The Cause Of Homelessness In The United States

Homelessness is an event where a person does not have permanent housing, meaning, that they are either sleeping outside, in a shelter, or in a housing program. A statistic states that report “On a single night in January 2015, 564,708 people were experiencing homelessness — meaning they were sleeping outside or in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program” (Batko). Half a million people in the United States had no place to call their home. Of these half a million people, 300,000 were families and 200,000 were individuals (Baram). This can happen due to many reasons. According to an article, the causes of homelessness are mental illnesses, losses of jobs, poverty, high housing prices, domestic violence, and substance abuse (“Homelessness

in America”). More specifically, 31% of the homeless population are homeless because of a job loss, 20% because of drugs or alcohol abuse, 15% blame divorce or separation, 13% have had an argument with a family member lead them to be without a permanent house, 7% have experienced domestic violence, 10% are homeless because they have been evicted, 7% don’t have permanent housing due to their mental health, 7% of the population have a physical health or medical condition, 12% lose their homes due to incarceration, and 1% become homeless because of housing restrictions due to probation or parole ("Top Causes of Homelessness in America"). Homelessness can happen to anyone due to high housing prices, poverty, loss of jobs, mental illnesses, and substance abuse making it hard to solve because of the few shelters available for the millions of homeless people.
There are many causal factors of homelessness including high housing prices, the loss of jobs and poverty.

A statistic reveals that “the 2013 Housing Wage is $18.79, exceeding the $14.32 hourly wage earned by the average renter by almost $4.50 an hour, and greatly exceeding wages earned by low income renter households” (“Homelessness in America”). People are not making enough money to pay for their houses or apartments causing them to abandon their houses. Interviewed by James Baram, shelter owner Brenda Wilson says “It’s really bad. We have more new homeless people than we’ve ever had — people who lost their jobs and lost their homes via foreclosure” (Baram). According to the article published in the American Journal of Public Health, in 2010, more than 20.2 million households were spending half their income to pay for housing. This lead to an increase of about 21.8 million households who decided to share a living unit with other families (Shinn, et al.). This means that a worker making minimum wage would be unable to buy a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the United States (“Hunger and Homelessness”). This defeats the purpose of minimum wage because minimum means the smallest amount needed to get by; however, none of these homeless individuals are making enough to get by. Not only are the prices of houses decreasing, but the ability to get a job has also decreased. From 2014 to 2015, almost 400,000 people had lost their job. With no job these people were forced to leave their houses and find a shelter to live in (“Homelessness in America”). While these people had stability, many people were born into poverty. In 2014, “the number of poor renter households experiencing severe housing cost burden, those households in poverty paying more than 50 percent of their income toward housing, totaled 6.6 million, increasing 2.1 percent nationally from 2013, with 33 states seeing an increase” (Batko). First people are not making enough money to pay for their houses. Then,

