Permanent Housing For Homeless : Homeless

Homeless is taking place throughout the world. That is an issue because some people still end back on the street or never had the opportunity to get off the street. Some inviduals may still be on the street and never go the opportunity to get off the street. Each inviduals have their own story of how they became homeless. Some inviduals may have ended up homeless due to unemployment, house caught on fire, was staying with a family member who later passed away, never had money save in case of a emergency and the list goes on. The issue that relate to housing for the homeless is that it is not enough space for everyone. The programs that is available tend to be overcrowded due to so many people being homeless with nowhere to go. Another issue with housing for the homeless is the environment in some programs. The environment can be harmful and unhealthy to an inviduals and especially a homeless child. When a child is homeless, that has a effect on them growing up as far as their mentality and their skills and ability of learning.

Imagine this, a family of four is trying to survive the night. They are lying on the ground in bitter temperatures with only a cardboard box and a blanket to shield themselves from the harsh nights that they are forced to endure. Men, women, and children wait for morning when the doors of the food shelter will finally open, providing many with their meal of the day. This is the setting for hundreds of families in the Phoenix area. It can happen to anyone, anytime. Sometimes it’s a result of circumstances beyond our control- job loss, eviction, domestic violence, mental illness, medical bills. Homelessness is a growing problem and I have a proposition to stop it. We must give homeless people permanent housing with no strings attached.

One of the simplest pieces of knowledge we acquire in elementary school (for future growth and development) are the three basic needs a living organism requires for living: food, water, and shelter. However, not everyone has access to all of these essentials. Homeless people are faced with awful conditions and suffer more due to poor weather conditions, diseases, and lack of safety. There hasn’t been much progress on this issue, and if this continues, the number of homeless people will only increase. In a few states the topic is being named as a “statewide emergency”, but unfortunately this problem is national. Instead of focusing on state programs, local programs and non-profit organizations to fix the housing issue, we must all contribute to ending this epidemic. The National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) released an article stating, “In January 2015, 564,708 people were homeless on a given night in the United States” (Snapshot of Homelessness). We must develop a solution to end long term homelessness immediately. The best way of solving this issue is to provide stable long-term housing, which is a term used to describe the home’s environment and financial status.

    Start building this shelter and watch the percentages drop. The drug and alcohol rates will steadily decrease as well as crime rates. What will increase actually will look great for our city, as sanitation and city morale will boost.  It’s quite clear that taking abandoned buildings and turning them to homeless shelters will help the people in need and the city of

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.

They gain access to programs and services after they get settled in, such as rehabilitation programs, on the job training, and a social worker assigned specifically to them. These programs and services are completely voluntary and by no means required by the resident. “Through housing-first, Utah reduced its chronically-homeless population 72 percent between 2005 and 2014.” (Semuels) This statistic shows that housing-first would be a very fast and effective solution to the United States’ homelessness problem. Another way the US could cut down on homeless people is to require developers to provide both permanent supportive housing and low-income housing in their buildings. This is a solution because homes can be made available to a larger part of the population. This kind of mixed-use housing helps create communities made up of different individuals who in turn look out for one another, for example, “in one building in Harlem, single moms living in affordable housing helped out the ex-cons living in supportive housing, and vice versa.” (Semuels)

When it comes to addressing homelessness, one of the biggest obstacles faced by many communities has to do with the providing of homeless support services (HSS).” (https://slohomeless.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/why-do-some-people-object-to-helping-the-homeless/) Many people say the issue needs to be “dealt’ with, but when it comes to building a shelter, the community often opposed the idea. “There are numerous reasons why some folks in any given community are against expanding services – or even providing any type of HSS altogether.” Some of the most common objections are, Not In My Backyard (NIMBY),”These folks will complain bitterly that something needs to be done about the homeless...They go to great lengths to make themselves appear as though they are not uncaring. Yet, these same folks are the ones who object the loudest…” Then there are the people who say, “It cost to much.” Yes I understand that it needs a lot of money to make the shelters but, it would help with getting the homeless off the streets and maybe they could get cleaned up and find a job. One of the last common ones is , “ Providing services will draw more homeless to the community.” That’s true but only for an extent. Yes Iknow it will bring the homeless to the community but think of all the homeless Veterans we could save. Think of the people who chose to serve for our country and we just want them to willow away on the

