Building Emergency Shelters And Transitional Housing

Homelessness has been a prevalent and contentious topic since its public emergence in the 1980’s. In fact, according to the most recent estimates, on any given night in the United States, there are roughly 645,000 people residing in homeless shelters or unsheltered street locations (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2011). And based on a local study done by the Mental Health Unit at the Houston Police Department in 2011, Houston has the largest homeless population in Texas and the eighth largest in the United States. While many great efforts have been put forth to aid the homeless population in Houston, “the public health epidemiology task of quantifying and tracking child and family homelessness over time has been complicated…by increasing rates of…shortages [in] affordable housing” (Grant et al., 2013), and restrictions on temporary encampments (Loftus-Ferren, 2013). In order to successfully reduce, prevent and combat homelessness, more policies must be put in place to create sustainable, affordable housing for homeless families and to modify current laws that harm homeless individuals.

“The National Center on Family Homelessness currently estimates that as many as fifty U. S. children (1.5 million) are homeless or “precariously housed” in temporary quarters such as motels and shelters” (Cohen, 2009). Today’s economic crisis is not helping this growing number of families that are being relocated as home foreclosures and loss of jobs add to the overwhelming number of homeless

Homelessness affects upwards of 3.5 million Americans annually and has been a historical problem since the 1700’s (Cronley, 2010). People who are homeless do not always choose the situation they find themselves in, but to be more precise, are the victims of a social system that neglects to help them with they first become at-risk of becoming homeless (Edison-Brown). According to the Joint Studies for Housing Studies (2017), almost thirty-nine million American households are living in homes that they have difficulty meeting the required funds to pay for monthly. To illustrate, a person who has a rental home, on average, needs to earn $21.21 per hour to afford a two-bedroom home in the United States (Family Promise, 2016). The poverty line for a family of four is at $24,300, and for someone to achieve that line, they need to be earning at least $11.70 per hour

Such as, unpredicted financial crisis, abuse or neglect, mental issues, and physical issues. “National Alliance to End Homelessness.” Endhomelessness.org, 2015. Mon. 16 Nov. 2015.: Families become homeless, “...as a result of some unforeseen financial crisis.” They also become homeless due to “medical emergencies, car accident, or a death in the family.” Youth and children are known for becoming homeless, “due to family conflict, divorce, neglect, or abuse.” Veterans become homeless because of, “physical disability, mental anguish, and p.t.s.d.” “National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness.” StudentsAgainstHunger.org, n.d. Mon. 16 Nov. 2015. : Another reason these groups are homeless is due to, “Economic factors: serve lack of affordable housing and Political factors: cuts in federal assistance.” How can the U.S. focus, and solve, the problem of

I find it is most appropriate to begin with the causes of homelessness in America. The circumstances are unique and it is difficult to pinpoint one main cause. As stated in the most recent annual survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, major cities across the country report that the top four causes of homelessness among families were: lack of affordable housing, unemployment, poverty, and low wages. The same report found that the top causes of homelessness among solitary individuals were lack of affordable housing, unemployment, poverty, mental illness accompanied by the lack of needed services, and substance abuse. For women in particular, though, domestic violence is the primary reason for experiencing homelessness.

Today, Homelessness in the US is becoming one of the top challenging issues to fix. Recent available data shows an increase the number of the homeless between 2014 and 2015. On a single night in January 2014, 578,424 people were experiencing Homelessness — meaning they were sleeping outside or in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program. From 2014 to 2015, a period of ongoing recovery from the Great Recession, overall homelessness decreased by 2.3 percent and Homelessness decreased among every major subpopulation: unsheltered persons (10 percent), families (2.7 percent), chronically Homeless individuals (2.5 percent), and veterans (10.5 percent). Yet a recent report by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, says homelessness decreased by nearly 4% over the past year.. The reports shows:

Homelessness is a serious societal problem affecting our communities. Katel of Housing the Homeless says “about 1.5 million Americans use a shelter in a given year- and advocates for the homeless say that figure badly understates the problem.” Yet, society looks down at these people, not doing anything to help them. They are judged, criticized, and bombarded by false assumptions everywhere they go. I have heard people say “they are like that because they chose to” or “they are lazy and don't want to work.” This is not true in most cases. The reality is life can go wrong at any moment for anyone. For some people there is no one there to help them and their only option is living on the streets or a shelter.

