Five Myths About America

Homelessness is an issue in American society today that affects anywhere from 800,000 to 3.5 million people. There are a substantial amount of people that are without shelter, food, or employment, and there are numerous other people affected by poverty and homelessness. People living in nearly every city in the United States are affected by homelessness due to the large amounts of homeless individuals living on the streets and begging for money, food, and other necessities. The issue of homelessness has been a constant problem since the conquering of the New World, and soup kitchens and homeless shelters have not been able to fully end homelessness. Especially today, with a lack of affordable housing and high unemployment rates, homelessness is prevalent.

“One diverse population that has continued to increase over the quarter of a century is composed of people who are homeless” (Baggerly & Zalaquett, 2006, p.155). Homelessness has become a growing problem in society because more and more people are finding themselves to be homeless and not knowing where to turn. Many people do not

Homelessness has become an evolving epidemic of our time, and the health implications associated with being homeless makes it that much worse. Homeless people are at major risk for premature death and a wide range of health problems such as HIV, skin blemishes, and much more. It is very difficult for homeless people to fix their health issues due to the difficulty of accessing health care possibly because of missing health cards, or simply because of the stigma placed on them when they enter a public facility. Whatever the problem may be that is forcing more people to become homeless, it must be solved, and quickly before our world turns into a travesty.

In the United States the homeless population continues to grow rapidly. Homelessness has been a public health issue for many decades. Often times these individuals feel as though society has turned a blind eye to them. This at risk population is seen by society as lazy or chose to live a life on the streets, but if one would examine this population closely would see that there is more to this at risk population than what society has labeled them as. The forces, which affect homelessness, are multifaceted. Social forces such as family breakdown, addictions, and mental illnesses are in combined with structural forces such as lack of low-cost housing, insufficient health services, and poor economic conditions. Many would

Homelessness in the United States can be ended, not just maintained. Allot of cities now have plans to eradicate homelessness. Homelessness and housing instability are large issues that afflict a diverse demographic such as: Families, youth, veterans, and chronically homeless single male adults. Ending homelessness may require specialized solutions that are specific to individual needs. Factors like these make defeating homelessness a difficult task. Although solutions exist for some of the demographics, such as housing for chronically homeless adults, scaling up best practices remains a challenge. For other subpopulations, such as transitional aged youth, evidence-based interventions need to be developed. In this paper we argue that ending homelessness is a Grand Challenge that is big, important, and compelling—one that the profession of social work should be adopt. Meeting this challenge will require a focused, organized response from social work researchers, clinicians, and policymakers. Ending homelessness will require innovation and interdisciplinary or cross-sector collaboration. Key words: Housing First, Permanent Supportive Housing, rapid re-housing, prevention, poverty. The notion that homelessness in the United States can be ended, rather than managed (Mangano, 2002; National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2012), represents a fundamental shift in expectations from the 1980s and ’90s. Since the early 2000s, researchers, policymakers, advocates,

Homelessness in the United States is a multifaceted problem, there are many factors to consider when examining this homelessness including access to health care, economic conditions and public policy as well as a host of other issues. Problems with homelessness that need addressed are the stigmatizations of being homeless and how this perception has led to anti-homeless policies, how reforming anti-homeless policies can lead to shifting society’s perception of the issue of homelessness, and finally why social workers must be at the forefront of the campaign to facilitate meaningful change to reduce the human suffering

Homelessness has always been a problem for the United States. Since its birth as a nation, there have consistently been individuals who find themselves without a place to live, looking for shelter with family, friends, or simply anywhere they can find it. These individuals have been targeted as candidates for social aid, but this was primarily provided by churches and other care organizations. However, in the past thirty years the homeless population has increased almost exponentially in numbers. While the cause of this is undetermined, it is quite certain that while the

