Classifying Homelessness

Mahatma Gandhi, the civil rights leader, once said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Ever since the 1900’s, people and the world’s problems have increased since. We’ve gone from wars to assassinations, natural disasters to racism, and from more wars to even more racism. And that’s just in America. Even now, problems still exist, and continue to increase throughout the years. Many people are trying to stop some issues, however not enough people care. Due to worrying about their own safety and social status, rather than helping others that are in the midst of danger and even death. There are many changes needed in this world, but I have two matters I’d like to specifically address.

In the student center on the Marietta campus, I along with a friend of mine, assisted in making sandwiches for the homeless. I observed and 30 fellow students rally together and make 500 sandwiches. This action will help provide food for many homeless citizens.

There are currently 564,708 homeless individuals in the United States (U.S.), however this is just an estimate as there are probably hundreds that go uncounted, during PIT (point-in-time count) or remain unregistered with non-profit agencies providing services (The National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2016). Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) most homeless individuals did not have health insurance, as provisions for these individuals as well as the low-income population could only be accepted into the Medi-cal / Medicaid program, if they had children that were eligible. Since ACA was implemented a large percentage of the homeless are insured, but, this does not mean that the preexisting gaps and barriers to access health care do not exist. They do. Being homeless has been found to correlate to a poor health status (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2016). In fact, homeless individuals are at risk and experience more chronic illness than someone who has housing. Additionally, once chronic illness develops in a homeless individual, they are at higher risk for comorbid conditions, new conditions (such as skin disorders and respiratory illness) and an acceleration in the development of their disease(s).

Homelessness is an aspect of society, which most people chose not to acknowledge. With the increasing amount of issues the United States faces, homelessness tends to be forgotten when the time comes for the government to establish what issues they should assist. Due to the substantial amount of issues the government concerns itself with, homelessness does not receive the necessary attention required and is improperly handled. In today’s society poverty-stricken individuals or families is too much of a common occurrence to be treated as lightly as it is. Additional government intervention is necessary in order to supply the needed resources, which can prevent the further spread of homelessness. The United States government is obligated to protect its citizens and should care about the constant growth of homelessness. Through economic policies and community advertisements, the government can control the issue of individuals who are facing poverty.

Given national recognition, The State of Homelessness in America benefits individuals needlessly suffering from a lack of shelter and a steady income. Efforts such as raising awareness and knowledge about the increase in the homeless population has sparked a number of organizations devoted to lessening the amount of individuals living on the streets in major cities. The state of homelessness is able to provide accurate information and statistics for viewers nationwide.

Homeless as defined by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as an individual who lacks housing, including those whose primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private facility that provides temporary living accommodations, they are a person with out permanent housing, who may live on the streets, in a shelter, abandoned building, or other unstable situations (HHS). It is important for communities throughout the United States to develop a system that identifies the number of homeless around them. This information is valuable to many government and private agencies, it enables them to acquire, and maintain needed resources and money in order to best serve their homeless populations. There are different ways that communities attempt to count their homeless population, shelters, feeding centers and others who provide resources are able to take count of how many they serve each day, but unfortunately it can be hard to track those who do not come on a returning basis. The US Census Bureau every 10 years also conducts a Service-Based Enumeration (SEB) to help count the population In the study published by the National

According to a study done by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, in America alone, more than 3.5 million people, including 1.35 million children, experience homelessness yearly (nationalhomeless.org). Of that 3.5 million, 35% are families with children (studentsagainsthunger.org). Worldwide, 100 million people are homeless yearly (homelessworldcup.org). These people are forced to sleep in parks, under bridges, abandoned buildings, shelters, and sometimes cars if available. There are approximately 1.7 million homeless teens in the US and 1 of 7 of every teen are runaways (dosomething.org). More than half of these teens will use drugs or alcohol to self medicate through their traumatic experience. Unfortunately, 5,000 of these teens and young adults die yearly because of assault or illness on the streets (dosomething.org). In most cases, homelessness is temporary, but is still a problem encountered by many. Homelessness and poverty are increasing epidemics around the world, striking millions of people every age, ethnicity, and religion.

