Homelessness Essay

Post the economic crisis in America and the recession during the years of 2008 and 2009, the country saw a great increase in poverty and worsening of living conditions of Americans. Currently, almost 50 million of fellow Americans are living in extremely bad conditions under the poverty line which means earning less than $11490 for a single person or $23550 for a family of four people. That’s about 1 in every 6 people in this country are living under poverty. A person living in this country on minimum wage which is $7.25 an hour also cannot pull himself out of poverty even after working 40 hours a week.

As a main theme in Hunger and Shame, child malnutrition is a serious problem that has affected many different societies. Child malnutrition is a complicated concept that often has many causes; each society is different and must be studied closely to fully understand the reason for such a horrific epidemic. Focusing on the Chagga population, many factors catalyzed the epidemic including environmental, cultural, and global.

Homelessness is a major problem facing many cities. Some people are homeless because of unfortunate situations, and others are homeless by choice. Homelessness has been around since 1640. The cost of housing is on the rise and many become homeless because they that are not making enough money to afford the cost of housing. The cost of health care and insurance has risen dramatically over the past years. For families living low or middle incomes that can be devastating. Families or individuals that lack health insurance, a sudden illness, chronic disease or accident can be financially devastating. Many people don’t understand the problems homeless families are facing and most families are homeless because of finical situations or because

The concepts of “worthy” and “unworthy” poor came about during the English Poor Laws that were introduced in the 1500’s. The English poor laws classified poor or dependent people into three major categories and established many requirement before aid was provided. Dependent persons were categorized as: vagrant (nomadic; with no permanent home or employment), the involuntary unemployed and the helpless. In effect, the poor laws separated the poor into two classes which were the worthy and the unworthy. The worthy were classified as orphans, widows, handicapped, or the frail elderly. The unworthy were the drunkards, suspicious, or lazy. (Hansan, J.E. (2011). Poor relief in early America)

All over America, there are people wandering the streets without a home. These individuals are seen as a crowd, a separate collective existence. They are called the homeless, as if that defines who they are, but we too often neglect to add the unspoken word in that title; people. It seems today that the more fortunate citizens of America who have a roof over their heads have forgotten their innate responsibility to watch over those in this world whom are incapable of caring for them-selves. The fact is, that there are millions of homeless in America today. Many of these people had no choice but to become homeless. Economic problems such as being laid off work, or the rise in the cost of housing had lead people to

Remember the struggle and pain of waiting for that lunch bell to ring so that you can satisfy the stomach that has been tormenting you throughout the class period? And remember the times you were dying in the blazing hot heat or shivering in the piercing ice cold while waiting for a ride home? Now imagine going through the pain of hunger and the repeated torment by the elements all because you do not have a home. Unfortunately that has been the reality of homeless people throughout America. Homelessness has been a struggling issue for many nations of the world and there have been very little offered to solve this growing economic and social problem. In America, many consider themselves blessed and wish to help out those in need while there are others that choose to view see such people as worthless or just hopeless people who can not make something out of themselves. Consequently people are less likely to help out because they view homeless people as those who do not deserve help keeping many homeless Americans on the streets. In the article, Homeless Demands Local Solutions states that in the United States, “The number of homeless people across the country is as high as 3.5 million in any given year” (Lee and Finley). Rising population in homelessness calls for action from the government and the people because only then, will America be able to curb the rise in homelessness. Many misguided Americans see homelessness as a state of choices and not circumstance.

The homeless are easily ignored, it is fairly simple to turn a blind eye and deaf ears to such a society. Their needs go unheeded by those of us who could afford to part with some of that which we seemingly covet so deeply, until gradually the notion of providing for these unfortunates escapes us altogether. How dare they blight our landscape and draw attention to our neglect. Who are they to paint a picture of hypocrisy by choosing such a life in this land of plenty? How many of us have passed unseeing, the hunched-over or prone bodies of the sleeping homeless in parks, on sidewalks, in alleys, or doorways with nary a thought as to their identities or well-being? After all, some tell themselves, the homeless don’t want to work like the rest of us, they are drug addicts, alcoholics, dangerous ex-cons, or wily con artists looking for an easy dollar. They brought this on themselves, right? “Not true,” says the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness, they come from “all walks of life,” and none chose to be homeless. The organization’s statistics find that, “35% are families with children, 23% are U.S. military veterans, 25% are children under 18 years of age, 30% are victims of domestic violence, and another 20-25% suffer from mental illness.” Homelessness can happen to any one, it can affect anyone’s friends or relatives, homelessness finds members to add to its communities throughout America annually, even

