Homelessness in America Each country in the world is faced with various social issues that attract the interests of society and the government. Homelessness is an enormous issue that America has been dealing with for years. There are millions of people, including children, families, veterans, and the elderly who go day to day without food, water or any form of shelter. Mentally ill people also have a rough time out on the streets due to their state of confusion, which makes it dangerous for them, as well as others to be on the streets. Many of these people have had no choice but to become homeless. Economic problems such as being laid off work, or the rise in the cost of housing have lead people to live on the streets. While homeless …show more content…
“Authorities initially responded to the tramp crisis by passing draconian “ tramp acts,” vagrancy laws that made it a crime to wander without work. Instead of seeing the problem as one of wages and rent, middle-class observers interpreted the tramp as a product of “homelessness” in the cultural sense—men cut loose from the civilizing influences of home and family life” (Homelessness, 2009). Substance use is highly prevalent among homeless people as well. From a distributive point of view, this type of justice is not being served to the homeless people but is to the rest of society. It is the government’s responsibility to protect its citizens from danger. However there is no distributive justice served among homeless people because they are not treated fairly as the rest of society. Justice is also not served from a commutative perspective. Being that it rests on a social contract through the community, there is no social justice served to those who are homeless. Retributive justice is enforced when criminal justice officials throughout the community enforce the proper punishment. An example of retributive justice is the local laws in many cities that do not allow homeless people to sleep in public places such as the park or on street corners. Because of many of these regulations, many homeless people have begun living where they
San Francisco has a homelessness problem, yet that problem can be solved. The problem of homelessness in San Francisco can be observed by taking a stroll through an area such as the Tenderloin District or Haight Ashbury. In these places, homeless people are plentiful, yet they are almost always overlooked by the other San Franciscans who use those areas to work and play. Providing permanent housing (as opposed to places at shelters) to chronically homeless people has been proven to be an efficient method of combatting homelessness. I propose that San Francisco introduce a voluntary 10-cent tax on coffee, as a way of raising money to provide services to homeless people within permanent housing, and simultaneously raise awareness about the housing disparity within San Francisco.
Every New Yorker has the right to a safe and affordable place to live in. New York’s shortage of affordable housing has reached a crisis point. Poor and elderly people throughout New York City are at a greater risk of homelessness and forced low-income residents do not have food or medical care to stay in their homes. A sinful structure of homelessness in New York City is New York’s shortage of affordable housing. Millions of New Yorkers are desperate to find affordable housing and tens of thousands are forced to live either in dirty shelters or on the streets. Recent data indicates that nearly 60,000 people, including more than 23,000 children, stay in the city’s main homeless shelter system (Guelpa). A small amount of poor renter households received a housing subsidy from the local government. Little assistance is being provided which means that most poor families and individuals that seek assistance
Here in Tahoe, we are lucky enough to experience a great quality of life, and only a few have to face the horrible life of poverty and homelessness. However, nationwide, even right outside the basin, homelessness is a growing epidemic across the country. There are many ways one can become homeless; for the most part poverty. There are also different concentrations of homeless in different types of terrain, such as urban or suburban areas. Last, there is the ever- growing homeless population, and how much money it costs us for others to live in poverty. These are the questions we ask ourselves about homelessness, and the only way we can help is to know the facts about this lingering
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
Homelessness is a growing epidemic across the country. This terrible misfortune has led to many unsuspecting people leading impoverished lifestyles, and facing the horrific and heart-wrenching tragedy of abandonment. The purpose of this essay is to not only persuade the readers to get involved in ending homelessness on local and national efforts, but to embrace new and creative ways of helping to end this rapidly growing problem, by taking action to end this catastrophic situation. Also, I will demonstrate the causes and effects of the homeless resorting to violence, by using comparison and contrast to examine the views and standpoints on helping the forgotten, so that we might end this calamity once and for all. In an increasingly
Adoption of laws and policies that punish homeless people rather than addressing the problems that cause homelessness is an ineffective approach. Penalizing people for engaging in innocent behavior – such as sleeping in public, sitting on the sidewalk, or begging – will not reduce the occurrence of these activities or keep homeless people out of public spaces when they have no other place to sleep or sit or no other means of living. With insufficient resources for shelter and services for homeless people, enforce punishment for unavoidable activities is not only pointless, it is inhumane (Brown,1999, July/August). Relying on law enforcement officials and jails to address homelessness and related issues, such as mental illness and substance abuse, that are more appropriately handled by service providers, causes problems and widespread frustrations within the criminal justice system. Police officers are not adequately trained to respond to the situations that arise, the criminal justice system does not provide the necessary treatment
Homelessness became a huge problem in everywhere especially in the USA. Most people heard homeless people, and they saw homeless people in the streets, markets, or bridges. Most people never try to understand why there is much homelessness. Most people do not know any facts about them seem the truth of homelessness, the state of homelessness in the United States, and the effect on people from homelessness.
