Homelessness : The Problem Within 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.

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,

Homeless as defined by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as an individual who lacks housing, including those whose primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private facility that provides temporary living accommodations, they are a person with out permanent housing, who may live on the streets, in a shelter, abandoned building, or other unstable situations (HHS). It is important for communities throughout the United States to develop a system that identifies the number of homeless around them. This information is valuable to many government and private agencies, it enables them to acquire, and maintain needed resources and money in order to best serve their homeless populations. There are different ways that communities attempt to count their homeless population, shelters, feeding centers and others who provide resources are able to take count of how many they serve each day, but unfortunately it can be hard to track those who do not come on a returning basis. The US Census Bureau every 10 years also conducts a Service-Based Enumeration (SEB) to help count the population In the study published by the National

help others who are in any way, shape or form underprivileged; including the homeless. While,

“In January 2015, 83,170 individuals and 13,105 people in families with children were chronically homeless. Chronic homelessness among individuals declined by 1 percent (or 819) over the past year, and by 31 percent (or 36,643) between 2007 and 2015. In January 2015, 47,725 veterans were homeless on a single night. Fewer than 10 percent (4,338) were women. Between 2014 and 2015, homelessness among veterans declined

According to the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness, “approximately 3.5 million people are homeless each year, while 36.3 million live in households without enough food.” This statistic only reflects the United States, and to many people, it just doesn’t make sense. For instance Alfredzine Black of the YWCA in Marion, Indiana says, “I don’t understand why we have so much poverty in the richest country in the world!” Citizens of the United States have a hard time defining and identifying poverty in their communities, so the country should crate a consistent and accurate measure of poverty. Also, urban growth is leaving people behind and causing unnecessary evictions that lead to homelessness, and this problem can be

Homelessness is an issue in the United States. Individuals often become homeless for reasons such as; joblessness, underemployment, and enervation of unemployment benefits. People with families often do not earn enough income to support a family and provide adequate housing. Some people neglect to pay their rent, and as a result, he or she and possibly the entire family become homeless. In addition, people and families with barriers associated with medical issues, illicit drug use, and sexual/physical abuse may become homeless. The impact of multiple barriers on a person and/or family and lack of available resources to address these needs, is one of the many reasons why homelessness is such a serious issue within communities

Homelessness has been a major problem all over the United States for decades. Going into the major cities like New York City, Chicago or even Baltimore people are able to see the struggle the homeless are going through year around. It is easy to say for the homeless to just get a job and make simple money but it is easier said than done. The reason why homelessness is becoming a major problem is not having affordable housing, sufficient income and restrictions of healthcare services. With all three of these issues we can be able to change someone’s life by helping them on the right track. Meanwhile, if ignored and not confronting the problem it will never be solved and then become worse. The solutions to Baltimore’s homelessness are for

Imagine how much more empowered the worker and lower income individuals would be if they didn't have or need to fear losing everything even if they’re getting fired. The United States has a lot of money probably trillion's or more dollars, which I believe is usually spent on war or sending troops to other country's for war when they are many citizens and people in the America losing their job. I know that there are a lot of people who probably quite there job, but those are the people I'm talking about I’m talking about the ones who get lay-end off, The United States I believe has a lot of money and a lot of people wanting help special form their government most of them can’t prove for their self so they need others to help, there isn’t really a reason why we could not solve poverty and homelessness, or even care for the many mentally ill who being on the streets either because they can’t keep their jobs or because they can’t provide for themselves.

A homeless man walks on an NYC train and the energy becomes apparent; everyone knows exactly what will happen next. Touching yet rehearsed words exiting his lips, while still trying to obtain his manhood; begging for any solution to his growing stomach and unnerving uncertainty of where he will lay his head are what a person who frequents public transportation will face at least once a day. Walking up and down the cart, he’s trying his hardest to lock eyes with someone while the music of New Yorkers’ headphones elevate, heads bow lower; locking eyes with the ground and reading material cover the faces of those who are giving this less than fortunate man every inclination that change will not be spared and leftovers will not be given up so easily.

As Americans, individuals take the small comforts of life for granted daily. The everyday individual overlooks a growing dilemma in the U.S., and goes home every night to the comfort of their family. The homeless population has increased over the years, and continues to grow by the day with the increase of the cost of living. Healthcare needs, and the availability of facilities to the under privileged is a major problem in the United States. Up to 610,000 individuals and families are living on the streets each and every night. All of these individuals are at a greater risk of contracting an illness simply because of their living situations, as well as not having the means to financially afford the cost of a doctor’s visit.

An assessment of human history will portray the fact that a significant portion of the human population has always lived in unbearable conditions. In particular, it would seem that in first world countries that those that live in such conditions would have the appropriate means to secure an alternative to their plight. Regrettably, there are millions of people that have little choice but to sleep on the streets of cities, under bridges, and in subways. These citizens are homeless. Homelessness is a stark contrast to situations that many privileged American citizens find themselves in. Indeed, those who endure this plight on a daily basis appall many Americans. Homelessness in American society is often portrayed by the media as an individual

What the United States can do to help those who are homeless is provide them with homeless shelters. Half of the women and children who are homeless fled from domestic abuse (5 mind-blowing). There is no reason we can’t help those who have no choice of being homeless. They didn’t choose to be homeless; they were forced to leave their home before they lost their life. If you were being abused, you would want to leave your home and have a safe place to go, but these women feel that the street is the safest place so that they cannot be found. If there were more homeless shelters around the country, these women would have a nice place to go and also have a warm meal everyday. The problem is, the homeless shelters that are open do not have enough

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

As many as 3.5 million Americans are considered homeless each year. Often, people believe that homelessness is a complication only caused by the poor choices of a single person when they are typically the result of multiple uncontrollable factors. For some, the line between being homeless and not can be very thin, with several obstacles preventing stability. These individuals and families commonly come from more deprived areas. Those who are homeless can be very different to each other in how and why they came to be in their situation, but they all have in common their desire to find a way back to a normal and healthy lifestyle. Homelessness is an issue created by poor physical and mental health, a lack of money, and relationship complications.