Additionally, the city could spend more of the taxpayer’s money of these programs. Another option is to increase property tax, and use the revenue for building affordable housing. In order to provide additional space, the city would incorporate land use policies for building additional affordable housing. Finally, the city would need to have additional volunteers for the projects, such as habitat for humanity. Habitat for Humanity is a county volunteer organization that builds homes for the homeless and people living in extreme poverty in Raleigh and Wake County. Morgan (2002) states that housing programs for the homeless do the most for preventing the cycle of the homeless people ending up on the streets, shelters, hospitals, and prisons. One such program was a new strategy to prevent homelessness, introduced by the White House Interagency Council that provided $ 35 million dollars to permanent housing and care for the

We have all seen it before. The man sitting on the cold street possessing only a few rudimentary goods while begging for food or the woman holding her child’s hand while asking for spare change. Some people saunter by these downtrodden individuals unconcerned, while others give them sympathetic looks and drop a few coins in their cups. We are aware of homelessness, almost too aware and yet we go on with our lives without further regard. Homelessness has become such an epidemic in the United States that it is normal and practically expected to be seen in our urban streets. Homelessness is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as, “Having no home or permanent residence.” While that is true, there are many other dynamics that come into play with this social problem. Without proper housing, the homeless community is more susceptible to violence, disease, weather conditions, hunger and ultimately death. We all recognize homelessness but what can we do to help those in need?

Poverty for centuries has been a very severe issue that has troubled many nations while impeding economic developments and progress. Poverty stricken countries are majorly concentrated in the continents of Africa and Asia. Continents like the Americas and Europe have globally been recognized as been wealthier yet still many parts of these ostensible countries face massive cases of poverty. Most at times, countries with high populations owing to high birth rates face the most cases of poverty. The definition of poverty can be boundless in the sense that poverty entails so many subsections as it sometimes gets complicated to group everything under one umbrella. Society tends to focus more on the tangible aspects of poverty because many people associate poverty with lacking money and it makes sense because poverty in terms of lacking money is a major problem affecting almost every country in the world. Even though it is debatable that poverty can be physical, intellectual, spiritual and even emotional, it is best to talk about the lack of money and economic developments in this essay. With reference to the oxford English Dictionary, poverty is state of being extremely poor and the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount. Reflecting on this definition given, I deduced that malnutrition and hunger can define poverty. In the light of this, I think poverty is lacking a comfortable place of shelter, being ill and not having access to a better

There are many different obstacles for the homeless population, but there are numerous services and resources that they can gain access to in the community. The most significant obstacle is having a lack of education to these resources. In the community of Warwick, Rhode Island there are two homeless shelters with sufficient space to protect the homeless from the elements of weather and harmful environments. There are also two food banks available in the town of Warwick and one that serves the Oakland Beach community exclusively. Kent Hospital, a community teaching hospital, has many services to offer such as medical treatment, mental health, and detox services to the community. Aside from Kent Hospital, there are two other detox treatment centers that are in Warwick but there are many other facilities in the surrounding neighborhoods. Mental health services are sufficient in Warwick, these include hospital services, private practices, and services within the community that work towards helping low income and uninsured population. Unlike most chronic conditions, homelessness can be cured, and the side effects of treatment (increased medication

they might be living in a place that is not habitable or living on the streets or living in shelters. They might have a job or an income, but just not enough for their basic needs. There is a general conception of people who are homeless is that they chose this life because they did it to themselves, and therefore, there is no reason why others should look after them, people should just look down on them. However, becoming homeless is often not something you choose, it is complicated, there are some cases for those who lose their jobs because of depression or life difficulties and therefore they cannot afford to pay their bills and other rents so they become homeless. Other cases for homeless people, is that they choose to commit a murder

Throughout the entire history of human civilization, the prevalence of homelessness has been a challenge to every nation.  It might be depressing to learn that no countries today have eradicated homelessness, but the human race is never stopped from trying harder than before to tackle this prolonged issue. As the two leading economic powers, America and China have to face the challenge of reducing homelessness. According to a report written by Nation Coalition for the Homeless, “a study done by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty which states that approximately 3.5 million people, 1.35 million of them children, are likely to experience homelessness in a given year” in America alone (National Coalition for the Homeless, July

"Poverty is the worst form of violence" (Gandhi). By definition, poverty impacts the civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights of individuals and societies. (United Nations). Without the intentional effort to eradicate poverty and its impact on societies, justice is impossible to attain. Poverty is defined as a human condition characterized sustained or chronic deprivation. The constant lack of resources is traumatic for individuals and societies alike.

Globally, poverty is a prevailing social and economic concern. In pure economic terms, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO, 2017) defines income poverty as a failure of a family’s income to meet a federally established threshold. The World Bank’s definition of extreme poverty is living on less than US$1.90 per day (World Bank, 2017), which was decided on using the purchasing power parity exchange rates to convert the line into the US dollar, and into the currencies of each developing country (World Bank, 2016). However, the United Nations (UN) goes beyond numerical definition and highlights the deprivation of basic human needs as part of its definition. To further develop the definition of the