Social problems are those that raise a questionable suspense to issues that impact societies congruent to cultural normalization. The social issue researched will be homelessness and the impact along society. Homelessness is a social concern that raises issues for government officials, communities, and people along the community in so many ways. Every town or city is impacted by this liaison. In 2012 The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) calculated an estimate of at least 700,000 people enlisted as homeless in America. This has been an issue for centuries and is an everlasting effect that I feel will never change. What has to be accomplished, or better yet interpreted is, how communities can work together or come up
Homelessness in America has gone un-noticed for so long. For America to be the “land of opportunity” there is a large amount of people who have been deprived of what they were promised. There is so much this country offers, but at the same time there are so many qualifications. Not everyone can meet these standards that are sometimes required. This results in homelessness and poverty. Homelessness has become a hidden aspect in life. The government wants people to continue seeing America’s beauty. In order for that to be successful they would have to get rid of the flaws.
During the 1980’s the number of "homeless" people, those without a house in which to reside, increased at an alarming rate. Many analysts have given much time and thought as to the reasons that this phenomenon occurred. They cite economic instability and government policies with facts and figures to support their work. Beyond the research and cold statistics that explain this event, are the victims, and those that worked to help relieve their hardship. An interview with Philip Guerrieri gives us insight into the personal lives of these individuals whom he calls "houseless," and the realities of staying alive, both physically and spiritually, on the streets.
A homeless person is an individual without a permanent, stable housing situation who either spends his or her nights on the streets or in temporary facilities, such as shelters and abandoned buildings. Throughout history, society has been “holding the poor, rape or incest victims, minorities, or the handicapped responsible for their misfortunes” (Zur). Society has been blaming the homeless for being in the position they are in. However, upon closer inspection, it must be noted that “children under the age of 18 accounts for 39% of the homeless population…battered women who live in poverty are often forced to choose between abusive relationships and homelessness…[and] 40% of homeless men have served in the armed forces” (Who Is Homeless?). It is clear that those who are homeless are not
The issue of chronic homelessness is not just a political or academic debate but has become evident from men and women living without homes in the streets of America. Homeless men and women
Because of the weak economy and high unemployment rates homelessness is on the rise at an alarming rate. Homelessness is worse in some areas of the United States compared to other areas because of incomes that are drastically falling, jobs that are no longer very secure which offer fewer benefits to the worker and their family members. The United States is experiencing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Necessary wages made by the hour only improved by one-sixth of the rate from 2007 for employees in production work. Workers in the workforce were given a cut in hours and lowered weekly earnings. As the growth of wages goes down and the consumption growth increases it makes the economic recovery farther out
Homelessness affects millions of Americans each year, with approximately one third of this population suffering from severe mental disorders. In Las Cruces we have a number of homeless people that have a mental disorder. Las Cruces does not provide the homeless mentally ill with sufficient services. it is necessary to provide them with support, protection, treatment, and rehabilitation.
According to Streetwise of Street News Services (2010), the first reported instances of homelessness dates as far back as 1640, in some of the larger cities in the original 13 colonies. At this time, there were wars being fought between settlers and Native Americans, and people were left with no shelter in both sides (Street News Service, 2010). Later, the industrial revolution caused more homelessness, industrial accidents left many former hard-working families with a dead provider, or with severe disabilities, and then the economy entered a recession in the same time period (Street News Service, 2010). Wars always left a large number of veterans homeless. Later, in 1927, there was an astronomical flood along the Mississippi River,