Substance Abuse
Starting drugs and alcohol can be something that may start off as being an occasional event and result in a bad habit. Most homeless people are in the predicament they are in because of drug and alcohol abuse. Addiction and being peer-pressured can be major causes of substance abuse. Abusing alcohol and drugs can be highly affective to the life of the individual. It can rob them of everything including their job, family, friends, and even themselves.
Substance abuse is both a cause and a result of homelessness. Abusing the use of alcohol and drugs has led to some people that the use of alcohol and drugs is an important aspect of their life. They make it an everyday routine for several of reasons such as coping with issues,
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Domestic violence and Divorce are effects from having low self-esteem leading to homelessness.
One of the main causes of having low-self-esteem that can lead to homelessness is domestic violence. Domestic violence plays a big role in homelessness. Anger, Depression, Financial disputes, Stress, and Substance abuse are all major causes of domestic violence. These leading factors of domestic violence can leave victims in a very emotional state. Domestic violence includes physical, sexual, verbal, emotional, and psychological tactics. All of these tactics can drive a victim to being homeless.
Mothers are often forced to choose between being in an abusive relationship or being homeless. Majority of the time, when a woman decides to leave an abusive relationship, they are often left with nowhere to go. Majority of the time some women are often forced out on the streets due to violence. Being in a violent relationship leave mothers to feel like they are neglected, unappreciated, and unwanted. Due to the violence, sometimes close friend and family are cut off because of the embarrassment to seek help. Unfortunately, children are often caught in the mix of their parents and their domestic disputes because of being pulled in different directions. Children are often forced to choose to either be homeless with no or stay in a violent
Substance abuse is a wide-reaching issue affecting millions of people worldwide. It is an issue particularly troublesome for members of an oppressed class, in this case homeless women, as examined by the authors (Wenzel et al, 2009) in the article. Nearly 50% of homeless women reported drug use, and 32% of them reported binge drinking in Los Angeles, compared to 16% and 17% for drug use and binge drinking among women occupying a low-income house (p. 16).
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
According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors (2008) there are several key factors that cause homelessness and they differ between families and single adults. For families, the causes are lack of affordable housing, poverty, unemployment, low-paying jobs, domestic violence, mental illness and substance abuse. For single adults the causes are substance abuse, lack of affordable housing, mental illness, poverty, unemployment, and low-paying jobs. The top things needed to combat homelessness is more housing for people with disabilities, better paying employment opportunities, and more substance abuse services.
The biggest reason people are homeless is simply because of poverty. They just can't afford to have a place to live and food in their mouths. As of 2000, 11.3% of the US population lived in poverty.(1) The number of people in extreme poverty has been increasing since 1999, accounting for 39% of people in poverty, and making less than half the amount of income a person considered in poverty makes.(3) With this amount of people living in poverty, it's no wonder why there are so many homeless today. The reason people are in poverty is because of inflation since the 70's, and the loss of affordable housing projects.(4) This accounts for almost all homeless, but there are also other factors that can contribute as well. There are many people with addiction problems that make them homeless. It's not because they are addicted to drugs, because many people live quite well with an addiction problem, but they could be in a hard point financially, and could be driven to the streets because of money issues. The hard part for them is getting off the streets once they're on them. Since so much of their money goes to drugs, most drug addicts can't overcome being homeless once they have been for more than 6 months.(1) Mental illness is also a big issue causing homelessness. Approximately 22% of single white male homeless people are suffering from a severe mental illness.(1) The main reason is because Millions of mental patients were dis-institutionalized in the 50's and 60's, and affordable housing wasn't an issue until the 80's, when many of them were reaching 50 and couldn't work and afford housing. L...
Lee et al. (2010) state living on the streets can increase social instability and drug abuse. These two interferences may ignite or resurface a person’s mental health problem. Roche (2004) says there is a significant relationship between homelessness, mental health, and physical health. A person with a mental health issue may possible neglect their physical health. McMahon (2009) outlines treatment a client who had poor physical, mental health and homelessness. Mental health issues do not predetermine poor physical health, but may be a related factor. Strine et al.(2012) outline studies on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) making connections to mental health issues and substance use while Montgomery, Cutuli, Evan-Chase, Treglia and Culhane (2013) makes a connection between ACE, h...
With nearly 3.18 million people in the United States, there are 610.042 individuals who are homeless which calculates to about nearly one in five individuals (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 and HUD/US, 2013). At any time situations can change that can render an individual’s homeless. There are no qualities that exempt individuals from the chances of becoming homeless. However, there are certain predispositions and characteristics that can predict the likelihood of becoming homeless. Homelessness can be contributed to a number of situations such as occupational stress, financial stress, mental health issues, substance use, gender, age, race, disabilities, incarceration, chronic illness, and family stress.
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 ...
