Effects of Poverty, Hunger and Homelessness on Children and Youth

     To be homeless is to not have a home or a permanent place of residence. Nationwide, there is estimated to be 3.5 million people that are homeless, and roughly 1.35 million of them are children. It is shown that homeless rates, which are the number of sheltered beds in a city divided by the cities population, have tripled since the 1980’s (National Coalition for Homeless, 2014). Worldwide, it is estimated that 100 million children live and work on the streets. Homeless children are more at risk than anyone else, and are among the fastest growing age groups of homelessness. Single women with children represent the fastest growing group of homeless, accounting for about 40% of the people that are becoming

Overall, this exercise showed me the very real struggle that those who live in poverty face when trying to simply provide the bare necessities such as housing and food. Even so, the need for reform in intense. The first step in overcoming the financial barriers of poverty is not merely raising minimum wage or providing more governmental assistance, but the main area that needs reformation is in the eyes of the American populace. By changing the viewpoint of Americans who are not in financial poverty, the rest of the reform will follow

There are millions of homeless youth in America. On any given night, you can find these children ducking into abandoned buildings, crammed up against alley dumpsters, curled inside the big yellow slide of a local playground. I imagine they are thankful for sleep, wary of a new day, but thankful nonetheless. Homelessness at such a young age if left alone, leads to increased rates of conflict. The more homeless youths now, the more our country as a whole will have to deal with divorce, mental illness, and the need for government assistance.

Unemployment and lack of education plays a major role in these individual homeless people’s lives. With unemployment and high school dropout rates rising, homelessness cannot be prevented. Kids are taught from a young age to stay in school because the ones that dropout around high school is more than likely to become homeless. High school dropouts are likely to become homeless because they are likely to get kicked out of their dysfunctional home, or possibly run away from home feeling as if they are not good enough for the family. Dropouts will find it difficult to preserve a job, most will turn to drugs, becoming an addict, only hoping that it will make things better, really just increasing the rate of poverty and homelessness.

In 1998, the U.S Conference of Mayors’ survey of homelessness in 30 cities found that children under the age of 18 accounted for 25% of the urban homeless population. A 1987 Urban Institute study found that 51% of the homeless populations were between the ages of 31 and 50; other studies have found percentages of homeless persons aged 55 to 60 ranging from 2.5% to 19.4%. (National Coalition for the Homeless factsheet)

Poverty and homelessness are caused by racism, lack of education, alcohol, drug abuse, and individuals who have been born into poverty and are not able to afford the means to get ahead, such as going to college. Homelessness is defined as the lack of a regular, fixed nighttime residence, no matter whether the homeless live with relatives or sleep in parks, shelters or vehicles. About four million people experience homelessness at

The U.S. is among the richest countries in the world today, yet millions of people in America still live below the poverty level. The number of Americans living in poverty is increasing day by day as well as the number of children. Poverty in America has become a great threat to children’s wellbeing as they are affected emotionally, socially, and even in their school performance (Wood 720). Poverty in America is mainly caused by lack of jobs. Many people who live in poverty in the United States is due to lack of jobs and getting jobs with minimum wage. Another cause of poverty is due to the rise in the cost of living. Poverty exists in America despite the fact that is among the richest nations in the world.

To many Americans, poverty is merely a synonym for ‘not rich’. Even those who understand the definition may struggle with the concept that poverty is not a distant, foreign, concern; poverty can occur in any country, region, neighborhood, and household. In a study performed by Carroll et al, 60% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “poor people are poor because of laziness and lack of will power (2011, p. 116). In the same questionnaire, 77% of respondents felt most poor people have the ability to escape poverty without government assistance (Carroll et al, 2011, p. 117). As above facts show, despite the widespread nature of this issue those not living in poverty often have

Overall, this paper is about how poverty is very prominent in our society, and we need to learn more about it. We need to increase aid to low- income families because they cannot support

There is a direct correlation between crime rates and the number of homeless people in an area. Children are the most vulnerable among the homeless population. Statistically, children who are homeless at any point have a greater chance of being homeless when they are adults, thus, continuing the cycle of poverty.

While it has proven to be difficult to end poverty in America, Peter Edelman is optimistic. In his book So Rich, So Poor Edelman makes a call to action. There are four prominent ideas that underpin Edelman’s reasoning throughout the book: (1) More people must understand why poverty is still so prevalent in America; (2) extreme poverty must be taken into consideration as a shocking 6 million Americans’ sole income was food stamps in 2011. This fact alone creates a sense of urgency that drives Edelman; (3) increasing income inequality should be treated as a moral issue; and (4) bold political action will be required if substantive progress will be made in alleviating poverty.

Poverty is considered the most common and pervasive cause of homelessness because everything else is linked to it. Had someone not been poor, loss of his job wouldn't land him on the streets; similarly lack of public assistance is only a problem if you need it. In other words, when a person loses his job, or seeks public assonance or looks for affordable housing, he is doing it because his income is unable to help him meet his expenses. For this reason, he can be categorized as poor. Thus many poor people are forced to end up on the streets. Unfortunately a very significant portion of this population is composed of innocent children who are forced to live on streets because their parents cannot afford a house. "In 2007, 12.5% of the U.S. population, or 37, 300, 00 million people, lived in poverty. The official poverty rate in 2007 was not statistically different than 2006 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2007). Children are overrepresented, composing 35.7% of people in poverty while only being 24.8% of the total

In today’s society children becoming homeless and having to fend for themselves is wide-spread but homelessness in families also tends to be common (Jewel 2). This issue affects the human population in a very grave way which leaves one out of every fifty children experiencing this immense epidemic (Crary 1). The current recession, has caused sixteen percent of homeless children to be present in our country today and with the economy worsening this statistic will increase (Kingsbury 1).

Today we’re facing a big problem, it’s not a new one but an on-going one and it has been going on for decades. What is poverty? Poverty is the state of not being able to afford basic needs, in other words, it is the condition of being tremendously poor. It is a matter which has troubled the nation for thousands of years. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Around 21,000 people die every day because of extreme hunger. If they don’t have money, they won’t be able to afford food, water and shelter. Therefore, they’re constantly malnourished, and get sick easily. This causes them to have less energy to work which causes them to become even poorer and hungrier. Usually, the first thing

Poverty is a considerable social problem; with a significant impact on those who suffer within. Growing up in poverty “reduces a child’s chance of growing up to be a healthy, well-adjusted, and contributing adult in our society” (Crosson-Tower, 2014, p. 59). Poverty is families having to struggle to afford necessities. Poverty does not know where your next meal is coming from or having to choose between paying rent and seeing a health care provider. The impact of poverty affects one’s ability through physical, social, emotional, and educational health. Even though individual overcome poverty it still extends across cultural, racial, ethnic, and geographical borders. Children represent the largest group of poverty in the United States. “Growing up in poverty places a child at a profound disadvantage and substantially lowers the chances that the child will mature into a well-adjusted, productive, and contributing