Homelessness In The United States

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.

Heading home from a long day’s work. The traffic light turns red. Waiting for the light to turn green, to the left a man with a sign walking up and down the curb. “Homeless and Hungry,” “Will Work for Shelter,” or “Homeless Need Help” are just a few notes jotted on cardboard to get drivers attention. Homelessness has the ability to affect a number of people on a daily basis. According to National Health Care of the Homeless Council, n.d. (NHCHC), “there is more than one official definition of homelessness”. Needless-to-say, those who lack a fixed and adequate residence can become homelessness. These situations can make the social problem bigger than it should be in conjunction with structural factors, affordable house, and traumatic actions will help miss the mark.

This case study details the government and private organizations coming together to improve services to the LBGT youth. These organizations have launched a “Youth Count” which will assist in improving data to gauge the need for assistance in each local area. This case study is particularly helpful because it gives detailed information about the benefits of different programs; it breaks down how long one can stay and what they can expect from emergency shelters, transitional housing, street outreach and drop in centers. This case study support my proposal need for

Cities increasingly grapple with homelessness, while facing budget cuts to various services, but the failure to tackle homelessness creates more problems. While there are homeless people who are on drugs, some are there because housing is expensive and they have no reliable sources of income. Homelessness may result in the city spending more on welfare in a never ending cycle without finding a solution to homelessness. There are various factors associated with the risk of homelessness, including individual factors like those fleeing domestic abuse, and even those who can longer earn a living because of health conditions and disabilities. The problem of homelessness is further compounded when the homeless suffer mental health issues and alcohol or drug dependence (Benston, 2015). Homelessness is a problem that affects even the youth, and stakeholders ought to work together to tackle the problem, as city officials, and residents are the audience who should be concerned with the problem at the local level.

During the Great Depression, millions of Americans were unemployed which was a huge issue. Unemployment led to homelessness and being poor. Millions of people were unemployed and struggling to find any jobs (Hayes). As the Great Depression got worse and worse, the number of hiring jobs decreased and less jobs were available. Companies were “Firing and not hiring” so many Americans were homeless and unable to make money to support their struggling families (Hayes). The loss of jobs did an incredible amount of damage to the Americans living during this horrific time.

In supporting equity for individuals who are currently homeless, the service provides group work, counselling, mediation and support, in hope to stop the ongoing cycle of homelessness. The program allocates resources to meet the individual needs of the patient, such as trained mental health services and facilities. By doing so, the needs of the

Can you imagine if you had no house and had to sleep on the street in the United States? You are sick and need to see the doctor. What do you do? People who have no house are called homeless people. When they don’t feel well and need to see a physician, they do not know where they can go and ask for help. Homeless people have the barriers of access to health care in the US. Therefore, the government should ensure that homeless people gain information about health care services and can access those services. To understand the extent of the problem, we first need to understand what the definition of homeless people and health care are, and what are the connection between them. Then we can discuss what the barriers of homeless people accessing

One regularly encounters homeless people everyday, avoiding them or looking at them in disgust. However, does her or she ever wonder how those people got to where they are and became homeless? Does that person ever realize that, in contrast to being lazy and ignorant fools, those homeless people are humans just like him or her who just so happened to run into bad luck and end up on the streets? Homeless people do not ask to live on the streets without a home to which to return and mostly are without homes because they cannot make enough money to pay to live in their previous homes. Homelessness occurs when people or households cannot afford housing. 3.5 million people yearly experience homelessness in the United States, and it is time to

In our society today with a worsening economy and a lack of jobs or affordable housing, homelessness can affect anyone at any time. There are many root causes as to why people are becoming homeless. As outlined by the National Coalition for the Homeless, factors that contribute to the growing numbers of homeless people in communities revolve around poverty, eroding work opportunities, and decline in public assistance. Causes of homelessness are not limited to the stereotypical reasons of addiction and mental health anymore, but have also begun to include effects from the financial

