Homelessness is No Longer an Issue

Homelessness has become an evolving epidemic of our time, and the health implications associated with being homeless makes it that much worse. Homeless people are at major risk for premature death and a wide range of health problems such as HIV, skin blemishes, and much more. It is very difficult for homeless people to fix their health issues due to the difficulty of accessing health care possibly because of missing health cards, or simply because of the stigma placed on them when they enter a public facility. Whatever the problem may be that is forcing more people to become homeless, it must be solved, and quickly before our world turns into a travesty.

The common profile of a homeless family is headed by a single mother, in her 20’s with an average of two children, of which one or both are under the age of six. Homeless mothers tend to be poorly educated, unemployed, and lacking the skills necessary to become employed. There is an equal representation of Caucasian (47%) and African American (47%) homeless mothers. These women commonly described their lives as ““… a remarkably constant stream of distressing and spirit-breaking encounters, beginning in early childhood …” including experiencing physical and/or sexual abuse, constant crisis, stress from persistent poverty, violence in the family and community, and isolation. Most of these women grew up homeless and spent their childhood in foster care making them distrustful of the system.

Homelessness is basically another form of poverty except more extreme, yet society treats it as if it was on another spectrum of problems. Some in society stigmatize this population by saying things like: they’re homeless because they are drug addicts, alcoholics, they don’t want to work and just live off the government for free. What many forget to think about are the factors that have these people on the street, or the fact that they are not only experiencing personal hardship by being without a permanent residence but emotional ones as well. Add the fact they are sometimes discriminated against and excluded by society, and you will realize you are looking at one of the most vulnerable populations.

The image of homelessness has changed since the Great Depression, when many homeless people were elderly and white. Today a growing number of women and families, including young children, are homeless because of insufficient housing and resources (Bassuk & Rosenberg, 1988). As the number of homeless people has continued to rise over the past decade, homelessness has become a central feature of life in America.

The cost of housing is on the rise and many become homeless because they that are not making enough money to afford the cost of housing. The cost of health care and insurance has risen dramatically over the past years. For families living low or middle incomes that can be devastating. Families or individuals that lack health insurance, a sudden illness, chronic disease or accident can be financially devastating. Many people don’t understand the problems homeless families are facing and most families are homeless because of finical situations or because

Homelessness can affect anyone you know - your neighbour, your friends even your family. There is a wide diversity of people turning to us for help for many different reasons. Broken marriages, disabilities, domestic violence, mental illness or breakdown may all contribute.

First and foremost, how do we defined a homeless person? According to National Health Care for the Homeless Council, homeless is defined as “an individual who lacks housing, including an individual whose primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private facility that provides temporary living accommodations, and an individual who is a resident in a transitional housing” (“definition of homelessness,” n.d.). It is important to recognize that homelessness is worldwide and social problem because it is directly affected by large social forces that affects individual’s social life. In a research made by Coalition for the homeless says that in December 2015, there were 60,096 homeless people in New York city, including 14,553 homeless families with 23, 885 homeless children. Moreover, this becomes a social problem, due in large part to structural inequality and it affects a wide variety of people that can range from those people experiencing eviction, unemployment, family relationship breakdown, domestic violence, health crises, poverty, mental illness and substance abuse. These reasons can be the precipitating factor in the onset of homelessness.

Grant, Roy, M.A., et al. "Twenty-Five Years of Child and Family Homelessness: Where are we

Homelessness emerged as a national issue in the 1870s. Many homeless people lived in emerging urban cities, such as New York City. Into the 20th Century, the Great Depression of the 1930s caused a devastating epidemic of poverty, hunger, and homelessness. There were two million homeless people migrating across the United States. In the 1970s, the de-institutionalization of patients from state psychiatric hospitals was a precipitating factor which seeded the homeless population. The rising in homelessness is hurting the economy in many ways, and sadly the number of homeless people and families are increasing. Many people that end up on the streets and become homeless are dealing with problems that many of us don't, they become homeless because

“Homelessness is a symptom of systemic poverty” (http://www.kansascity.com/ ). As one of our country's major social problems, homelessness is often in the news (http://www.ebooks.com/ ). Many seek shelters for the first time. The Homeless Coalition of Greater Kansas City reports that on any given night as many as 3,000 adults are homeless and more than 7,500 children are homeless on these Kansas City streets. Since 2011 more than 7% people who live in the state of Kansas City has become homeless. We are not actually sure why this rate has risen over the last 2 years. Maybe because of a bad economy and loses of jobs. The most common people who are counted as being homeless are: Victims of Domestic Violence, after deciding to leave an

Homelessness is a problem many face today and it greatly affects the whole world. Today, there are millions of people who sleep on the sidewalks at night, and beg for money. Someone who is homeless, doesn't have a legal home or residence to reside at. This is a problem that the world faces and will continue to face for many years to come.

Homelessness is a continuing growing problem, with more and more not just adults but children forced to live on the streets. Homeless people are humans just like us. Being homeless, you

Before I began the research I had already known that single parent homelessness is a n extremely emotional and heart breaking problem. In seventh grade my family and I went on vacation to New York City and I remember seeing a good of homeless people on street corners, but what surprised me the most was seeing younger people who appeared homeless. It’s a obvious answer, I’m against homelessness and family homelessness even more. It truly is heartbreaking to see little children who are forced to grow up because their parents cannot provide for the family. It’s like animal shelter commercials, only the heartless can’t feel for them. That’s what makes it interesting, how they do it and live their lives without a home.

It seems that there are many reasons and causes for homelessness and how they are related. Drug addiction, which was one of the biggest results, is proof that being homeless can lead to unhealthy lifestyles. Examples such as mental, physical, acute, and chronic illness along with high periods of low self-worth and self-esteem. However, a list of the main questions remain. What causes all of this? What causes homelessness? Why is it so common to take place? The answers to these questions vary, but the two most knowledgeable responses would be a personal crisis or a financial shorting. Homelessness can take place by occurrences of tragic events like the loss of loved ones, job loss, domestic violence, family disputes, and divorce. Many of these factors push people into living in the street. Poverty, however, has been another major cause. It is true that not everyone makes the desired amount of money to live in America, as opposed to how society has it set up with the outstanding prices for everything that a person may want. Most homeless people do not receive a high enough paycheck to pay rent or mortgage. Thus, they live on the streets or in a shelter struggling to survive on a low paying nine to five. As society progresses hopefully, one day it can be fixed as a whole with programs, other than shelters. Expectantly, it will not even have to come that

Being homeless has been an ongoing problem that hasn’t been solved yet. There are still many homeless people out on the streets in the large cities and in the immense nation we call America. It’s bizarre to think about when unemployment still hasn’t gotten near zero and new jobs are being created every day. People go homeless because of the situations they never thought would happen. For example, an ongoing illness or sickness that lead to major medical bills, or just got fired from a huge corporation, or drugs.