Homelessness is an arising problem within the United States. Poverty and homelessness are inheritably linked. As children we were raised to believe that through hard work and determination that we could accomplish anything. We all had dreams of having nice cars, a nice home and lots of money, however this is impossible when a person is living pay check to pay check and close to being homeless. Knowing that we live in the “land of opportunity” brings many dreams to anyone’s mind, however, many families are experiencing financial issues that are causing them to become homeless because they cannot afford to live and pay their bills, food, child care, health care and education (National Coalition of the homeless, 2007). Homelessness in

In January 2015, 564,708 people were homeless on a given night in the United States. Of that number, 206,286 were people in families, and 358,422 were individuals. About 15 percent of the homeless population - 83,170 - are considered "chronically homeless” individuals. (National Alliance to End Homelessness). According to the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, “A homeless person is an individual without permanent housing who may live on the streets; stay in a shelter, mission, single room occupancy facilities, abandoned building or vehicle; or in any other unstable or non-permanent situation”. Homelessness has been a constant problem throughout history, so it is not something that just popped out of nowhere. Throughout history,

While health care in America is slowly improving, are we leaving people behind? Imagine waking up day and night with an infection that has no possibility of healing. Homeless individuals face this reality on a daily basis. For decades, America has been fighting to decrease and eventually eliminate homelessness. However, with the decline in employment opportunities and an increase in living cost, living the “American Dream” is now becoming a nightmare. Due to the rough culture of homelessness, individuals affected by homelessness cannot access medication as easily compared to the average middle-class citizen. Even with the advancement of the world’s richest country, there are still a large percentage of homeless individuals without essential necessities.

In January 2015 there were 564,708 homeless in the US. They were all sleeping in the streets, emergency shelter or transitional housing. This paper is about why and what we should and could do to help the homeless.

Cities across the United States are struggling with the matter of homeless people who congregate in public areas. Homeless people, some of whom have serious mental problems or addictions, cannot get into government-provided housing due to long waiting lists or incarceration records. They also may not have consistent access to soup kitchens or food pantries, because they are without transportation, or do not meet the agencies guidelines. As a result, the homeless congregate in public areas to panhandle for food and money. Non-profits or charities hand out meals in parks to help combat this issue. This can cause parks to become littered, leading them to be uninviting, which can diminish surrounding house values. In an endeavor to remove the homeless

Everyone knows of homeless people, but not as many people actually know about homeless people. In the U.S. there are over 3.5 million people who face homelessness each year. Many factors play into why people become or end up homeless and it is different for everyone especially the various age groups of the homeless population; homeless people are from all walks of life including minors, adults, and elders.

Health care can be defined as the “prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation of mental and physical well-being through the services offered by the medical and allied health professions” (“Health care”, n. d.). In the U.S., health care is offered by both private and public insurers. Generally, it comes from an employer-sponsored insurance. In the past, homeless people who had no job generally had no health insurance. Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) was established to serve those people (Zlotnick, Zerger, & Wolfe, 2013, p. 2). HCH is a model that helps the federal government to encourage homeless people who have problems to access health care. These people face a lack of money, of health care insurance, and of knowledge about where they can go when they are sick. The problem of homeless people with health care is an ongoing problem. The federal government tried to solve these problems, but when Obama became president of the United States, he launched a new health care policy called The Affordable Care Act (ACA). The important policy under ACA is expanding Medicaid coverage for all US citizens, including homeless people. Many Americans get advantages from ACA because people who have low income can have more access to health care (Clemans-Cope et al., 2013, p. 3). The government spends a lot of money to serve people who cannot access health care. Unfortunately, many people do

The current social welfare issue that I chose to explore is homelessness within Canada. First, this essay will give a brief description of homelessness. Secondly, it will describe how homelessness relates to some concepts and theories that we learned in this course Introduction to Social Welfare, it will also look at what may have happened to people facing homelessness one hundred years ago, next we will explore a possible solution to this social issue and where this fits within the political ideologies. Finally, I will give a brief explanation on whether social media is an effective tool for bringing about awareness regarding social issues.