Sadly though, In the United States alone 549,928 people were homeless in January 2016 (“Snapshot of Homelessness”). Even though this number is so high a lot of cities do nothing about the homelessness in their area. One reason people do not help is they believe the homeless individual caused their issue. That is not always correct, though. The most frequent cause of homelessness is property destroying disasters (Griffiths 18). With housing being the main issue it makes sense Housing First would be the most successful. Another reason people are homeless is divorce and abusive relationship (Griffiths 18). Which again show housing programs would be beneficial. It makes people wonder why more states do not start housing

The issue of homelessness is one that I can relate to all too well. About twenty five years ago I found myself among the homeless. My story is simple, I had no formal education and was working a job making minimum wage. I couldn’t keep up with my rent and other living expenses and was finally evicted from my overpriced apartment. At the time I was on a waiting list for public housing for which there was at least a two year waiting period. The fact that I was single, with no children did not help me either. For a while I lived on the streets and in shelters, too ashamed to approach what family members I had with my problems knowing that they were

The cost of homelessness is quite high, and the federal government does very little to put funding into lowering the number of homeless we have

With a large homeless community and vacant houses one of the first natural thoughts could be to renovate these houses, and turn them into homes for the homeless. But, it just may not be that simple. In the article, Barbara Samuels, who is a managing attorney for the ACLU of Maryland’s Fair Housing Project referenced an attempt to do that exact same thing about two decades ago. A developer named James Rouse and city officials put forth more than $130 million into a poverty-stricken neighborhood to rehabilitate houses and build more, and sadly there are even more vacant houses than before. Unfornately, this probably caused some people to feel there is nothing that can be done, and loose all hope in restoring these homes.

People drive or walk past a homeless person almost every day without thinking twice about the plight of that person or they may even unconsciously turn their heads the other way in disgust. Homelessness simply put, means without a home - therefore homelessness is an equal opportunity state that can happen to anyone. Even though we have seen some economic prosperity over the years, statistics show that the number of homeless remains very high. With this in mind, communities need to come together at the state, city, and individual level to come up with solutions to mitigate the spreading of this problem.

The war to end homelessness seems to not have an end, although there are so many great organizations and communities working tirelessly to end homelessness. At this moment in time, there is no doubt that some communities are trying to end chronic homelessness. A chronically homeless individual is someone with a disability who lives in a place not meant for human habituation. Many communities create great programs to reduce the number of homeless individuals. In addition to that, the communities attempt to save the state several thousands of dollars that might have to be spent on those individuals that might need medical assistance or when problems with law enforcement

Many people have gotten to experience what life is like in big cities or small rural communities. Often times, these places have a population of wealthier people and an area of poorer families. What many do not experience is what it is like to be homeless in these places. Homeless men, women and children can be seen under bridges, on front stoops, in cars, and several other locations of “shelter”. This problem is more common and local than a lot of us believe. Whether we know it or not, we have people that are struggling with homelessness in our own communities today. This epidemic is more real than we may ever know. It is very sad to imagine these people living in these conditions but things can be done to help. Homelessness is a reality in local communities and can be improved through schools, educational programs, charity, and helping them overcome barriers or stressors.

Without the mean to afford a stable way of life, people are sleeping in parks on benches, underneath bridges, in the wood under make shift shelters and on the streets. Some are fortunate enough to find a shelter, however, meal times and an entry and exit time frames are in place to prevent over population of these temporary quarters. A cardboard box may be seen with the use of newspaper to give them some means of warmth. The homeless further chose to live the woods with other who are unrelated and form family bond type settings. Others make the chose to be homeless and then there is remaining America’s who do not have a choice. Numerous homeless people do not want to live homeless or in poverty. Our government should provide a service to make the homeless whole. We do not now the situation they are in. Homelessness is sad to see in my opinion and I feel future generations will view this horrible situation in a different manner as viewed in the current society. Homelessness is a subject that has many different views, and opinions. It is a subject that gets little attention and funding to bring a different light on this