Summary: The Homeless Assistance Program

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.

Homelessness is a major social crisis in the United States of America. From 2014 to 2015, homelessness in America increased by 2 percent. The major sub-populations which comprise homeless people in America are unsheltered persons, families, chronically homeless people, and veterans (National Alliance to End Homelessness 3). In America, 15 percent of homeless people are defined as being chronically homeless, while 2 percent of homeless families are chronically homeless (ibid. 7). A person is defined as chronically homeless by the United States Government if they have been continually homeless for a year or more, or have experienced more than twelve months of homelessness in the last three years (Office

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 has always been a problem for the United States. Since its birth as a nation, there have consistently been individuals who find themselves without a place to live, looking for shelter with family, friends, or simply anywhere they can find it. These individuals have been targeted as candidates for social aid, but this was primarily provided by churches and other care organizations. However, in the past thirty years the homeless population has increased almost exponentially in numbers. While the cause of this is undetermined, it is quite certain that while the

The United States of America is the place known to many as the land of the free, home of the brave, and the place to start a better life. With any place that has good qualities, some have not so good qualities. The homeless population in the United States is at a staggering high, and many individuals are suffering because many lack employment/financial resources, housing resources, support from family and friends, and others negligence; such as natural disasters or fires. Homeless individuals may have no other choice than to live on the streets, trains, and alley ways to name a few places where homeless people seek shelter. The history of homelessness, social problems, demographics, common clinical

A homeless person is defined as someone “who lacks a fixed, regular adequate night time residence or a person who resides in a shelter, welfare hotel, transitional program or place not ordinarily used as regular sleeping accommodations, such as streets, movie theaters, cars, abandoned buildings, etc.” (Cone, 2008, p. ). Homelessness is a growing problem in the United States that affects the psychological and physical aspects of its victims. Two of the fastest growing subpopulations of the homeless are single mothers and families. The word homeless implies being extremely vulnerable and

Homeless families compose a fraction of the homeless population as they “represent roughly a third of the homeless population in the United States (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2010), and approximately 1.5 million children—1 in 50 youngsters—are homeless each year in the United States” (p. 389). These homeless families often struggle to find permanent residency as a collective unit. There are several types of housing situations available for homeless families such as temporary housing, transitional housing settings, and shelters, yet the housing situation for homeless families often causes stress for families as stability and a secure home is always in question. “The lack of stable, consistent housing is the central, defining characteristic of families experiencing homelessness, distinguishing them and their experience(s) from those with stable housing who experience other correlated conditions (e.g., poverty)” (Kilmer, Cook, Crusto, Strater, and Haber, 2012, p. 394). Homeless families often seek different types of housing usually by first reaching out to temporary shelters in emergency situations like domestic violence that often lead to homelessness, which provide services for children and families. There are many challenges families encounter in the process of seeking permanent housing.

Among general population, homelessness has been a social, economic, and public health concern in the U.S. for at least three decades.

There are programs that can help these individual and families. People can get help though their local Human Services Department. The Human services provides aid to low income families and individuals. Some of these services include, housing, referrals for food pantry, emergency shelters, and outreach centers. Low income families and individual that qualified for these programs can include; single individuals, couples, families with children, elderly, veterans, and single mothers. Here is some information for programs for the homeless the State Rental Allowance Program (RAP) is a rent assistance program for the homeless that aid families and individuals. This program will help these individuals with temporary rent assistance for approximately

Even though these programs and projects have played a role in reducing homelessness, it does not mean these programs make a significant difference. There is a dilemma about funding for housing projects. There is no doubt that housing projects cannot maintain their operation without sufficient funding. However, increased funding for homeless programs can slightly reduce homelessness. In “Does Increased Funding for Homeless Programs Reduce Chronic Homelessness?”, Shawn Moulton estimates a “fixed-effects model” to examines the effect of new federal homeless funding on homelessness. The data from Moulton’s estimate implies that increased funding for homeless programs can decrease homelessness, and the data also indicates that the “first-year

Defining homelessness has been controversial, but most researchers collectively accept that it is a situation in which an individual lacks a permanent place of residence. According to First, Rife, and Toomey (1994), if a person lacks shelter, even on a temporary basis, such an individual becomes homeless. Therefore, most homeless people live on the streets or find temporary accommodation in managed public and private shelters. Most researchers state that a close analysis of the issue of homelessness reveals that there are both individual and structural causes. The structural causes of homelessness comprise poverty, unemployment, economic structures, and social policy while the individual causes include substance abuse, alcoholism, and, domestic abuse, mental illness (Johnson, 1994). However, of the two causes, almost all researchers agree that the structural causes are the leading, describing them as intrinsic in the United States’ political economy. However, it is important to examine the individual causes of homelessness because of their prevalence.

To help the homeless we need to know the root causes of homelessness. Some ideas put forth that cause homelessness include, epidemic of drugs, deinstitutionalized mentally illness, increased costs of low-quality housing and not enough affordable housing. Although all of these mentioned may have some effect on homelessness more needs to be implemented to drastically reduce homelessness and its recidivism (Quigley & Raphael, 2001). When compared to other countries the United States (US) has a lower public housing support rates. Example, some European countries such as Austria and the Netherlands contribute as much as 20% towards the total housing ((Haber & Toro,

“Homelessness and poverty are inextricably linked. Poor people are frequently unable to pay for housing, food, childcare, health care, and education. Difficult choices must be made when limited resources cover only some of these necessities. Often it is housing, which absorbs a high proportion of income that must be dropped. If you are poor, you are essentially an illness, an accident, or a paycheck away from living on the streets. Two factors help account for increasing poverty: eroding employment opportunities for large segments of the workforce and the declining value and availability of public assistance” (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2009). “A homeless individual is defined as “an individual who lacks housing, including an individual whose primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private facility (e.g., shelters) that provides temporary living accommodations, and an individual who is a resident in transitional housing.” A homeless person is an individual without permanent housing who may live on the streets; stay in a shelter, mission, single room occupancy facilities, abandoned building or vehicle; or in any other unstable or non-permanent situation” [Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C., 254b)]. According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), on any night over 600,000 people are homeless; it is estimated that approximately 2.3 to 3.5 million Americans experience homelessness

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.