San Francisco Homelessness

Homelessness has been a prevalent and contentious topic since its public emergence in the 1980’s. In fact, according to the most recent estimates, on any given night in the United States, there are roughly 645,000 people residing in homeless shelters or unsheltered street locations (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2011). And based on a local study done by the Mental Health Unit at the Houston Police Department in 2011, Houston has the largest homeless population in Texas and the eighth largest in the United States. While many great efforts have been put forth to aid the homeless population in Houston, “the public health epidemiology task of quantifying and tracking child and family homelessness over time has been complicated…by increasing rates of…shortages [in] affordable housing” (Grant et al., 2013), and restrictions on temporary encampments (Loftus-Ferren, 2013). In order to successfully reduce, prevent and combat homelessness, more policies must be put in place to create sustainable, affordable housing for homeless families and to modify current laws that harm homeless individuals.

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.

     Here in Tahoe, we are lucky enough to experience a great quality of life, and only a few have to face the horrible life of poverty and homelessness. However, nationwide, even right outside the basin, homelessness is a growing epidemic across the country. There are many ways one can become homeless; for the most part poverty. There are also different concentrations of homeless in different types of terrain, such as urban or suburban areas. Last, there is the ever- growing homeless population, and how much money it costs us for others to live in poverty. These are the questions we ask ourselves about homelessness, and the only way we can help is to know the facts about this lingering

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

When walking down the streets of Los Angeles, people will often encounter homelessness. Homelessness is currently considered a major problem in Los Angeles. Since 2013 homeless population in Los Angeles has increased by 12 percent. According to SCANPH (Southern California Association of Nonprofit Housing), Los Angeles has the highest street homeless population in the nation. There are about 26,000 homeless people in the city of Los Angeles, and about 44,300 homeless people in the Los Angeles County; about 75 percent of these homeless are individuals, 17 percent are families, and 8 percent are minors. People can become homeless for different reasons, such as illnesses, domestic violence, physical disability, mental disability, and etc.

A place of safety and security is something that many of us take for granted, until we are confronted in our own neighborhood by someone holding up a sign pleading for help. Homelessness is a problem that has been afflicting hundreds of thousands of people around the world for ages. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, on a single night in 2016, 549,928 people were experiencing homelessness in the United States. That means that there were at least 500,000 individuals suffering without a place to lay their heads at night. In this report I will be discussing the causes of homelessness, who is affected, how it affects people, and homeless mistreatment.

Did you know that Applied Survey Research counted a total of 4,539 homeless people last year in Sonoma County alone? I can vouch for the authenticity and methods used in this survey because I assisted as a counter. I am passionate about the social issue of homelessness, mainly because I was part of this population a decade ago. Applied Survey Research defines homelessness in part as, “An individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence…” The sad fact is that there are not enough resources to adequately shelter America’s most vulnerable citizens. Many cities have passed ordinances that have criminalized homelessness. These so called quality of life ordinances are meant to protect the society at large. Homeless people

Social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of large social groups on the basis of their control over basic resources (Kendall, 1998, p.24). By ranking each social class in society, those who fall in the underclass are referred to as the poor. They typically live in areas with high rates of poverty and few opportunities to improve their lives. But what about those who have less than the lower class. There is a rising population of people who have lost everything and therefore must take shelter in the local parks, abandoned buildings, overpasses, and any other form of protection against the elements (Schutt, 2011). Homelessness is a social problem affecting our nation, which can only continue to grow if society does not make

Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights asserts that housing is a fundamental component to a decent standard of living, yet few city governments--even in the most developed economies--have proven themselves capable of ensuring such a basic right to their constituents (United Nations, General Assembly). Ranked 49th among the 50 U.S. states for its number of housing units per capita, California has notoriously struggled with chronic shortages in its urban housing market. With 118,142 homeless people recorded in 2016, California holds almost 22% of the nation’s homeless population (Fact Sheet: Homelessness in California 1).

Over the years Los Angeles has had the highest number of homeless people; this situation has been highly overlooked by media and political attention. Cities in many parts of the world may be known as centers for poverty whether if it 's a developed or developing country. No city, state, or country is prone to homelessness. Los Angeles in particular is an entry point for many immigrants who come to look for jobs. The intentions are not to cause there to be a vulnerability to poverty but to try to make a living some how. “Skid Row homeless population originates in South LA – where services and shelters lack resource adequacy and unemployment rates are high among adult men – and policy discussions rarely focus on this trend” (Howard, 4). Los Angeles Skid Row, is known to have the heaviest homeless population compared to other cities. Los Angeles does provide some homeless services like shelter and low-cost housing options for the poor but one of the issues that many homeless people come across is the lack of healthcare. Everyone can suffer from physical and mental health issues but there is a bigger impact on the homeless people in the Los Angeles county because they are not obtaining the proper help mentally, physically, and socially. Many people lose their lives or spread many disease amongst the community. The city of Los Angeles should provide healthcare for the homeless because this issue affects the homeless and everyone else around. More disease are passed around, more

Homelessness in Seattle has proven to be a tremendous issue. Fighting for years, Seattle has not been able to make any significant improvements when it comes to homelessness. Although eliminating homelessness may seem to have a simple solution, more housing, the causes of homelessness determine how difficult eliminating it will be. Seattle’s homelessness stems from many complex issues that can be traced back many years. One of the most significant causes of homelessness in Seattle is cuts in funding towards low-income housing combined with raised rent prices in both previously affordable housing and housing geared towards the affluent.

San Francisco is ranked eighth in the nation with the population of the amount of homeless population. Because of the this, it has been causing San Francisco problems with preparing for the Super Bowl Fifty.Why does one of the major cities in California have such a large homeless population?Well, the article entitled, San Francisco nudges homeless away from Super Bowl fan village, published by Bloomberg News, the article states,” It has worsened as a technology boom drawing thousands of well paid-workers has inflated housing costs…” Coming from this article, as technology is getting more efficient, the numbers of jobs are going to down and the rate of homeless people is going to go up. This supports why San Francisco has such a large homeless

My topic for my semester research project is homelessness in Los Angeles County. Over the past few weeks, I've done a significant amount of research on the background of my topic, its negative effects, and some solutions. One key solution I researched was the idea of supported housing. Since the idea of supported housing is largely built on the fact that there is a large percentage of homeless people that are mentally ill, I decided to go down to the root of the problem, which turned out to be the closing of mental hospitals in California. As I talked about in my first report, mental hospitals in California were closed in the 1970’s and 1980’s mainly because people believed they were violating individual rights. At the time, people could send

Over fifty thousand people are living in LA without a place to stay, but why? Homelessness in Los Angeles is a big problem that is constantly growing. Homelessness has grown up to twenty three percent in twenty seventeen! This is why so many people are scared of homelessness, because of the sheer amount of homeless people and the constant rise in population. An article from LA Times states, “Up to seven percent of all people in LA are homeless”(Smith 1). Through lowering rents, building permanent housing, and increasing minimum wage, we can resolve homelessness.

For anyone living in or visiting New York City, the site of a homeless person is almost guaranteed. Whether riding the subway, taking in the lights in Times Square, or going for a stroll in Central Park, one is bound to see a homeless person. Homelessness does not discriminate; men and women can be seen sleeping over a subway grate. Age is not a discriminatory factor either. Many a times one will see a mother with her child/children sitting on the steps of a church begging for food and money.