Homelessness is a national epidemic that affects much of our society. “In Texas, there were 29,615 persons homeless in 2013, meaning that approximately 12 out of every 10,000 persons in Texas are homeless” (Homelessness 101). Homelessness is a problem that is everywhere and unseen by many. There are many community outreach programs, religious organizations, including government agencies that aid in the welfare of homeless. Why is it that homelessness still remains a unsolved

Sadly though, In the United States alone 549,928 people were homeless in January 2016 (“Snapshot of Homelessness”). Even though this number is so high a lot of cities do nothing about the homelessness in their area. One reason people do not help is they believe the homeless individual caused their issue. That is not always correct, though. The most frequent cause of homelessness is property destroying disasters (Griffiths 18). With housing being the main issue it makes sense Housing First would be the most successful. Another reason people are homeless is divorce and abusive relationship (Griffiths 18). Which again show housing programs would be beneficial. It makes people wonder why more states do not start housing

The first reason, many people choose to being homeless is because they cannot afford rent. “The lack of affordable housing is a primary cause of homelessness according to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. HUD has seen its budget slashed by over 50% in recent decades resulting in the loss of 10,000 units of subsidized low income housing each and every year”. By: Bill Quigley. Common Dreams, Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community. Through my experience of being homeless, it is a true complaint that homeless are always making, that rent is too high amongst each other. Having affordable housing would be great for getting the homeless off the streets. Family’s with kids, that mothers receives Welfare that the Federal government provides can help a bit with the homeless. People with low-incomes, that have minimum wedge jobs but the income is not enough for

Homelessness is an epidemic that affects millions of people all over the world. These people have no place to live, are rarely able to bathe, and they have little to no food to eat. There are many reasons why people become homeless, but they can be broken down into three categories; Structural factors, systematic failures, and individual and relational factors.

In addition to Hazel story, news of the poorest city in America, Camden, New Jersey, has also risen. The federal government requires all states to have a homeless count every other year in order to fund homeless services, and this year in Camden, CNN brought homelessness into the spotlight. CNN interviewed with Michael Powell, a homeless man who lives on the outskirts of one of the “tent cities” that surveyors often find, and discovered that Michael Powell, and some others, had never been accounted for in the homeless count. In fact, Michael Powell did not know that a count even existed. “’It's set up to be kind of an impossible task,’ said Maria Foscarinis, founder of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. She said one way to get more accurate findings would be to extend the count over a longer period of time or to do multiple counts per year.” (Ellis 1) However, this may never happen because federal assistance and programs that provide assistance to the needy are experiencing cuts in their fund.

Many reasons for worsening situation of homelessness in the country have been reported but none has gathered as much support as poverty. Poverty alone accounts for major increase in homeless households while other possible reasons include loss of job, eroding job opportunities, lack of public assistance and lack of affordable housing facilities. Despite these being powerful reasons, they are all linked to one major reason i.e. poverty.

To begin with, individual conditions are major causes of homelessness, and they are quite numerous. For instance, the past of the individuals could be packed with shocking events. Some people have really hard time getting over them, and they always cause them many psychological or physical problems that may hinder their development in life. Shocking events may include loss of job or money. Research (as cited in Gowan, 2010) shows that 22.61% of homeless people are not working seriously to earn enough money. In addition, personal crises, whether social or economic have a huge impact on the individual’s present situation. If someone faces bankruptcy they have a higher chance of facing homelessness in the future. Also, mental illness

Contemporary designers and architects are addressing the short and medium term needs of people who require emergency and refugee shelters, by evaluating the requirements of people once they have been displaced from their home due to a natural disaster, or any other adversity that they may face. This article will compare and contrast different types of emergency shelters, both short and long term, and appraise the key considerations that contemporary designers and architects must make while creating these refuges.