Hidden Homelessness In Canada

Since the country’s conception in 1867, Canada has lived in the shadow of it’s southerly neighbour, the United States of America. Through the years, what started out as a country with very distinct culture has morphed and become Americanized. Historically speaking, American influence has had a great economical impact on Canada. Speaking about the Americanization of Canada, Pierre Trudeau, former Prime Minister of Canada, has said, “Americans should never underestimate the constant pressure on Canada which the mere presence of the United states has produced…” This pressure has changed the way Canadians live and conduct business. This pressure has Americanized the Canadian economy. American culture has a very far reaching effect on Canada with many trickle down effects. Americanization of the Canadian economy has lead to the American control of the Canada’s corporate structure, Canadian dependence on American capital, turned the Canadian economy into a mirror image of the American economy, and has led to loss of

“Today … there is a growing crisis of women’s homelessness across Canada. The Canadian government has failed to explore the causes of women’s homelessness” (Rahder, 2006, p.38). This growing issue is caused by societies carelessness on the homelessness issue, and the lack of support to change it. Even the Canadian government does not see it as an urgent issue to address because, as stated above, they have even failed to

Homelessness is a condition of people who lack regular access to adequate housing. As this condition becomes a growing problem in Canada people are forced to deal with the issues. Who are the homeless? They range from children to adults and even in some cases, families. Why are they homeless? Poverty, lack of jobs or well paying jobs, decline in Social Services, domestic violence, mental illness, and chemical dependency contribute to the majority of the homeless within our society. What effects does being homeless have on members of the family? It contributes to many physical and mental health problems for both parents and their children. Homelessness is a world-wide issue, yet zeroing in on Canada, the majority of the homeless live on the

Gaetz, S., Dej, E., Richter, T., & Redman, M. (2016). The state of homelessness in Canada 2016. Toronto, Canada: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness Press.

According to recent research, homelessness affects between 150,000 and 300,000 Canadians a year (Cherner et al. 2017, 219; Gandermann et al. 2014, 341; Piat et al. 2015, 2367). This increase in homelessness began in the 1980’s following economic changes as well as shifts in government policy that lead to a reduction in supports for low-income families as well as a decrease in affordable housing available across Canada (Gaetz 2010, 21; Piat et al. 2015, 2367). Though proving a national problem, a concrete solution for homelessness does not exist, making it a wicked problem seemingly impossible to solve. Homelessness continues to present itself as a multifaceted

Imagine living paycheck to paycheck and having your house be taken away. It’s scary and now you have nowhere to live. It happens to many people, and sometimes, like in the case of the financial crisis, they end up living on the streets a lot longer than they anticipated. “Breaking the Cycle” by Sian Griffiths for New Internationalist discusses chronic homelessness and how the Housing First is helping. Housing First was created to lower the number of individuals living in chronic homelessness and they’ve been successful. Housing First gives homeless individuals permanent housing without any barriers or conditions like sobriety (Griffiths 16). Buying housing and allowing homeless people to move in doesn’t sound like a perfect idea, but the program has an eighty percent success rate which is higher than any other program (Griffiths 16 ). Since Housing First has been so successful in the United States, Canada decided to begin the program in their own country. Canada was experiencing exactly what the United States was a decrease in health care and social services cost. So, not only was this program successful for homeless people, but

As Crawley, Kane & Watson (2016) explore, the homeless population within Canada ranges between 150,000- 300,000. However, the demographic identified within the untold story of hidden homeless are the millions of other Canadian’s living in inadequate, unsafe or unstable housing (Crawley, Kane & Watson, 2016). This includes Canadian’s who are living in hotels or campers and individuals who are couch surfing or living in their vehicles.

