Criminalization: A Necessary Solution To Homelessness

According to this estimate, a greater percentage of inmates have been previously homeless, (5% of general population versus 15% of incarcerated population with history of homelessness), which illustrates that homelessness often triggers incarceration. (Metraux S, Culhane , 2006.) Individuals with past incarceration face great barriers attempting to exit homelessness due to such policies which disqualify them from most federal housing assistance programs due to their criminal records. One of the federal housing assistance programs of the community is through the Great Falls Housing Authority, also known as “Section 8 Housing”. This program offers privage landlords contrated with the Housing Authority which approves the home for Housing Quality Standards and subsidizes the rent for the client which pays approximately 30% of their adjusted income as rent. Due to people with previous felonies of sorts being disqualified from such programs, these individuals may feel it necessary to engage in criminal activities to attempt to break the cycle of homelessness, only in turn perpetuationg the viscious cycle of homelessness, and being

Many of the anti-homeless polices that have been previously mentioned focus on improving the quality of life for the community rather than reducing the causes of homelessness and for these reasons it is imperative that these anti-homeless policies be reformed. Reforming these polices can be tricky due to the way they are framed. For example, no one is going to advocate that public urination should be allowed. A more effective argument would be to advocate for increased public spending on public restrooms. This is just one example of how allocating public funds away from criminal justice and towards public services could help improve the issue of

Homelessness has been around for a long time, but crimination of the homeless is a topic that just occurred recently. When criminalization came about there was two groups in the U.S., one side opposed to it and the other supported it. The group that opposes criminalization of homeless people are advocates who believe that criminalizing homeless people will only worsen the situation and cause more problems to begin with, make our nation as a whole look bad, and violates their rights. Another reason why a person advocates against the criminalization of homeless people believe in what they believe is that they had a personal experience relating to this subject or out of concern for the citizens who reside in this country. Instead of wasting the

Adoption of laws and policies that punish homeless people rather than addressing the problems that cause homelessness is an ineffective approach. Penalizing people for engaging in innocent behavior – such as sleeping in public, sitting on the sidewalk, or begging – will not reduce the occurrence of these activities or keep homeless people out of public spaces when they have no other place to sleep or sit or no other means of living. With insufficient resources for shelter and services for homeless people, enforce punishment for unavoidable activities is not only pointless, it is inhumane (Brown,1999, July/August). Relying on law enforcement officials and jails to address homelessness and related issues, such as mental illness and substance abuse, that are more appropriately handled by service providers, causes problems and widespread frustrations within the criminal justice system. Police officers are not adequately trained to respond to the situations that arise, the criminal justice system does not provide the necessary treatment

Hansi Lo Wang of National Public Radio reports that as of nine months ago, New York City’s homelessness rates have reached record-breaking heights. Reading his report, I was not surprised by the trend; the real-estate market has no regard for low-income families and individuals, and according to Wang’s report, this is especially true in New York. (Wang) The Coalition for the Homeless describes housing affordability in the city as a crisis, disproportionately affecting African-American and Latino people. Children have been hit the hardest by the rising homelessness rates. (Markee) What I hadn’t expected to learn while researching New York’s situation is this: the city’s crime rate is lower than it was last year by 5.6%. (Wang) I was inspired to examine why I, along with residents of New York City, jumped straight to the conclusion that higher homelessness rates would coincide with higher crime rates. I became alarmed by the assumption that homeless people would make the city “menacing and unlivable”, as the New York Post suggests, and how quickly I had come to it. (Post) According to surveys, New Yorkers believe that their city of declining crime rates is actually becoming more dangerous. (Wang) My opinion on the situation in New York quickly developed from that point on in my reading. Criminalizing homeless people will not

One of the most discussed topics around the world is homelessness. Each and everyday more and more people become homeless. People around the world have tried numerous times to resolve this dilemma. This situation is growing and it 's starting to spiral out of control. One solution that 's getting popular the more we let this situation grow is that criminalizing the homeless is good. People cannot criminalize the homeless. Homeless people should not be criminalized because they have nowhere to go, they have it hard enough, and putting them in jail will solve nothing.

