Investigation Into Homelessness

Homeless people are a vulnerable population in many respects that they always face discrimination and exclusion because of their housing condition. It is a social problem that typically low wages and shortage of affordable housing are the main factors contributing to homelessness. In fact, many poor people face significant barriers to maintain stable housing because they don’t have accessibilities to increase their economic stability. Overall, there are significant factors that contribute to homelessness that many homeless people usually struggle with limited access to resources, lack of information about services, and lack of support systems.

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

For a start, as my social and human capital assignment, I will be focusing on homelessness and the associations it entails. Through exploratory research, via peer reviewed journal articles and one in-person interview, I have collected data to see what social disparities and/or oppression the homeless population face from day-to-day. Furthermore, I had the pleasure of conducting my interview with a 62-year-old chronically homeless male originally from Nigeria. The location of the interview took place at a homeless shelter in Dallas, TX. Through the duration of this assignment, my participating interviewee will be identified as Bingo for confidentiality purposes. Equally important, as the interviewer – I was sensitive to the participant’s responses

Homelessness tends to be associated with images of people who sleep in the streets, parks, subways, and sidewalks; who lack shelter of any kind, and are transient throughout the year, moving from place to place. The homeless are sometimes considered as undeserving of support; they are frequently stigmatized as being mentally ill, out of control, and are viewed by some as personally responsible for their situation (Phelan, Link, Moore & Stueve, 1997).

Homelessness exists as a prominent issue that plagues society in various ways. It brings about hardship and controversy as individuals struggle to survive on a daily basis. Additionally, this complication tears families apart and ostracizes individuals from a society where they once belonged. A specific problem regarding homelessness consists of lack of interest from bystanders; some of these spectators refuse to even acknowledge homeless individuals sitting at their feet. As homeless people live their lives on street-corners, the more fortunate members of society choose to engulf themselves in their personal problems alone. Displayed by their clothing and accessories, most of these individuals possess the ability to help in some way;

Homelessness is portrayed as circumstances of people or family units without steady, uninterrupted, proper lodging, or the quick prospect, means and capacity of getting it. It is the aftereffect of universal or public obstructions, an absence of reasonable and suitable lodging, the individual/family unit 's money related, mental, cognitive, behavioral or physical difficulties, and/or bigotry and segregation. A majority of individuals don 't decide to be dispossessed, and the occurrence is usually negative, unsavory, upsetting and troubling

American people want to be greater, richer, and more powerful than everyone else. When one sees a homeless person sitting on the street, he may ask you for money to buy food. As ignorant as most Americans are today, we question will they really spend that money on food, but some of us are generous enough to give a donation anyway. Others would tell them to get a job. As I walk down Grace Street to get to class some days, I get asked by multiple homeless people if I could “help them out.” In Richmond, VA, Phil Riggan, did an interview with several of homeless people. He found out that they are just like the rest of us. Homeless people aren’t usually viewed as people; they’re commonly just known as “homeless”. They are viewed as “worthless, nuisances, waste of space, crazy, drug addicts, drunkards, criminals, liars, bums, and burdens of society” (Riggan 6). Phil’s study was to “prevent, reduce and end homelessness by facilitating creative solutions through the collaboration, coordination and cooperation of regional resources and services” (Riggan 8). Homeless people are still human. As we all need shelter, food, and emotional support, so do they. The Homeless Homes Project was started by Gregory Kloehn, an artist, that turned trash into mobile homes. The Homeless Homes Project was to diminish money’s use in building homes for the homeless population. The

Homelessness is a serious societal problem affecting our communities. Katel of Housing the Homeless says “about 1.5 million Americans use a shelter in a given year- and advocates for the homeless say that figure badly understates the problem.” Yet, society looks down at these people, not doing anything to help them. They are judged, criticized, and bombarded by false assumptions everywhere they go. I have heard people say “they are like that because they chose to” or “they are lazy and don't want to work.” This is not true in most cases. The reality is life can go wrong at any moment for anyone. For some people there is no one there to help them and their only option is living on the streets or a shelter.

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 homelessness has been called as one that is "highly ambiguous and intangible" (Neale, 1997, p.7). Wright defines the homeless a "diverse, heterogeneous lot. No single catch phrase or easy myth can possibly describe them all" (p.46)

omelessness does not discriminate; it can affect people from all walks of life no matter sex, race, or religion. Last year alone, more than 3.5 million people experienced homelessness. Thirty five % affecting families with children and mental illness contribute to the lowest at twenty% (Students against Hunger). There are many different homeless population in between, such as military veterans, children under the age of 18, and those that have experienced domestic violence just to name a few. Homelessness is a social problem because it depletes federal funding, increases taxes, and can lead to criminal activity. The reaction to homelessness regarding the homeless is a social problem in itself. It seems that Americans view homelessness as a threat to society, an embarrassment, and sometimes one may even try to act as though the problem does not even exist. They turn their heads in shame, disgust, pity, distaste and fear.

Not every homeless person is to blame for the condition that they are in. It was a clear, sunny, and cold morning during my second visit to Woodruff Park on Saturday. To my surprise, the same couple was sitting by the same exact bench as the last morning. Firstly, I was confused by how this couple looked wretched, but both the man and the woman were smoking cigarettes. The couple was alone, so I decided to approach them. Moreover, I introduced myself and told the homeless couple the purpose of this interview. Without any doubt in my mind, I wanted to comprehend what made the homeless couple suffer in this condition. After asking the homeless couple why they have been on the streets, Andre quickly claimed that they cannot find a home that is

As I stated before, far too often our society ignores that homelessness is a struggle for many people. Additionally, our society often thinks these people choose to be homeless. Terra talked about an incident at a gas station, and how one of the employees at the gas station said all the people at across the street are drunks and addicts. She talked about how upset she gets when people have these misconceptions about people that are struggling with homelessness. Hearing her talk about this broke my heart because our society should not shame people for being homeless; instead, we should be looking at solutions to end homelessness. It is a human right to have basic human needs, yet our society continually provokes their unjust agenda.

Understanding how both individual and structural factors contribute to and sustain homelessness is a critical factor in successfully addressing homelessness. All to often service providers blame homeless individuals for the circumstances they are in, making assumptions that substance abuse or other irresponsible behaviors have caused the problems leading to the individual to become homeless. Hoffman and Coffey (2008) suggest, “the perpetuation of homelessness is not internal to the homeless individual as many claim, but rather may be embedded in the service industry itself, which subjects both clients and providers to bureaucratic forms of authority and experiences of disrespect.” While not all homeless people suffer from mental illness or substance abuse, all of

To begin with, it is important to start with the fact that more than half a million people in the United States are homeless and forced to live on the streets and either sleep in an unsheltered location, or at a housing project (emergency shelters, short-term transitional housing, or safe havens). Moreover, according to a Social Solutions’ article (2016), 15% of the homeless population are individuals who have experienced homelessness for a period longer than a year (chronic homelessness). It is because of those facts about homelessness that I had decided to volunteer at a faith-based temporary overnight shelter and subsequently record my experiences and what I observed during my visit.