the prices for their houses are constantly increasing. That is why there are about 42.6 million people are in poverty (“Homelessness in America”). These problems are created by society and the people who make them up, however many individuals have certain problems specific to them that lead to the lack of permanent housing.
While those problems are caused by society and the individual, mental illnesses, domestic violence, and drug abuse are also reasons for homelessness. According to Samantha Batko, those causes usually coexist or come together as a package. For example, a person who has been abused may turn to drugs or alcohol, while a person with an untreated mental illness can act sporadically and abuse their partner (Batko). According to a recent report, around 25% of the homeless population have a mental illness. Unfortunately, many of these people who have used up all their money paying for treatments, medication, and therapy for their mental illnesses end up homeless and untreated ("Top Causes of Homelessness in America"). Domestic violence, especially against women, have caused many cases of homelessness. About 15% of the homeless population has experienced domestic violence and three-fourths of that percent are women. Also, when it comes to substance abuse, 20% of the homeless population take and abuse drugs and alcohol. All of the articles come to the same conclusion about the causes of homelessness and how many people are affected by these separate cause, making it easy to find correct information
Each one of the sources written by journalists, scientists with PhD’s, or organizations formed to help homelessness have many things in common. In the article “Nutrition and the Homeless Person” published in the Journal of Community Health Nursing, authors Judith Strasser, Shirley Damrosch, and Jacquelyn Gaines say “that the main three groups of people who are homeless are the mentally ill patients, the alcoholics, and the people who are going through financial situations and are currently unemployed or don’t make enough money” (Strasser et al. 66). The authors also break up those major groups into sub groups. For example, they categorize divorcees under people who are going through a financial situation and the substance abusers under the ‘alcoholics’ (Strasser et al. 66). The author from the article "Top Causes of Homelessness in America" also believes that those are the major causes of homelessness. The article states that the main reasons people are homeless are because of loss of family members, domestic violence victims, loss of jobs, and divorces ("Top Causes of Homelessness in America"). The team from the National Coalition for the Homeless, who wrote “Homelessness in America”, also organize the homeless population the same way as the other sources. The NCH say the major reasons for homelessness are mental issues, losses of jobs, poverty, and the high housing prices (“Homelessness in America”). While these sources agree what the major causes of homelessness are, they also agree on which homeless individuals receive the most and quickest aid.
The authors of all these articles also come to a conclusion about the selection process for which individuals receive immediate care and shelter and which don’t. Every article, written by multiple scholars, acknowledge that it is easier for women and women with children to enter shelters. Also, these researchers say that it’s harder for single fathers to enter shelters. In the article “Efficient Targeting of Homelessness Prevention Services for Families”, the authors conduct an experiment where they track 11,000 homeless people for 5 years as they look for housing of any sort. Through their experiment, they discovered that families with at least a child or a mother did receive aid much quicker than a single father (Shinn, et al). The NCH who also ran their own set of experiments found “that women who brought children with them had an easier time acquiring a spot in a shelter than men” (“Homelessness in America”). Most of the statistics and data given by multiple authors agree, however, there are contradictions between the viewpoints and verdicts of different scholars.
While the organizations, scientists, and reporters agree on the causes of homelessness and the types of people preferred in shelters, the sources disagree on certain claims, ideas, and verdicts. The issue about the acceptance of people with substance abuse problems vary from it not being an issue to it being an extremely important problem. The experiment done by multiple scholars with PHD’s hypothesized that people with drug and alcohol problems would be given a harder time entering shelters. Surprisingly, they discovered that people with chronic drug addictions had no problem getting into shelters, in fact, it was almost easier for them to gain a spot in shelters (Shinn, et al). However, Marcus Baram, a reporter for the Huffington Post, disagrees with their claim. From his extensive research, he found out that 44% of homeless men have been reported to have alcohol problems versus the 22% women with the same problem. Also 30% of the homeless men have a drug problem compared to the 20% of the homeless women population. Due to these statistics, he argues, shelters tend to reject men more than women because of the fact that it’s more likely for men to have a substance abuse problem (Baram). Each of these articles argue that people with substance abuse problems either have extreme difficulty or have absolutely no difficulty getting help. Another issue that the sources don’t agree on is which method will help the homeless population the most.
Each source provides an excellent idea that will benefit homeless individuals; however, the scholars can’t seem to agree on one idea. The councilwoman of LA in charge of helping the homeless proposed the building and funding of new shelters. She says “I’ve been pushing to open more year-round shelters. We have 600 beds, but only 300 are being used year-round (Baram). Like her, many people agree to fund and open new shelters for the homeless. However, when the homeless community was asked what they would prefer over new shelters they said something different. Baram discovers that “Three-fourths of women questioned in a survey of homeless people in Skid Row said that affordable permanent housing is the biggest need in the community” (Baram). While people in the government want safe houses to assist the homeless, homeless individuals prefer one place they can call home, once and for all. In a different article called “Proven Solutions on Homelessness”, the authors believe that a sudden change where houses become affordable is too idealistic. Therefore, they want people to apply for Section 8 and Housing Choice vouchers, so that they can have a permanent house that has been adjusted to their income. (“Proven Solutions on Homelessness”). All of these sources claim to have the best idea to benefit the homeless, yet each of their ideas come with costs and benefits.
From the multiple sources, it is incredibly clear what the major factors that cause homelessness are; however the ideas given to help the homelessness have their benefits and disadvantages. The scientists, researchers, and scholars have collected a sufficient amount of reliable data to pinpoint the causal factors of homelessness. However, there are still two claims on whether people with drug problems receive aid or not. One claim is that people who abuse drugs and alcohol should be helped first so that they are able to overcome their addiction and save money for a house. The other claim is that individuals who indulge in different drugs are more brash, prone to destroying housing, and have a harder time giving up their addictions. Both claims are true and either can be proven with sufficient data. Also, the different ideas proposed to help the homeless all come with their costs and benefits. Some ideas are too costly, but ideal, while others are efficient, but idealistic. With the millions of people suffering from homelessness and the lack of help provided for them proves that homelessness is a real social issue that cannot be solved easily.