Introduction The information I gathered from the research was that the major factors that contribute to homelessness are mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse. I also learned that many individuals need to develop skills and seek treatment to learn how to break the patterns which lead to cyclical or generational homelessness (Morris, 1997).
There are many signs that contribute to individuals paths to homelessness and some include sudden unemployment, maintain a budget for the family, domestic violence, mental health, and drug and alcohol abuse. These are considered to be some of the main problems associated with homelessness.
According to Hertlein, (2010) when it comes to the homeless, they should be able to participate in “critical role of decision-making both in leading to homelessness as well as recovering from homelessness becomes apparent in the first year of being homeless. And, the major factors underlying their decision-making include “emotional reactivity, negative entitlement, emotional/relational wounded, impulsivity, and a lack of differentiation” (Hertlein, 2010). These initial clinical observations have received strong confirmation in the past five years and have led to the development of a framework of treatment consistent with previous models using “The Bowen System Theory”. This framework seeks to help a client face systemic anxiety and make differentiated decisions that will enable them to re-enter the community on a long-term basis. Another “critical
Homelessness is often accompanied by many other problems such as mental disorders, substance abuse issues, isolation from family and friends, and poor general health. Often time’s people that suffer from homelessness experience a lower quality of life than those who have a place to call home.
I find it is most appropriate to begin with the causes of homelessness in America. The circumstances are unique and it is difficult to pinpoint one main cause. As stated in the most recent annual survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, major cities across the country report that the top four causes of homelessness among families were: lack of affordable housing, unemployment, poverty, and low wages. The same report found that the top causes of homelessness among solitary individuals were lack of affordable housing, unemployment, poverty, mental illness accompanied by the lack of needed services, and substance abuse. For women in particular, though, domestic violence is the primary reason for experiencing homelessness.
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
Structural factors of homelessness affect people due to circumstances and out of the control of the individual while individual factors are individual apply to the surroundings of a homeless person. Structural factors such as the availability of low-income housing and higher rental of housing exacerbate on the already burdening individual factors. Many researchers contribute homelessness to structural factors but advocates of human rights debunk this and highlights that the main reason for homelessness is due to mostly individual factors, which are health problems, poverty, and family breakdown also the domestic violence of women and child. Addressing the driving causes is the most significant strategy to minimize the homelessness population. Future research must put more attention on individual causes without denying the reality of structural causes (Main, 1998). Based on my research, individual factors are the main cause while the structural factors put more pressure on burdening individual factors that lead to
Two other perspectives can also help us underline the issue of homelessness. On the one part you have the industrialized world and on the other you have the developing world. Homelessness in the industrial world is explained in terms of a lack of affordable housing, family disintegration, and drug and alcohol abuse, deinstitutionalization
There are a large number of interrelated factors that contribute to people becoming homeless which includes poverty, lack of affordable housing, mental illness,
A substantial percentage of homeless population are individuals who are chronically unemployed or have difficulty managing their lives effectively due to prolonged and severe drug and/or alcohol abuse. Substance abuse can cause homelessness from behavioral patterns associated with addiction that alienate an
Mental health and addictions are also key factors when considering the causes of homelessness. Homeward Trust Edmonton, a broad-based community inspired initiative, states that 59% of homeless persons have a mental illness (2010) and “55% of the homeless population reported using one or more illegal
Although surveys have been conducted defending that mental illness does cause homelessness. There are several arguments that personal disabilities such as mental illness, alcoholism, drug abuse and physical or mental handicaps are not the primary causes of homelessness. While these conditions make people more vulnerable to
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
The major factors contributing to the homeless in America are; mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence and the lack of affordable housing.
Homelessness is an epidemic that affects millions of people all over the world. These people have no place to live, are rarely able to bathe, and they have little to no food to eat. There are many reasons why people become homeless, but they can be broken down into three categories; Structural factors, systematic failures, and individual and relational factors.
The primary causes of chronic homelessness include poverty, disability, mental illness, along with substance abuse or addiction. Poverty is a challenging but is a doable cycle to break and becomes progressively difficult to get out once you begin to fall behind a specific income level. Once people reach that point they are then usually not able to obtain the proper resources for the acquired knowledge and resources that are necessary for a higher paying job. Disability affects an immense percentage of the homeless. This is frequently caused by an injury that prevents them from working numerous jobs within their societies and without their dependable
To begin with, individual conditions are major causes of homelessness, and they are quite numerous. For instance, the past of the individuals could be packed with shocking events. Some people have really hard time getting over them, and they always cause them many psychological or physical problems that may hinder their development in life. Shocking events may include loss of job or money. Research (as cited in Gowan, 2010) shows that 22.61% of homeless people are not working seriously to earn enough money. In addition, personal crises, whether social or economic have a huge impact on the individual’s present situation. If someone faces bankruptcy they have a higher chance of facing homelessness in the future. Also, mental illness
The primary cause of homelessness is poverty, however, they are other causes such as addictions, mental and physical health. According to Lindsay Phillips (2015) quantitative responses on perceived