure of the rising number of the homeless without the support of the society. Los Angeles in the United State’s largest urban and has the highest number of homeless people making the task of housing its population next to impossible without participation
Homelessness is a chronic problem that to this day doesn’t seem to have a solution that works. Almost everything attempted to help the problem has been based on the concept of having the person get a way to gain money, so the homeless person will be able to use the money to pay for a home and support themselves. Though, this system is flawed, as almost all outreach programs related to homelessness are limited in effectiveness and or, doesn’t solve the problem completely.
When we see someone walks around the street and begs, we often call him “homelessness”. But what exactly “homelessness” means? In dictionary, homelessness means “people who lack permanent housing.” The definition is too general to identify the word “homelessness”. homelessness can be regard as people without house to live on paper. In common sense, homelessness people do not have jobs. They cannot make money and but a house, so they have to sleep on the street. Usually, homelessness can be thought to be the same as bagger. In conclusion, the traditional standard of homelessness is whether the people have a house to live or not. Since the cause of homelessness is various, the mean of homelessness should be more about financial condition, should care more about mental condition, and should become more suitable to the recent situation, so the explanation of the word “homelessness” should be changed.
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.
As I entered the restaurant, the warm heat welcomed me. Compared to the harsh wind and rain that washed the streets of new york in this lonely night, the warm wind that filled this other wise cold looking restaurant felt cozy. The cool restaurant stands tall on top of the Apple center, in the middle of Time Square. The first thing I noticed when I entered the lobby of this icy building was the lonely daisy that sat alone in the large tall vase. The daisy was too short and small to stand on top of the transparent glass so it ended up wilting half way through the height of the vase. Wilting, masked by the glass.