Overcoming Homelessness

Homelessness is an issue in American society today that affects anywhere from 800,000 to 3.5 million people. There are a substantial amount of people that are without shelter, food, or employment, and there are numerous other people affected by poverty and homelessness. People living in nearly every city in the United States are affected by homelessness due to the large amounts of homeless individuals living on the streets and begging for money, food, and other necessities. The issue of homelessness has been a constant problem since the conquering of the New World, and soup kitchens and homeless shelters have not been able to fully end homelessness. Especially today, with a lack of affordable housing and high unemployment rates, homelessness is prevalent.

In “Salvaging the Self from Homelessness”, David Snow and Leon Anderson argue that while people living on the streets have an obvious social or role identity, they sometimes struggle to find their personal identities. A social identity is an identity given to someone by society. If a person sees someone else living on the street, they will most likely be identified as homeless. A personal identity is an identity people assign to themselves to give meaning to who they are. Snow and Anderson continue by studying how homeless people attempt to create a personal identity. They come up with three general ways, distancing, embracement, and fictive storytelling. Distancing simply means trying to avoid actions, places, and people who relate

“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

Homelessness affects upwards of 3.5 million Americans annually and has been a historical problem since the 1700’s (Cronley, 2010). People who are homeless do not always choose the situation they find themselves in, but to be more precise, are the victims of a social system that neglects to help them with they first become at-risk of becoming homeless (Edison-Brown). According to the Joint Studies for Housing Studies (2017), almost thirty-nine million American households are living in homes that they have difficulty meeting the required funds to pay for monthly. To illustrate, a person who has a rental home, on average, needs to earn $21.21 per hour to afford a two-bedroom home in the United States (Family Promise, 2016). The poverty line for a family of four is at $24,300, and for someone to achieve that line, they need to be earning at least $11.70 per hour

Homelessness in America has existed for some time now, but has grown and changed majorly over the years since the 1980’s. According to Mary Hombs, “the prevailing stereotype of a homeless person was that of a middle-aged white urban male alcoholic” (6). But now there is no stereotype because homelessness could happen to anyone at any moment, so that is why it important to be aware. Millions of people in this country do not have a place to live including whole families, children, veterans, and even the mentally ill. Going day after day without food or shelter. Throughout this paper the main focus will be answering the questions: What is homelessness?; What are the main causes of homelessness?: Who is the homeless?; and How do the people of this country assist the homeless?

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

Everywhere you turn in the United States people are sitting on the corners of streets asking for assistance or digging in trash cans for meals. The epidemic of homelessness in the United States has reached an all-time high since the 1990’s. Unfortunately, the adage of people chose to be homeless was not accounting for families that live paycheck to paycheck and lose their job and therefore their housing because it is unavoidable. Alternatively, many individuals that are homeless have some type of mental illness or substance abuse problem thus creating a barrier to maintaining housing. Many of these individuals are incapable to preserve stable employment and have limited support to get off the streets. However, there are several programs that the federal government fund to assist with combating the problem of homelessness in America.

In this paper, I will focus on the topic of why veterans are coming back homeless. Veterans are seen as a savior of the country they are risking their lives for every day, so why is it that they are coming back from tours and service and ultimately ending up homeless? Since 2009 the United States stated that in five years they would end veteran homeless, but the United States is still facing veteran homelessness in the year 2017. Though the homeless rates of veterans have gone down since then, why are veterans still facing homelessness if so many resources are supposed to be available for them. Is there more than meets the eye when it comes to homelessness especially with veterans, yes. Many things can attribute to this continuing issue such as lack of assistances provided, mental illnesses, PTSD, lack or loss of support from being deployed, the use of drugs and alcohol as coping strategies, and the economics.

Homelessness is a growing problem in today’s society. Because of the economic crises, many people are losing his or her jobs because company’s had to cut back on expenses, as well as companies that have closed down completely. Furthermore because of the economic crises many mental institutions are forced to close the doors because of lack of funds. People who once had a safe healthy place to call home are being forced into homelessness and are lacking the health care needed to ensure a happy healthy life. Something has to be done to assist homeless people in finding housing and healthcare they so desperately need. Although it is not possible to solve the homeless

Homelessness has always been a major social issue for cities across the nation but in recent years it is reached astonishing proportions. In this essay I will try to summarize ten recently published articles and each of the authors view of homelessness. First I will discuss some of their opinions of the causes of the recent increase of homelessness and who or what is to blame. Next we will look into just a few of the effects of homelessness, both to the homeless and those around them. After that we will explore possible solutions that have been tried or proposed.

The opinion that the homeless should just work to support themselves is common; however finding a job without an address is nearly impossible. Temporary or seasonal shelters don’t provide for residency, and without a stable residence, employment is difficult to obtain and even more difficult to maintain. Conversely, obtaining stable housing is nearly impossible without employment. A cruel, never-ending, negative feedback loop is established.

Homelessness has always been a problem in major cities across the United States and even the world. This problem also affects out local community and even all of us individually. (Daily) A majority of the American people lives paycheck to paycheck, and according to statistics, we are only one or two paychecks away from becoming homeless. While there are many reasons a person or family can become homeless, a majority of those problems come from a lack of income. The job market of today is quickly dwindling and shows no signs of improvement. This market mixed with new government policies is becoming an issue for struggling American’s on the poverty line. Homelessness is becoming a vast problem

Homelessness has become an epidemic across the United States of America over the past 40 years. Despite the fact that most individuals are reminded of this problem on a daily basis when they see those without homes on the street, few solutions have been implemented that would fix the causes of this horrendous issue. Funding for programs that assist the homeless and homeless prevention programs is abysmal, while the costs incurred due to such a large homeless population continue to rise. Over the past century, a variety of acts and programs have been put in place that has dramatically affected the homeless population of the time, both positively and negatively. This problem can be directly linked to the outcomes of these acts and programs. In order to attack the root cause, the American population needs to look back at the history of homelessness and increase our awareness of what is truly preventing the homeless from mobilizing.

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.