Structural factors, such as the availability of low-income housing exacerbate on the already burdening individual factors. The rise in homelessness is mostly due to the decrease in the number of low-cost housing units. Nowadays, families were struggling to consolidate their current situations because they are unable to afford the housing need (Thomas Betar, 2012). Inadequate of affordable housing is one of the contributors of homelessness (Ghee WY, Omar RNBR, 2015). A large number of low-income people have been forced to move. Nearly 6,000 people older people who are aged 60 or above in Victoria need to pay the rent of more than thirty percent of their salary (Ronaldson, 1999). The shortage of affordable and available housing straightforwardly harmonizes to levels of homelessness and inadequacy income and insufficient of …show more content…
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
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.
The purpose of this study is to comprehend the who, what, why, when, and where of homelessness.
Family homelessness, accompanied by increased rates of unemployment and absence of affordable housing, developed as a major social and public health problem in the 1980’s. This was largely due to “economic conditions in
Homelessness is a prime concern for numerous countries across the globe, including the most advanced ones. Though the population of homeless people tends to be higher in developing countries, it is still a concern in developed nations. Homelessness is a state where someone lacks regular shelter. The term includes people who do not have a home and sleep on the streets, as well as those whose basic nighttime residence is a homeless shelter or other improvised form of housing. Such people lack the capacity to acquire or maintain sufficient nighttime shelter. Individuals and family units become homeless for many reasons. Assessing these causes can help to mitigate the issue.
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
Homelessness is deemed a social problem because of the many social factors that could play a role in it. “Social forces such as addictions, family breakdown, and mental illness are compounded by structural forces such as lack of available low-cost housing, poor economic conditions, and insufficient mental health services” (Chattopadhyay, et al., 2013). Since there are many contributing factors that aid in homelessness, it has been deemed a social problem.
Homelessness is a very complex issue that affects the community from an economic and a social perspective. Homelessness and poverty are inevitably linked. Poor people are frequently unable to pay for housing, food, childcare, healthcare and education. The primary cause of homelessness though is the lack of affordable housing and the limited scale of housing assistance programs. “Often, poor people can afford to live only in inadequate housing-housing that is unsafe or broken down in a way that degrades the life and dignity of the residents.” (Windley-Daoust, 207). The growing gap between the number of affordable housing units and the number of people needing them has created a housing crisis for the less fortunate. Operating shelters, medical services, day centers and so on cost a lot of money and generally, funding for these programs come from taxpayer dollars and private donations. Many though go unfunded and many homeless are forced to find other methods to meet their needs. Since most communities do not have enough resources to give adequate shelter to the homeless, they will be ultimately forced to find alternate places to sleep and live. This could be behind buildings, benches, doorways of businesses and this can cause pollution within public areas. According to the National
Homelessness is a social problem that is prevalent around the world. Homelessness has existed for much of "civilized" human history. In the last two centuries, homelessness and changed and expanded. Sociologists who study and research homelessness have argued over its formal definition for decades, though for some, the definition of homelessness seems self explanatory and obvious. The paper will examine homelessness, particularly as a sociological issue, or a social issue seen from a sociological perspective. The paper will additionally reference sociological theory as a means of explanation for homelessness, such its causes, the demographics/populations, and other prominent known characteristics of homeless people. There are individuals and groups who choose to be, from a normative societal perspective, homeless, but for a great deal of the homeless population, it can be a treacherous and tragic lifestyle that is a result of a distinct set of social, societal, and individual factors.
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.
Many reasons for worsening situation of homelessness in the country have been reported but none has gathered as much support as poverty. Poverty alone accounts for major increase in homeless households while other possible reasons include loss of job, eroding job opportunities, lack of public assistance and lack of affordable housing facilities. Despite these being powerful reasons, they are all linked to one major reason i.e. poverty.
A lack of affordable housing and the limited scale of housing assistance programs have contributed to the current housing crisis and to homelessness. It has also lead to high rent burdens (rent which absorbs a high proportion of income), overcrowding, and substandard housing. These phenomenons, in turn, have not only forced many people and families on the street, but they have put a large, growing number of people at risk of becoming homeless. Did you know that since 2000, the incomes of low-income households has declined as rents continue to rise (National Low Income Housing Coalition, 2005). Even though I understand that there is clearly a
At the most basic level of economic homelessness is caused by poverty and unemployment (Leach, n.d). First factor is housing, which is the lack of inexpensive housing and the limited size of the housing assistance program have contributed to the existing housing crisis and homelessness. Recent foreclosures are increasing the number of people experiencing homelessness. Housing characterizes the fundamental base solution to the problem of homelessness (Homelessness in America - National
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
Homelessness is a problem virtually every society suffers from. There are many things that cause people to become homeless, such as unemployment, relationship problems, and being evicted from ones domicile either by a landlord, friend or even a family member. However, with every cause there must be an effect. Some of the effects of one becoming homeless, besides the obvious change of lifestyle, are various health problems which often times may lead to death.
Down my building street, a homeless lives there. I always wonder what brought him here. What was his previous occupation before living down the street and annoying everyone else. Questions started to rise. Are they really homeless? poor? or faking it up to attract people’s attention? I had an experience that made these questions rise weirdly. One day, I was sitting in Starbucks, located in Cary street beside Chili’s and I saw the homeless that howl beside my home sitting there and charging his brand new Samsung Galaxy phone and began to text. I was shocked because what I saw is not how homeless should be. Another question rose again, which is, why would he buy a phone with an internet in it. He could buy food for that money.