Literature Review On Homelessness

The lack of mental health services available to the mentally-ill and the deinstitutionalization of mental health hospitals have created a public health concern. These issues along with a failed continuum of care plans and a lack of community mental health services have been major contributing factors to homelessness. In addition, the strict guidelines for psychiatric hospitalization are critical when analyzing homelessness. In many cases, only the critically ill are meeting clinical criteria for hospitalization, leaving those who have significant mental health problems to fend for themselves. The link between homelessness and mental health is acknowledged but requires reform.

“One diverse population that has continued to increase over the quarter of a century is composed of people who are homeless” (Baggerly & Zalaquett, 2006, p.155). Homelessness has become a growing problem in society because more and more people are finding themselves to be homeless and not knowing where to turn. Many people do not

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

Currently, the rates of homelessness in America continue to drastically increase. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2012) depicted how many people are homeless in a single night in America. The findings revealed that there were approximately 633,782 people who are homeless in America or 20 out of every 10,000. Approximately 394,379 are single individuals and 239,403 are people in families with 77,157 homeless families in a single night, and approximately 162, 246 are children. Veterans are more likely to be homeless than those who are non-veterans, approximately 29 out of every 10,000 veterans are homeless. Unfortunately, 38 percent of those who are homeless are unsheltered, either living on the streets or in places that are not suitable for human inhabitation. Most states account of for less than 1% of homeless population, whereas Texas contains approximately 5.4% of America’s homeless population. In San Antonio, there are approximately 2,981 people who are homeless each day, and 1,243 are unsheltered. Through a sociological perspective, the social problems of homelessness can be analyzed through the concept of sociological imagination, the comparison of the person-blame approach and the system-blame approach, and through the analysis of one’s own community’s effort in helping those who are homeless.

Homelessness in the United States is a multifaceted problem, there are many factors to consider when examining this homelessness including access to health care, economic conditions and public policy as well as a host of other issues. Problems with homelessness that need addressed are the stigmatizations of being homeless and how this perception has led to anti-homeless policies, how reforming anti-homeless policies can lead to shifting society’s perception of the issue of homelessness, and finally why social workers must be at the forefront of the campaign to facilitate meaningful change to reduce the human suffering

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

Seeing homelessness develop is a process that the older generation can say they have been apart of. The young generation, on the other hand, cannot say they have seen the development of homelessness. People who are thirty years old or younger have grown up believing that homelessness was always part of the landscape. The younger generation has come to believe that there have always been homeless people sitting on park benches. When an individual is asked what they see most in a large city like Chicago or New York, ‘homeless people’ is a common response. According to the United States Census Bureau, 320.8 million individuals currently live in the United States of America. Imagine the proportion of individuals that do not own a car or even a house to live in. The National Law Center on Homelessness and poverty did studied to conclude that in America more than 3.5 million people experience homelessness each year. Those concerned with the issue of homelessness are curious as to what events had to have happened that lead to the individuals living on the streets. The reasons are different for each and every person. Some of the more major issues that contribute to this are lack of affordable housing, declining welfare assistance, and most importantly, mental illness. Resolving the issue of homelessness is very possible with new ways of housing and treatment for the mentally ill. The relation between the homeless and the mental illness has risen, and the United States as a whole

Homelessness is a prime concern for numerous countries across the globe, including the most advanced ones. Though the population of homeless people tends to be higher in developing countries, it is still a concern in developed nations. Homelessness is a state where someone lacks regular shelter. The term includes people who do not have a home and sleep on the streets, as well as those whose basic nighttime residence is a homeless shelter or other improvised form of housing. Such people lack the capacity to acquire or maintain sufficient nighttime shelter. Individuals and family units become homeless for many reasons. Assessing these causes can help to mitigate the issue.

The Homeless are a vulnerable population. Homelessness is a social issue that anyone can almost be subjected to despite his or her age, race, ethnicity or geographical background. Kornblum (2012) defined homelessness as… “as a social condition in which people do not have regular housing and are forced to sleep in public places, public shelters, or facilities designed for homeless individuals and families” (p.280). The homeless population faces several adversaries in their lifetime of being homeless. Their adversaries are a lack physical and emotional disabilities, and possibly drug abuse. Grant some are homeless by choice, whereas most are homeless by mishaps, but nevertheless, they are humans deserving to be treated with fairness, dignity,

My capstone project is on homelessness and preventative methods. Research on the various factors that are associated with homelessness and how to best reduce or end the homeless situation. Research shows that there are many suggestions on methods to reduce homelessness (the Homeless First Program) which have proven to reduce the numbers in various states across America (Tsemberis, Gulcur & Nakae, 2004). The homelessness problems are multifaceted with overlapping of other factors such as mental illness and risks, which include substance abuse, health disparities, and victimization, all of which have a role in the homelessness (Canton, Dominguez, Schanzer, Hasin, Shrout, Felix, McQuistion, Opler & Hsu, 2005).

After doing much research, I have learned that to develop awareness and interventions to be able to help the homeless population, we must understand their mental health and behavioral needs. The information they all share in common are the factors why a specific type of population became homeless. The interrelation of homelessness and mental illness are informed by many factors such as; the lack of support, extreme poverty, substance abuse, lack of affordable health insurance, and lack of affordable housing. The homeless population shares different struggles when dealing with homelessness and mental illnesses because there are not enough resources for them to be able to come back to their normal self. When it comes to their struggles, they

For a start, when challenged with chronic homelessness there is no specific targeted culture involved. It is reported that it varies from urbanized areas to rural locations; however, as rural homelessness has slowly intensified, this needs assessment focuses on chronic homelessness throughout Seattle, Washington. Following chronic and/or recurrent homelessness, members of this population create their own protective factors, not only for themselves but for their families. Since they are constantly subjected to the imminent threat of violence, they create their own unique survival instincts and quickly obtain the ability to survive off the programs offered. There are various reasons as to why or what causes people to become homeless, it could

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.

A vast amount of studies have been conducted on homelessness in Canada and what the looks like in our society. How can we change this to become a mare successful ideas of help?The main topic that is going to try to be addressed is Homelessness and how help may be provided to those who are in need. The first thing that needs to be addressed is how displayed in the following articles and are they beneficial to our society. The ideas that the following article was written by Racine, G (2002) about the woman telling their experiences with help from society, while in poverty.Another source that is going to be dissected is an article written by Anucha, U (2010) addresses are going to address is it true that Homelessness is housed but not helped? The next article is written and will be examined is by Fallis G (2010) that is going to address to be on our current housing policy for those without a home. The next article is written by Walsh, C.Graham, J.Shier, M. (2009) and the main goal of that is what are the goals for a homeless shelter as a connective? One of the last articles I am going to be critically analyzing is an article written by Brushett, K Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario (2007) is one the people will go with the cuts to the housing policy. The final article that is going to be dissected written by Paul Morden; A story about College students holding a sleep out challenge held to spread awareness. The main

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.