The Simple Solution to Homeless People in America

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 in the United States can be ended, not just maintained. Allot of cities now have plans to eradicate homelessness. Homelessness and housing instability are large issues that afflict a diverse demographic such as: Families, youth, veterans, and chronically homeless single male adults. Ending homelessness may require specialized solutions that are specific to individual needs. Factors like these make defeating homelessness a difficult task. Although solutions exist for some of the demographics, such as housing for chronically homeless adults, scaling up best practices remains a challenge. For other subpopulations, such as transitional aged youth, evidence-based interventions need to be developed. In this paper we argue that ending homelessness is a Grand Challenge that is big, important, and compelling—one that the profession of social work should be adopt. Meeting this challenge will require a focused, organized response from social work researchers, clinicians, and policymakers. Ending homelessness will require innovation and interdisciplinary or cross-sector collaboration. Key words: Housing First, Permanent Supportive Housing, rapid re-housing, prevention, poverty. The notion that homelessness in the United States can be ended, rather than managed (Mangano, 2002; National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2012), represents a fundamental shift in expectations from the 1980s and ’90s. Since the early 2000s, researchers, policymakers, advocates,

The United States has over 3.5 million homeless people a year. If the United States stopped supporting other nations food related issues, then they could start focusing on its own starving people. Once the U.S. starts focusing on its own people, then there could be many solutions to the well-known problem of homeless people in America. Who makes up the 3.5 million homeless people, a year, in America?

Imagine this, a family of four is trying to survive the night. They are lying on the ground in bitter temperatures with only a cardboard box and a blanket to shield themselves from the harsh nights that they are forced to endure. Men, women, and children wait for morning when the doors of the food shelter will finally open, providing many with their meal of the day. This is the setting for hundreds of families in the Phoenix area. It can happen to anyone, anytime. Sometimes it’s a result of circumstances beyond our control- job loss, eviction, domestic violence, mental illness, medical bills. Homelessness is a growing problem and I have a proposition to stop it. We must give homeless people permanent housing with no strings attached.

We live in a world where it is survival of the fittest. It is hard to succeed, one wrong decision can easily lead someone into a financial struggle. This can lead to homelessness. Homelessness is not a lifestyle that one would choose by choice. In 2003, there has been "... as many as 1.3 million Canadians that have experienced homelessness...at some point during the last 5 years." Affordable housing costs less on an annual basis compared to putting the homeless in prison. Canada was the last to have an action plan towards ending homelessness and as we are understanding; the prisons are being over-populated.

There are many things in life that can strike one when they least expect it. The situation could either be winning the lotto or something bad like catching a fatal sickness, but no matter what it is, both will have a huge effect on ones life. Homelessness can happen to anyone at any given moment in their life for over a hundred different reasons. It does not even have to be their fault. For this reason exactly is why Americans should consider this a major crisis today. The amount of people becoming homeless in America is constantly growing. Although some people can get out of being homeless pretty quickly, more and more people are becoming homeless every day, and the more people that become homeless, the more people crowd the streets

According to a study done by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, in America alone, more than 3.5 million people, including 1.35 million children, experience homelessness yearly (nationalhomeless.org). Of that 3.5 million, 35% are families with children (studentsagainsthunger.org). Worldwide, 100 million people are homeless yearly (homelessworldcup.org). These people are forced to sleep in parks, under bridges, abandoned buildings, shelters, and sometimes cars if available. There are approximately 1.7 million homeless teens in the US and 1 of 7 of every teen are runaways (dosomething.org). More than half of these teens will use drugs or alcohol to self medicate through their traumatic experience. Unfortunately, 5,000 of these teens and young adults die yearly because of assault or illness on the streets (dosomething.org). In most cases, homelessness is temporary, but is still a problem encountered by many. Homelessness and poverty are increasing epidemics around the world, striking millions of people every age, ethnicity, and religion.

During the Great Depression, millions of Americans were unemployed which was a huge issue. Unemployment led to homelessness and being poor. Millions of people were unemployed and struggling to find any jobs (Hayes). As the Great Depression got worse and worse, the number of hiring jobs decreased and less jobs were available. Companies were “Firing and not hiring” so many Americans were homeless and unable to make money to support their struggling families (Hayes). The loss of jobs did an incredible amount of damage to the Americans living during this horrific time.

Whose responsibility is it to help the homeless in the United States? I believe that it is everyone’s responsibility. As of January 2015 the homeless count in America was 564,708 people (Fluit, 2015). Even though this is a decline in homeless in America this is still unacceptable. As Americans we need to do all that we can to decrease these numbers. There is so much we could do that would go a long way to help our homeless, like donating time or money to the proper organizations.

According to reporter Angelo Vargas who wrote in Krgv News “Homeless Decrease Nationwide, Many Coming to the Valley”, he stated that many homeless people are coming down to the Valley to live. This can be proven as you see many homeless people roaming the streets every day. People such as Jessie Cutgrass and Gerardo Rico have fallen victim and said that that they are coming here to have a better life. Homelessness is increasing in the Valley and The Hidalgo County is the seventh poorest county in the State of Texas.

A considerable amount of the jobs that are available today that do not require a college education have a low hourly wage. When Americans are working for less than ten dollars an hour it makes it difficult for a family to make the rent or mortgage payment. Not only do they have a mortgage or rent payment, they must buy groceries, pay power bills, and make sure they have the necessities that everyone needs daily.

A homeless man walks on an NYC train and the energy becomes apparent; everyone knows exactly what will happen next. Touching yet rehearsed words exiting his lips, while still trying to obtain his manhood; begging for any solution to his growing stomach and unnerving uncertainty of where he will lay his head are what a person who frequents public transportation will face at least once a day. Walking up and down the cart, he’s trying his hardest to lock eyes with someone while the music of New Yorkers’ headphones elevate, heads bow lower; locking eyes with the ground and reading material cover the faces of those who are giving this less than fortunate man every inclination that change will not be spared and leftovers will not be given up so easily.

In the United States, the amount of the homeless individuals continues to fluctuate throughout the country and the inconsistency is apparent. In total, 33 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) reported decreases in overall homelessness, while 16 states reported an increase (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2016). The states with decreases in homelessness were focused in the South and Midwest (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2016). Even though, there is a national decrease in unsheltered homelessness, only 18 states reported decreases in the number of people living in unsheltered locations such as streets, cars, and abandoned buildings. The national decrease in unsheltered homelessness was

In January 2015 there were 564,708 homeless in the US. They were all sleeping in the streets, emergency shelter or transitional housing. This paper is about why and what we should and could do to help the homeless.

Imagine feeling invisible not knowing what to do or where to go. Imagine spending each night waiting in long lines to get a warm place to sleep for the night just to be turned down because all the beds are taken, or finding a place to set up a tent to have the police come and tell you that you must leave yet not giving you an alternative place to go. Homelessness is an extremely disturbing social issue that affects the lives of many Americans, and is becoming more and more noticeable in places like San Francisco and Oakland. Before Reagan took office and destroyed Americans safety net by slashing the budget on social services and before the tech boom that hit San Francisco, you could make a minimum wage and afford to live here.