Homelessness : The Problem Within The United States

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.

The topic I have decided to focus Genius Hour on is how to solve the problem of homelessness in the United States. More than 3.5 million people experience homelessness each year. And in 2013, there was a high of 2.5 million homeless children. But why should people care? People should care because if they ever went into foreclosure, they could be secure in knowing that they would still have a place to stay in and would not be forced to go on the streets. A solution to eliminating homelessness would be incorporating some socialism factors of government into our federal government. I consider this a sensible solution because our federal government has a double security system that prevents our government

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,

Homelessness has increasing become one of the most pressing and urgent social political problems of our time. It is argued that three of the most important policy issues are health, housing and income. Homelessness is defined as a situation in which an individual lacks a fixed, regular and adequate residence during the night. This definition excludes individuals in correctional facilities or those detained by law. The case is clearly depicted in urban communities, where thousands of people live on the streets or shelters. In rural areas the case of homelessness is less prevalent in that, homeless persons are likely to live with a relative or friends in

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.

Given national recognition, The State of Homelessness in America benefits individuals needlessly suffering from a lack of shelter and a steady income. Efforts such as raising awareness and knowledge about the increase in the homeless population has sparked a number of organizations devoted to lessening the amount of individuals living on the streets in major cities. The state of homelessness is able to provide accurate information and statistics for viewers nationwide.

Woman and children will usually become homeless due to being victims of domestic violence. While men make up the majority of homeless, women and children make up 38%-50%. (Thompson. p. 4). Women who face domestic violence are usually young with little education and work experience. When they are forced to leave their homes, they have few skills to fall back on. Without family or friends to help them, they will end up staying on the street. Children also face varying levels of domestic trouble. When turning legal age, they are sometimes forced from their homes. Other Children face neglect and abuse and leave on their own hoping to find a better life. One third of these homeless youths will not finish school or earn a high school diploma by age 18 (Thompson. p. 6). Domestic trouble will put them on the street, with a limited education and job history, they will have few options to fix their

help others who are in any way, shape or form underprivileged; including the homeless. While,

Homelessness is an issue in the United States. Individuals often become homeless for reasons such as; joblessness, underemployment, and enervation of unemployment benefits. People with families often do not earn enough income to support a family and provide adequate housing. Some people neglect to pay their rent, and as a result, he or she and possibly the entire family become homeless. In addition, people and families with barriers associated with medical issues, illicit drug use, and sexual/physical abuse may become homeless. The impact of multiple barriers on a person and/or family and lack of available resources to address these needs, is one of the many reasons why homelessness is such a serious issue within communities

As Americans, individuals take the small comforts of life for granted daily. The everyday individual overlooks a growing dilemma in the U.S., and goes home every night to the comfort of their family. The homeless population has increased over the years, and continues to grow by the day with the increase of the cost of living. Healthcare needs, and the availability of facilities to the under privileged is a major problem in the United States. Up to 610,000 individuals and families are living on the streets each and every night. All of these individuals are at a greater risk of contracting an illness simply because of their living situations, as well as not having the means to financially afford the cost of a doctor’s visit.

Imagine how much more empowered the worker and lower income individuals would be if they didn't have or need to fear losing everything even if they’re getting fired. The United States has a lot of money probably trillion's or more dollars, which I believe is usually spent on war or sending troops to other country's for war when they are many citizens and people in the America losing their job. I know that there are a lot of people who probably quite there job, but those are the people I'm talking about I’m talking about the ones who get lay-end off, The United States I believe has a lot of money and a lot of people wanting help special form their government most of them can’t prove for their self so they need others to help, there isn’t really a reason why we could not solve poverty and homelessness, or even care for the many mentally ill who being on the streets either because they can’t keep their jobs or because they can’t provide for themselves.

Homelessness has been a major problem all over the United States for decades. Going into the major cities like New York City, Chicago or even Baltimore people are able to see the struggle the homeless are going through year around. It is easy to say for the homeless to just get a job and make simple money but it is easier said than done. The reason why homelessness is becoming a major problem is not having affordable housing, sufficient income and restrictions of healthcare services. With all three of these issues we can be able to change someone’s life by helping them on the right track. Meanwhile, if ignored and not confronting the problem it will never be solved and then become worse. The solutions to Baltimore’s homelessness are for

It makes your heart very limp to see our communities, states and countries economic standing, at the present moment. The unruly fashion at which we go about our social classes sickens me. A little less than half of the US population is and always will be struggling citizens, if we don't choose to help. Attempting to feed their children (let alone themselves), being at suffocating jobs they don’t even like, attempting to have the best life they can on food stamps and hand-me-downs. Throughout my years I usually you see working class families, working towards paying bills and feeding children. Seeing homeless strugglers of food on the street, is an everyday occurrence. Just goes to show that something isn’t right here. I think it is agreed upon by leaders, people of working class, and starving children that there needs to be a change. A change of people struggling everyday life, for picking their jobs over their families, and the struggles of choosing whether to do one important issue to the next. All the taxes, low paying jobs, and high prices on everyday necessities are getting too extreme, and I have

“In January 2015, 83,170 individuals and 13,105 people in families with children were chronically homeless. Chronic homelessness among individuals declined by 1 percent (or 819) over the past year, and by 31 percent (or 36,643) between 2007 and 2015. In January 2015, 47,725 veterans were homeless on a single night. Fewer than 10 percent (4,338) were women. Between 2014 and 2015, homelessness among veterans declined

Homelessness has always been a problem in major cities across the United States and even the world. This problem also affects out local community and even all of us individually. (Daily) A majority of the American people lives paycheck to paycheck, and according to statistics, we are only one or two paychecks away from becoming homeless. While there are many reasons a person or family can become homeless, a majority of those problems come from a lack of income. The job market of today is quickly dwindling and shows no signs of improvement. This market mixed with new government policies is becoming an issue for struggling American’s on the poverty line. Homelessness is becoming a vast problem