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Homeless People Research Paper

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Definition of a homeless individual According to Stewart B. McKinney's Homeless Assistance Act, an homeless individual can be defined as an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence: [or] an individual who has a primary nighttime residence that is—a supervised or publicly operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill); an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings (U.S. Congress, House, 1987). Over the centuries, homeless people …show more content…

The basic right to shelter and food is unknown to them as most of them spend cold night lying in the streets, begging for help from passersby. If they get lucky, they will spend their nights in shelters which are not so different from the streets because they are not well maintained due to lack of funds. They also have problems getting food and are uncertain of when they will get their next meal (Banse, & Reder, 1998). Every human being longs for love, warmth and a sense of belonging, the homeless, are not lesser beings and they long for these. Unluckily, they face hostility and rejection from other beings who do not want to be associated with them. This could be very depressing for anyone, thus homeless people can depressed because they only attract hatred (Brellend, 2012). Due to financial struggles, homeless people often lack basic personal effects. For instance, most homeless women cannot afford to buy tampons or pads during their monthly menstruation because these products are expensive. Therefore, they have to adopt survival skills to beat this problem- they are forced to use ripped pieces of clothes or toilet papers that could cause infections in the end. Most shelters cannot afford to provide these basic products because the government funds they receive are not enough and they have to prioritize other things first (Castro & Singer,

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