Homelessness Reflection

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.

This research project studied the broad subject of homelessness from a distinctive perspective. Homeless individuals have different needs, and different human services organizations offer many homeless service programs to individuals, from temporary shelter to transitional housing, and training and health programs among others. Nonetheless, the most important service needed for homeless individuals should be the one that leads to permanent housing solutions. However, findings from this research study suggested that not all homeless service programs are as effective in alleviating homelessness in the community, as most have been led to believe in the past. Therefore, the required question had to be, how effective are homeless service programs in alleviating homelessness in the City of Springfield MA? Finding an answer to that question was the primary reason for this research. This research study sought to know more about the effectiveness of two distinctive service programs, which although similar in services offered, both operate with completely different funding and visions on how to solve the

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

The clinical issues affecting the homeless individual can range from mental illness to health issues. Several clinical issues affect the homeless population because of lack of health insurance and clinical resources. “The clinical issues affecting homeless people are dental, vision, foot diseases, post-traumatic arthritis, HIV, TB, STD’s respiratory infections, diabetes, hypertension, and nutritional problems are all major clinical issues” (Zevin, 2013). Quite a few people are homeless and suffer from various clinical issues because they have no insurance, housing, support from family/friends, or program resources. It seems when populations such homelessness is so huge some are left behind with no help. Various social service organizations exist that cater to the homeless population, but so many individuals and families are not helped because of mis-direction. Health care is an important factor to many, especially those who do not have access to a health care facility. Social services resources are available as well as the human service

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 is a serious issue that is looked down upon within my community. Many homeless die when it’s too hot, too cold, or too wet. The New Orleans Mission sees this a huge issue and argue that homeless people are real people who need real resources, like shelter, food, and clothes. In addition, they have found that, without supportive services, housing is often not enough to end homelessness. From helping homeless youth, to providing assistance in obtaining disability benefits, to providing transportation, to offering intensive job training assistance to homeless veterans. The New Orleans Mission operate a number of innovative

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

One way of helping the homeless is by volunteering at your local homeless shelter. Volunteering is a very beneficial way of helping the homeless. “The most productive way to get started helping the homeless is to join forces with a well-established operation.” (“4 Ways You Can Help the Homeless in Your Community”) As said in the quote, join forces with a well-established operation. When you volunteer at your local homeless shelter you are not only helping your community out, but you are also helping the homeless in and around that area. “Volunteer your hobbies - Every one of us has something we can give the homeless. Wherever our interests may lie -- cooking, repairing, gardening, and photography -- we can use

Homelessness is a growing problem in today’s society. Because of the economic crises, many people are losing his or her jobs because company’s had to cut back on expenses, as well as companies that have closed down completely. Furthermore because of the economic crises many mental institutions are forced to close the doors because of lack of funds. People who once had a safe healthy place to call home are being forced into homelessness and are lacking the health care needed to ensure a happy healthy life. Something has to be done to assist homeless people in finding housing and healthcare they so desperately need. Although it is not possible to solve the homeless

People drive or walk past a homeless person almost every day without thinking twice about the plight of that person or they may even unconsciously turn their heads the other way in disgust. Homelessness simply put, means without a home - therefore homelessness is an equal opportunity state that can happen to anyone. Even though we have seen some economic prosperity over the years, statistics show that the number of homeless remains very high. With this in mind, communities need to come together at the state, city, and individual level to come up with solutions to mitigate the spreading of this problem.

There is one federally funded program in which we will talk about later that helps homeless individuals get the care they need. There is a dire need for more programs that assist the homeless because the number one reason they are homeless is because they cannot afford housing. If they cannot afford this they probably will not be able to afford the necessities to live a healthy lifestyle. When youths and adolescents succumb to homelessness they are at a greater risk, because they do not have the resources an adult would. They have a disadvantage of employment opportunities and are a greater risk of not completing high school. Youths will lack the ability to receive health care, which will create problems in their overall health because they will not be able to receive the care they need in the instance of sickness, injury or access to medicines. There are countless reasons that adults succumb to being homeless. Some are that a job was lost, mental health is prevalent among them, substance abuse and spouse abuse. Adults who are experiencing homelessness have some of the same problems that youths do as well. An adult not being able to receive health care is very serious especially for older homeless adults. Sickness and serious health problems are more prevalent in older adults resulting in untimely death and the spreading of sicknesses and diseases. I have some establishments offering free haircuts to the homeless if they are preparing for an interview. I have also

When we were first introduced to this assignment, I was both excited and nervous. I was excited because it gave me the opportunity to step of my comfort zone. I was also excited to be able to get out into the community and practice some of the social work skills that we have learned in class. I was nervous because I knew it would be hard to hear the struggles of a single-parent experiencing homelessness. As someone who was raised by a single-parent, I also know how easy it can be to fall into homelessness. Overall, I think I was more excited about doing this assignment because I truly did want to hear the stories that single-parents experiencing homelessness wanted to tell.

Homelessness has always been a problem in major cities across the United States and even the world. This problem also affects out local community and even all of us individually. (Daily) A majority of the American people lives paycheck to paycheck, and according to statistics, we are only one or two paychecks away from becoming homeless. While there are many reasons a person or family can become homeless, a majority of those problems come from a lack of income. The job market of today is quickly dwindling and shows no signs of improvement. This market mixed with new government policies is becoming an issue for struggling American’s on the poverty line. Homelessness is becoming a vast problem

Every year approximately 2.3 to 3.5 million people go homeless in the United States of America. Twelve million adults in the US were homeless in the year 2001, or are still currently without a permanent home (“Homelessness in the U.S.”). How does this happen in “the land of opportunity?” We think of ourselves as one of the greatest nations in the world, yet citizens are living a life of poverty, often without food, clothing, and shelter. When most people think of fighting homelessness, they think of providing medical assistance, showers, and counseling services for those who suffer mental illness, trauma, and substance abuse. Although these necessities are imperative in helping a significant

I see myself as the director of licensed counselors for women and children at the homeless shelter I work for now. Services will be for family, parenting, stress management, and self-esteem. Self-esteem is a big issue with the women in the shelter their mindset is distorted and really don’t understand how to function without being “validated” by an abuser. I have a lady in the shelter who is a victim of human trafficking and is promiscuous and her “pimp” still has control over her and she suffers from Stockholm syndrome. These ladies have no idea what their self-worth is. When I counsel those ladies, I integrate God to heal entire body.