Homelessness And Homeless Families

It is estimated that 3.5 million people will experience homelessness during a given year. The fastest growing population experiencing homelessness is families, mostly made up of single mothers and her children. Families headed by women comprise more than half of the homeless population and 42% of this population is under the age of 5. Across the country about 2.5 million children are homeless, which is equivalent to 1 in every 30 children. The legal definition of homeless “refers to those who spend 7 consecutive nights in a car, abandoned building, public park, emergency shelter, nonresidential building, or other unconventional residence.

Homeless is taking place throughout the world. That is an issue because some people still end back on the street or never had the opportunity to get off the street. Some inviduals may still be on the street and never go the opportunity to get off the street. Each inviduals have their own story of how they became homeless. Some inviduals may have ended up homeless due to unemployment, house caught on fire, was staying with a family member who later passed away, never had money save in case of a emergency and the list goes on. The issue that relate to housing for the homeless is that it is not enough space for everyone. The programs that is available tend to be overcrowded due to so many people being homeless with nowhere to go. Another issue with housing for the homeless is the environment in some programs. The environment can be harmful and unhealthy to an inviduals and especially a homeless child. When a child is homeless, that has a effect on them growing up as far as their mentality and their skills and ability of learning.

Gultekin, L., Brush, B. L., Baiardi, J. M., Kirk, K., & Vanmaldeghem, K. (2014). Voices From the Street: Exploring the Realities of Family Homelessness. Journal of Family Nursing, 20(4), 390-414. doi:10.1177/1074840714548943

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.

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

Homeless families compose a fraction of the homeless population as they “represent roughly a third of the homeless population in the United States (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2010), and approximately 1.5 million children—1 in 50 youngsters—are homeless each year in the United States” (p. 389). These homeless families often struggle to find permanent residency as a collective unit. There are several types of housing situations available for homeless families such as temporary housing, transitional housing settings, and shelters, yet the housing situation for homeless families often causes stress for families as stability and a secure home is always in question. “The lack of stable, consistent housing is the central, defining characteristic of families experiencing homelessness, distinguishing them and their experience(s) from those with stable housing who experience other correlated conditions (e.g., poverty)” (Kilmer, Cook, Crusto, Strater, and Haber, 2012, p. 394). Homeless families often seek different types of housing usually by first reaching out to temporary shelters in emergency situations like domestic violence that often lead to homelessness, which provide services for children and families. There are many challenges families encounter in the process of seeking permanent housing.

Homelessness is a major problem in the United States. An incredibly vulnerable group is the homeless youth due to their young age and lack of education. According to Edidin, Ganim, Hunter, & Karnik (2012) on any particular night in the United States there are ~2 million homeless youth living on the streets, in shelters, or in other temporary accommodation. Youth become homeless for multiple reasons whether it be because they have aged out of foster care, ran from home, were kicked out of their home, or because they have become homeless along with their family members. Within the umbrella categorization of homeless youth there are high at risk subgroups, common misconceptions, and a serious concern of lack of support and medical services.

Everywhere you turn in the United States people are sitting on the corners of streets asking for assistance or digging in trash cans for meals. The epidemic of homelessness in the United States has reached an all-time high since the 1990’s. Unfortunately, the adage of people chose to be homeless was not accounting for families that live paycheck to paycheck and lose their job and therefore their housing because it is unavoidable. Alternatively, many individuals that are homeless have some type of mental illness or substance abuse problem thus creating a barrier to maintaining housing. Many of these individuals are incapable to preserve stable employment and have limited support to get off the streets. However, there are several programs that the federal government fund to assist with combating the problem of homelessness in America.

I Feel like homelessness is a serious yet under rated issue specially here in the United States of America. In fact, the economy is still recovering from a big recession in 2008 caused by the banks giving out loans to people who really couldn't afford to pay them. I recall watching the news back in 2008 and 2009 and seeing the rate of people getting foreclosures on their homes skyrocket that it made me think about my living situation. Although this is a circumstantial situation that would force some one to become homeless, There are people who voluntarily choose to be homeless as well. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/recession-leads-to-25-rise-in-homelessness-as-spending-to-tackle-the-problem-falls-7994416.html).

Everyone knows of homeless people, but not as many people actually know about homeless people. In the U.S. there are over 3.5 million people who face homelessness each year. Many factors play into why people become or end up homeless and it is different for everyone especially the various age groups of the homeless population; homeless people are from all walks of life including minors, adults, and elders.

There are many reasons why families of all different economic classes should involve themselves in combating homelessness. The National Coalition for the Homeless states that “there is a common misconception that homelessness is an issue that only pertains to single men and women, but in reality thousands of families a year will experience homelessness” (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2009). While you might not be experiencing homelessness yourself at this moment, there is always a chance in the future, you might experience it or know someone that is homeless and by knowing the information you can help yourself or help others.

For many of us, shelter and food are things that may come easy. However, the same cannot be said for many people in the world today. While we complain about the weather or the food not tasting the way it should, someone out there today may not even have a place to stay or food to eat. Homelessness is an issue that we’ve all heard of and probably witnessed as well. Most people will point fingers and say that it’s the individual’s fault for always doing drugs and not having a job. However, that isn’t true for most cases. A lot of people are not aware of the correlations and causations, magnitude, and demographics of homelessness. Often times, we are more focused on whose fault it is rather than what actually caused the problem and who is being

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.

There are many parts to the subject of homelessness, of course people talk about the solutions to it like The Ten Year Plan, then there is the history of it starting from the 1640’s. Also there is discussions about Homeless Shelters and more recently Anti-homeless Legislation. Then there are always the staggering statistics. The homeless is a very one minded topic for most. Most people think that the homeless should be helped, cared for, and educated for success. This is true (at least it is politically correct). Although Homelessness started in the 1640’s and has continued to be a problem today, now we have started to criminalize homelessness.

In Quindlens opinion that Ann was trying to tell her was. That she once had lived in house, a yellow house, with curtains, and a stove, mostly with a roof over her head even though it leaked she still remembers it. that’s why she still has a picture.Most importantly she took care of it. The message is that she wasn’t alone she had a house. Sometimes things change.That is why we need to be thankful for what we had.