Homelessness is much more than not having a home. Most of the time, homelessness is not having any hope and chance. It is a crisis that continues to impact millions of American people every day. A crisis that gives them no choice but to sit on the streets and try to survive each day with extreme optimism. However, they are being criminally punished for such actions that they have no choice but to do it. The innocuous action of sitting on the streets and sleeping on the streets somehow is viewed as a criminal act. A number of resources wasted for criminalizing such harmless action are gratuitous. The government has two branches of law regarding homelessness in the United States. One branch is helping the homeless people to access shelter, food, and etc. The other branch is outlined to criminalize homeless people. Homeless people who do not have any place to go are forced to live on the streets in order to survive. Criminalizing homeless people reveals that it is actually quite inefficient, expensive, and most importantly it infringes the rights that they are entitled to.

Homelessness has been a problem in Hawaii, and especially Oahu, for more than two decades. The homeless have overrun the islands but it is no surprise as the circum- stances allow for it. Multiple factors contribute to the ongoing dilemma including the high cost of living, Hawaii being an island state, and the expensive housing. The prob- lems that cause homelessness are not going to go away by themselves. Although the problem is not increasing, the numbers show that it isn’t decreasing and shouldn’t be unless the state and community acts.

For this year’s conference, the theme will be the issue of decriminalizing homelessness. We first of all must remind ourselves that our approach and response to homelessness must be highly individualized for the affected person, and we need to diversify our approach in order to truly help the affect individual.

A defense lawyer who deals with homeless people often has noticed an increasing number of homeless coming in for begging. In this argument or case the police are trying to save money and that doesn’t work by sending non-uniformed officers on the streets to catch homeless people that are doing nothing wrong. As you would guess the main reason in beggers is their drug or alcohol addiction, unlike the homeless people who just sit there with a cup out or on the side of the road with the brown box with sharpie on it. There are also a lot of people who aren’t homeless but that are in poverty but still have a shelter. The homeless people and people in poverty are almost at the same percent of no shelter all together. When someone walks up to you

Communities often make more of an effort to chase out or hide the homeless rather than take steps that might eliminate the causes of homelessness. Laws usually include prohibiting loitering in public areas such as parks and train stations. Police officers sometimes take aggressive actions against homeless individuals to enforce homeless regulations (“Dealing With” 8-9). Communities that try to regulate the homeless have a negative impact on public support for rehabilitation programs. Laws that target the homeless support the view that it is not homelessness that is the problem but the people who are affected by it. Money that could be used to fund homeless agencies is instead used to bring homeless citizens to

In 2014, the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness released a new study showing that, when accounting for a variety of public expenses, Florida residents are paying $31,065 per chronically homeless person every year they live on the streets (“Leaving”). This study had tracked public expenses accumulated by 107 chronically homeless individuals in central Florida. These costs ranged from criminalization and incarceration costs to medical treatment and emergency room visits that the patient was unable to afford. This seems like a really expensive way to deal with the problem when there are cheaper alternatives.

Addressing homelessness, regardless of its cause, requires creativity, empathy and dedication. Oftentimes, the factors that lead to homelessness are complicated and intertwined, with no clear origin. Medical catastrophes, job loss, and foreclosure or eviction can be the catalyst into a life of insecurity and chronic homelessness. Once secure, stable housing is lost, a person faces a slippery slope. In Kansas City, like many other substantial cities, efforts to combat homelessness must be creative and comprehensive in order to succeed. Social programs that focus on stable housing and address the complicated causes of homelessness prove to be the most successful.

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.

What can be proposed by the city to the public audience to help the homeless in need? In Anaheim, there is a problem with the growing amount of homeless people on the streets of our city; their presence has been increasing within parks, streets, in front of businesses, etc. The reason for why we chose this topic is because our group wants to be able to help these individuals get their life back on track, rather them having these unemployed people living out on the filthy streets. I constantly see individuals begging for money at the exits of freeways and cross lights, instead of seeing them work for their money. To do this, we need to be able to convince our community to propose programs to city hall that will help homeless