I work for one of the smallest departments at Carey Counseling Center Inc. The housing department consists of a housing director, three independent living case managers, two Project for Aiding in the Transition from Homelessness (PATH) case managers and a peer support specialist. I, Jason Postlethwait, serve as a PATH case manager designed to link the homeless population to mental health and housing services. I serve 4 of CCC’s seven counties and Amanda Nichols, who is the other PATH case manager serves the others. We work in conjunction with our housing director Fran Howe who is in charge of the $400,000 housing grant that pays for those services. The two PATH case managers are funded through a grant from the State of Tennessee and the

The amount of people who live on the streets disabled, vulnerable, or inexperienced has been steadily rising in Portland. Along with the fact that there is little affordable housing for those who do manage to find a job, it is nearly impossible for someone to find their way back into a stable life. While there are many problems with homelessness, there are solutions to not only get the homeless out of the streets and into housing, but to also help the homeless acquire career related skills, and prevent people from falling into homelessness in the first place. Until we have permanent solutions to homelessness places like CIty Team Ministries will alleviate the issues that the homeless face everyday, but even the combined efforts of all shelters is not enough to stop homelessness. In the country’s present state, almost anyone can go from living comfortably, to sleeping on the streets very quickly. Solving homelessness won't just help those who need it now, but it will also holp those who may need it in the future. So next time you see a homeless person on the streets, just imagine that it could happen not only to you, but to your friends and family as

Being an effective human service professional requires knowledge on how policy set, how social work with each other and how communities are organized (National Organization for Human Services, n.d.). Skills that identify and find interventions are a must in the human service field. Major models that are used should be understand and that includes medically oriented, socially oriented, psychologically-behavioral oriented, and educational models (National Organization for Human Services, n.d). Focus of the human service professor must be consistent when selecting the interventions that are in agreement with the values of client’s and one’s self (National Organization for Human Services, n.d.). The National Organization for Human Services write how the human services are shifting their focus from large institutions to a decentralized, and often neighborhood based, community setting. There really are no studies to compare how effective the different types of housing approaches, transitional housing are working. Rog and Buckner (n.d.) express the need for comparative studies of models and what does exist is descriptive evaluation of housing models for specific subgroups of families, especially families that have had previous experiences of being homeless and other

Although the numbers of homelessness in the States have decreased in the past 10 years, more than 3.5 million people each year experience homelessness, with 578,424 individuals experience homelessness each night (endhomelessness.org). Many poverty-stricken people are consistently at the risk of homelessness; there is a lack of affordable housing, many jobs provide low income, and destitute people cannot afford medical care for support. However, homelessness does not only extend to the penniless - it also affects a standard citizen. It can be a result of natural disasters, family death, unemployment, domestic violence, divorce, family affairs, and mental disabilities (homeaid.org). The challenge for America is to reduce the number of those who continue to experience homelessness drastically by rehabilitating the homeless back to normal, ordinary lives. Homeless or emergency shelters and temporary homes allow the homeless to seize a chance at economic stability and reorganize their current situation. Many organizations such as Volunteers of America and Salvation Army were formed to address problems with homelessness in our society; their mission is to provide services like job and social skill training for the homeless in order to support their rehabilitation. Even with everything that is being done, many homeless refuse to associate themselves with outside help. With this issue at hand, homelessness will always remain an issue in America.

For example, organizations such as Goodwill, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, The Stewpot, Genesis Women’s Shelter, The National Coalition for the Homeless, Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance, and Habitat for Humanity are all set in place to assist individuals become self-reliant. The programs they offer encompass; job assistance, work skills development, child care, education, and safe affordable housing. In continuation, these organizations missions, are primarily based around transformation, ameliorating, rehabilitating, and educating individuals in these circumstances to be in a supportive position to provide not only for their own families but also to the next individual in

Homelessness is an ongoing global tragedy. A person could be homeless for days, weeks, months, or years. Homelessness has increased in the past two decades reaching a historically high level that affects people from all walks of life. There are anywhere from 700,000 to 3 million people who are homeless on any given night in America. It is one of the most persistent problems that American citizens have faced in recent times. It includes not only those who are living on the streets or in shelters and hostels but also those who are living in temporary accommodation or in housing that is unfit for human habitation. Research estimates that of the homeless population families with children account for 36 percent, single women 13 percent, and unaccompanied minors seven percent. Many are left wondering how this could happen in one of the richest nations in the world.