Seeing homelessness develop is a process that the older generation can say they have been apart of. The young generation, on the other hand, cannot say they have seen the development of homelessness. People who are thirty years old or younger have grown up believing that homelessness was always part of the landscape. The younger generation has come to believe that there have always been homeless people sitting on park benches. When an individual is asked what they see most in a large city like Chicago or New York, ‘homeless people’ is a common response. According to the United States Census Bureau, 320.8 million individuals currently live in the United States of America. Imagine the proportion of individuals that do not own a car or even a house to live in. The National Law Center on Homelessness and poverty did studied to conclude that in America more than 3.5 million people experience homelessness each year. Those concerned with the issue of homelessness are curious as to what events had to have happened that lead to the individuals living on the streets. The reasons are different for each and every person. Some of the more major issues that contribute to this are lack of affordable housing, declining welfare assistance, and most importantly, mental illness. Resolving the issue of homelessness is very possible with new ways of housing and treatment for the mentally ill. The relation between the homeless and the mental illness has risen, and the United States as a whole

The United States of America is the place known to many as the land of the free, home of the brave, and the place to start a better life. With any place that has good qualities, some have not so good qualities. The homeless population in the United States is at a staggering high, and many individuals are suffering because many lack employment/financial resources, housing resources, support from family and friends, and others negligence; such as natural disasters or fires. Homeless individuals may have no other choice than to live on the streets, trains, and alley ways to name a few places where homeless people seek shelter. The history of homelessness, social problems, demographics, common clinical

The issue of homelessness has been called as one that is "highly ambiguous and intangible" (Neale, 1997, p.7). Wright defines the homeless a "diverse, heterogeneous lot. No single catch phrase or easy myth can possibly describe them all" (p.46)

Homelessness is a difficult situation to completely eliminate in our society, but getting innocent people off the streets is our duty as members of the society. I believe we should spend more funding on shelters. Shelters provide a variety of services including meals, shelter, and social and health services. This is a crucial step for helping homeless people get back on their feet.

He finds a grate to rest on for the night with the hopes that the heat emitted from it will save him from the unforgiving winter air. Just a few years prior, this boy lived with assurance and yet now, his future seems unclear. Nobody ever pictures themselves homeless, but one is merely a tragedy away from being thrown into the streets. On any given night in America, there are up to five and a half hundred thousand people without shelter. In a given year in America upwards of three and half million people experience homelessness, a million of them being children (citation needed). The majority of homeless people are families with children thrust into this situation due to a series of unfortunate and unforeseen events including loss of loved ones, job loss, domestic violence, divorce and family disputes and other issues such as depression, untreated mental illness, post traumatic stress disorder, and physical disabilities (citation needed). The practice of denying individuals of a home, a basic requirement of life, is inherently cruel as shelter must be recognized as a fundamental human

Homelessness remains an exasperating and intricate issue that has been plaguing cities and towns well before the dawn of civilization. In a utopian world, homelessness dilemma will never cease to exist and prevail. In today’s reality, society would not be balanced if countless poverty-stricken people did not exist. Homelessness has forever been a perpetuating problem that continues to exacerbate due to public ignorance who reject the fact that homelessness is impacting the broader community. It has always been a growing epidemic that never seems to get adequate exposure. For many homeless people, it can turn into a very arduous journey to get the support they desperately need. However, in many cases, to succeed is rare. Although some homeless people willfully chose this lifestyle upon themselves, a great deal of them still deserve to be helped and accommodated considering a lot of the homeless actually do have jobs, many suffer from mental disorders and addictions, a good percentage of them are veterans, and outreach programs have been known to produce immense success.

How many times have you witnessed a person standing on the side of a street or on the highway holding a sign that reads, “No job no food, please help”? Or have seen a person sleeping under the bridge due to a lack of shelter? Well, that life is the gruesome reality for many people in America- statistics have shown that “On any given night in the United States, more than half a million people experience homelessness” (National Alliance to end Homelessness). Being without adequate food and shelter is a growing trend causing more and more people to live below the poverty line. Although there are programs in place to aid the homeless, there needs to be more efforts taken to reduce the percentage of homeless Americans. Homelessness has always been a nationwide issue in America that is gradually increasing, causing an alarming rate of homelessness among teens, those with mental illnesses, and veterans.

The homeless population in the U.S. does not only consider the humans out on the streets, but also the ones in emergency shelters, transitional housing, in cars, and more. Over six-hundred thousand individuals are currently homeless in the United States. In our current society, people often become homeless due to circumstances beyond their control. Such as individuals that identify as LGBTQ, victims of domestic violence, and unaffordable housing throughout America. Different sets of problems and issues have arisen over time for the homeless individuals as our world continues to advance and grow day to day.