Rather than approach domestic violence as a direct cause of homelessness, one might hope to understand how such violence could help create the circumstances that might make a woman more susceptible to homelessness. Domestic violence and poverty may intersect with other issues to produce the circumstances that often leave women no other choice but to seek temporary shelter for the short-term, and therefore remain precariously housed.
The lack of employment opportunities, war and conflict, migration, mental health, social exclusion, gentrification, and poverty are just but a few factors that drive one toward homelessness.
After reviewing the literature, this author pinpointed several environmental, individual, and agent factors, which make up the epidemiologic triad, contribute to the topic of mental health in the homeless.
How do teens end up homeless? Being homeless is never a choice but a downfall in one’s life due all sort of hardship that occurs in someone’s living environment. For many teens homeless occurs due to bad living situations at home such as abusive relationship within the family or family is in debt due to poverty putting stress on the teen .About 40% of girls and 19% of boys left home because of sexual abuse. Teenagers are still learning how to cope with life so they tend to feel high emotion they don’t know how to handle causing them to feel unconformable which may lead to addiction. Addictions to alcohol and drugs are a vast aspect towards homelessness. Addiction is most likely to lead to youth losing interest in anything in life and their normal daily routines causing bad school attendance and grades giving the bad outcome of getting kicked out of school ...
Many people find themselves in a predicament when they are living with a partner and the two decide to go their separate ways. Some people may not be able afford the cost of living on just their income alone, so when two people terminate a relationship where one depends on the other, both are often left homeless for a period of time. Unemployment is another major cause of people becoming homeless. When people lose their jobs and fail to find another within a reasonable amount of time, they will not be able to pay their rent or mortgage on time or even at all, causing them to look else where for shelter. Many people are not fortunate enough to have a family member that is willing, or capable, of taking them in and supporting them. The main cause of homelessness comes from people being evicted from their place of residence either by their parents, friends, or land lord. Parents will often kick their kids out of the house because they can not financially support them anymore, or they are just simply tired of their kids bumming off of them when they are perfectly capable of supporting themselves or at least contributing to the cost of living expenses. So many people are forced to live on the streets because of something as little as a relationship problem. All homeles...
Third, the connection between domestic violence among women and homelessness is well established. Researchers identify that childhood exposure to violence increases the likelihood of perpetrating domestic violence in adulthood (McLaren, H. 2013, p.416). There are many studies that show domestic violence leads to homelessness, among families with children. A 1990 Ford Foundation study found that 50% of homeless women and children were fleeing abuse ("Domestic violence and homelessness", 2007). Domestic violence is often a contributor or cause of homelessness. When a woman leaves an abusive relationship, she often has nowhere to go. Escaping abusive situations means leaving the residence where the abuse is occurring and sometimes victims are
Many believe that a common thread among the homeless is a lack of permanent and stable housing. But beyond that, the factors leading to homelessness and the services that are needed are unique according to the individual. To put them into one general category ? the homeless- suggests that people are homeless for similar reasons and therefore a single solution is the answer. Every homeless person shares the basic needs of affordable housing, adequate incomes and attainable healthcare. But a wide range of other unmet needs cause some people to become or remain homeless which include drug treatment, employment training, transportation, childcare and mental health services (Center 8.)
Alcohol and drug abuse is one of biggest problems in United States today. It is not only a personal problem that dramatically affects individuals' lives, but is a major social problem that affects society as whole. "Drug and alcohol abuse", these phrases we hear daily on the radio, television or in discussions of social problem. But what do they mean or what do we think and understand by it? Most of us don't really view drug or alcohol use as a problem, if that includes your grandmother taking two aspirins when she has a headache or your friends having few beers or drinks on Saturday night. What we really mean is that some drugs or alcohol are being used by some people or in some situations constitute problem with which our society must deal. It becomes a real problem when using or I should say abusing drugs cause accidents, antisocial behavior, broken relationships, family instability, crime and violence, poverty, unsafe streets and highways, worker absenteeism and nonproductivity, and the most tragic one death. The situation in which the drug or alcohol uses accurse often makes all the difference. The clearest example is the drinking of alcohol, when individual begins to drink during the job, at school, or in the morning, we have evidence that indicates a potential drinking problem. If a person takes narcotic drug because he just wrecked his knee while his physician prescribed playing football and the drug, most of us would be not concerned. If, on the other hand, he took the same drug on his own just because he likes the way it makes him feel, then we should begin to worry about him developing dependence. Even use of illegal drugs are sometimes acceptable, but it also depends on situation, for example in some countries smoking marijuana is legal just like drinking alcohol in United States. Some subcultures even in United States that accept the use of illegal drugs may distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable situation, some college age groups might accept marijuana smoking at a party on weekends, but not just before going to a calculus class. Most of people would accept a fact that a bartender or a waiter who is working at a night club is having a beer or a drink on his break or that a landscape worker is having a cold beer with his lunch on a hot summer day. I'm not saying that it is "OK" but we wouldn't complain a...