The focus of this paper is to discuss homelessness today in Canadian cities. Canada continues to struggle with its national issue of homelessness, in which the Indigenous population is overrepresented. Research shows that “6.97 percent of the urban Aboriginal population in Canada is homeless, as compared to a national average of 0.78” (Belanger 2013, p.4). Though the reasons for homelessness vary from person to person, within the Indigenous community, multiple common factors contribute to the misfortune Aboriginal peoples continue to face. Housing conditions and limited employment opportunities on Native Reserves leave people wanting to leave, but the high cost of living in cities makes it hard to settle down. As a result, many Indigenous

Youth homelessness in Canada is on the rise and it has become one of the most concerning and growing issues across the country. It is estimated that at least 235 000 Canadians experience homelessness at some point every year, 35 000 Canadians experience homelessness every night and approximately 20 % of the homeless population are young people between the ages of 16 and 24(Gaetz et al, 2014). Contrary to popular belief, the leading causes of homelessness youth in Canada are the result of a variety of different factors like economic hardships and unstable housing situations, relational circumstances (family conflict, abuse, discrimination) and system failures. Most homeless people are not on street by choice. In most cases, families facing economic adversities due to poverty and unstable housing situations are unable to support their family members.

If you do not already know what homelessness means, it is someone who is not able to live in a stable residence because of financial or psychological problems, so they are forced to live on the streets or put themselves on the streets, because they feel it would be a better fit. Homelessness in Canada is a very large and concerning issue because of the growing population.

Two other perspectives can also help us underline the issue of homelessness. On the one part you have the industrialized world and on the other you have the developing world. Homelessness in the industrial world is explained in terms of a lack of affordable housing, family disintegration, and drug and alcohol abuse, deinstitutionalization

I believe homelessness is one of the most pressing social issues that Canada is facing, there are a number of diverse reasons for people living like this and the homeless population is more or less invisible to the rest of society. There are both external and internal factors that may contribute to an individual becoming homeless, these may include, but are not limited to; mental health issues, addiction and/or alcoholism, physical disabilities, lack of financial and social support, lack of employment skills and a lack of employment opportunities. There seems to be a gap in services and the large number of homeless individuals and families are the ones that fall through the cracks.

A vast amount of studies have been conducted on homelessness in Canada and what the looks like in our society. How can we change this to become a mare successful ideas of help?The main topic that is going to try to be addressed is Homelessness and how help may be provided to those who are in need. The first thing that needs to be addressed is how displayed in the following articles and are they beneficial to our society. The ideas that the following article was written by Racine, G (2002) about the woman telling their experiences with help from society, while in poverty.Another source that is going to be dissected is an article written by Anucha, U (2010) addresses are going to address is it true that Homelessness is housed but not helped? The next article is written and will be examined is by Fallis G (2010) that is going to address to be on our current housing policy for those without a home. The next article is written by Walsh, C.Graham, J.Shier, M. (2009) and the main goal of that is what are the goals for a homeless shelter as a connective? One of the last articles I am going to be critically analyzing is an article written by Brushett, K Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario (2007) is one the people will go with the cuts to the housing policy. The final article that is going to be dissected written by Paul Morden; A story about College students holding a sleep out challenge held to spread awareness. The main

Due to the relative nature of culture and language, the definition of homelessness varies across the world. What is a common thread among nearly all definitions is the difficulty in locating and retaining permanent residence and integration into normative society. (Elliott & Krivo, 1991, 114) Some of the stereotypes about the behavior of homeless people are true.

The economic benefits of every nation impacts the quality of life for each individual in a society. A strong economy is important as it enhances standards of living and pushes humanity forward with a great success, enabling a better future all. Generally, economic growth is the most essential for a strong economy. Fortunately, Canada’s economy grew excessively in the past years and to this day is one of the best economies in the world. In the past, Canada was facing a large economic recession as it struggled to recover from the great depression. In the 1930’s, Canada’s Gross National Product had fallen by 43%, their exports had dropped by 50% and their unemployment rate had risen to more than 25%. Prior to World War II, a major transformation in the Canadian economy was marked. There was an upturn in industrial production and manufacturing in Canada as the demand for manufacturing, mining and services increased rapidly due to the war. The unemployment rate decreased as well because new jobs were being created so industries can benefit from a highly trained and diversified labor force. Since the financial crisis in 2008, Canada’s economy has remarked as one of the advanced and largest economies in the world. Today, Canada’s economy only continues to grow stronger as it has a focusing government, new opportunities and choices for people and lastly, the openness for trade and foreign investments.