The Problem Of Homelessness And Its Effect On The Community

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.

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.

Homelessness has become an evolving epidemic of our time, and the health implications associated with being homeless makes it that much worse. Homeless people are at major risk for premature death and a wide range of health problems such as HIV, skin blemishes, and much more. It is very difficult for homeless people to fix their health issues due to the difficulty of accessing health care possibly because of missing health cards, or simply because of the stigma placed on them when they enter a public facility. Whatever the problem may be that is forcing more people to become homeless, it must be solved, and quickly before our world turns into a travesty.

As a matter of fact,“[m]ost people are not aware of other realities different [from] their own and think it is a ‘social norm’ to have [basic necessities] and a ‘social abnormality’ to live in the streets” (Source A). These people fail to realize there could be a situation in which the homeless could not avoid the cause. For example, some homeless people are born to a family in poverty. According to research, poverty is the largest contributor to homelessness, and “the World Bank, as of August 2008, [estimates] 1.4 billion people live on $1.25 per day or less, and 2.7 billion people live on less than $2 per day” (Source B). Although poverty is the largest cause of homelessness and is often called ‘the silent killer’, natural disasters, in extreme measures, could cause a person to lose their life along with their home. Homelessness can become a reality also when people become evicted when their bills become high and are not paid on time. The government lacks public assistance for people who are homeless because “[e]ven though the government has provided some shelters for homeless people, overcrowding forces many [people] to live in the streets” (Source

The sun rises, birds are chirping, and everyone is ready for their day at work. Some people take their cars, some, carpool. Others, take buses, trams, and ride sharing. Some however, find their method of transport less desirable, next to a homeless person who hitched a ride on the 24/7 bus. Everyone in the Bay Area has seen the increasing amount of haggard, limping, sleeping people on the streets. Groups of people trying to survive on what they can Over the past few years, the problem has been worsening. If anyone goes to San Francisco, Oakland, or some of the bigger cities, they will see crowds of people sleeping on the sidewalks. Cluttering the streets as they try to walk to their destination.

Homelessness has been a problem in Hawaii, and especially Oahu, for more than two decades. The homeless have overrun the islands but it is no surprise as the circum- stances allow for it. Multiple factors contribute to the ongoing dilemma including the high cost of living, Hawaii being an island state, and the expensive housing. The prob- lems that cause homelessness are not going to go away by themselves. Although the problem is not increasing, the numbers show that it isn’t decreasing and shouldn’t be unless the state and community acts.

Homelessness is an aspect of society, which most people chose not to acknowledge. With the increasing amount of issues the United States faces, homelessness tends to be forgotten when the time comes for the government to establish what issues they should assist. Due to the substantial amount of issues the government concerns itself with, homelessness does not receive the necessary attention required and is improperly handled. In today’s society poverty-stricken individuals or families is too much of a common occurrence to be treated as lightly as it is. Additional government intervention is necessary in order to supply the needed resources, which can prevent the further spread of homelessness. The United States government is obligated to protect its citizens and should care about the constant growth of homelessness. Through economic policies and community advertisements, the government can control the issue of individuals who are facing poverty.

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.

Homelessness is an epidemic social problem that faces several individuals and families across the United States, especially in Detroit, Michigan. You may have seen a person or family sleeping on a park bench, under bridges and other public areas. Perhaps you have seen them holding up a sign on a street corner asking for money because of the hunger pains. At some point, we all had taken a look at the person holding up their sign thinking it’s not my problem. Why should I help? They’re probably lying or scamming just to make money to buy drugs and alcohol. However, there is a small part of us who may want to give money, buy some food or we may to choose to ignore the problem. Who are we to decide who’s

Cities increasingly grapple with homelessness, while facing budget cuts to various services, but the failure to tackle homelessness creates more problems. While there are homeless people who are on drugs, some are there because housing is expensive and they have no reliable sources of income. Homelessness may result in the city spending more on welfare in a never ending cycle without finding a solution to homelessness. There are various factors associated with the risk of homelessness, including individual factors like those fleeing domestic abuse, and even those who can longer earn a living because of health conditions and disabilities. The problem of homelessness is further compounded when the homeless suffer mental health issues and alcohol or drug dependence (Benston, 2015). Homelessness is a problem that affects even the youth, and stakeholders ought to work together to tackle the problem, as city officials, and residents are the audience who should be concerned with the problem at the local level.

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.

Lakeland is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States, located between the two larger cities in central Florida those being Tampa to the west and Orlando to the east. While interventions to interrupt and end homelessness may vary across groups, ending homelessness permanently requires housing combined with the types of services supported by programs operated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This paper will address demographics for the area, identify the social issue of homelessness, and address using a social action model for community change, and the strengths and weaknesses of the model.

benefits, they require a personal bank account, an address for third party for mailing, a relative or other third party be assigned as person’s representative payee, or a Direct Express debit bank card. I think this policy needs to be changed because there are not many homeless people have a bank account, a permanent address, and a phone number to obtain their benefits. Also, the third party paying system is not appropriate for the homeless population. In the Liebow’s book, one of homeless women’s fathers visited her to pay SSI, however the money was always shorter than what she was expected. Because of their weakness, they are the victim of the society.

community allows them to do so (Grzymala-Busse, 2016). This would also be an example of a movement that takes the vulnerable populations’ experiences and views into account because these churches have had frequent interactions with these individuals.

According to suitcaseclinic.org, homelessness is a temporary condition that people fall into when they cannot afford to pay for a place to live, or when their current home has been declared unsafe or even unstable. According to Habitat.org, this issue affects between 1.6 million to close to 3 million people within the United States ("World Habitat”). The issue is growing throughout the world, yet what is the root cause? Numerous people wonder how they can help. Most tend to believe that the solution is as simple as just giving them money to use for daily living. Even though their root cause for their issue isn’t money. It is the fact that they don’t grasp how to use their money properly/ responsibly. The homeless can’t be helped with just cash, they need the proper support systems along with education to become successful.