Personal Statement: Growing Up Homeless

Going on the end of the year service trip to Denver really opened my eyes to how many people are affected by homelessness. Homelessness can have many causes and can happen to anyone. In our societal system today once someone has reached poverty and become homeless it is very hard to recover from this cycle of poverty.

Homelessness is defined as having no fixed place to sleep at night. This includes people staying in motels until their money runs out, those staying with friends, those staying in shelters, and those sleeping inside or out whatever space they can find to protect themselves. The number of homeless people has been growing and it has become a serious problem in our society. Every night in Canada there are thousands of people living on the streets. This type of behaviour is considered deviant because it does not reflect the norms and values of our society. In many cases the homeless people in our country are treated as total outcasts. Many of these people have severe mental disorders. Some are victims of an economy that has

The homeless are impacted far more by everyday issues than those who are not. Often times, homeless children can be sick four times as much as middle class children and have superior rates of acute and recurring illnesses. In addition, they experience emotional and behavioral problems can hinder with learning at almost three times the rate of other children. “Homeless children between 6 and 17 years struggle with high rates of mental health problems. For example, 47% have problems

The common profile of a homeless family is headed by a single mother, in her 20’s with an average of two children, of which one or both are under the age of six. Homeless mothers tend to be poorly educated, unemployed, and lacking the skills necessary to become employed. There is an equal representation of Caucasian (47%) and African American (47%) homeless mothers. These women commonly described their lives as ““… a remarkably constant stream of distressing and spirit-breaking encounters, beginning in early childhood …” including experiencing physical and/or sexual abuse, constant crisis, stress from persistent poverty, violence in the family and community, and isolation. Most of these women grew up homeless and spent their childhood in foster care making them distrustful of the system.

Homelessness is a pressing issue that affects everyone all over the world, of all ages, all race and all sexes. There is an inexcusable amount of young people who are homeless. 17% of all homeless people are under the age of twelve. That could be the age of a younger sibling. Imagine if they were homeless, living on the streets. This is the reality that some have to face

As I said, homelessness can happen to anyone. My parents exemplify this as they were homeless at one point in their life. They had just moved to Oregon from California, looking for a new start for their soon to be born son. Life wasn’t as they had expected. My mother’s family, whom they were staying with, without a warning decided to move out of state. They now had nowhere to live and no one to ask for help. With no choice left, they were forced to live in a shelter in terrible conditions as most homeless do. The shelter was not a safe place, property was often stolen and although it was not allowed there were drugs and alcohol. My parents did not choose to be homeless, they were more than willing to work, they searched for employment and tried very hard to find housing but it wasn’t an easy process, it took time.

Unemployment and lack of education plays a major role in these individual homeless people’s lives. With unemployment and high school dropout rates rising, homelessness cannot be prevented. Kids are taught from a young age to stay in school because the ones that dropout around high school is more than likely to become homeless. High school dropouts are likely to become homeless because they are likely to get kicked out of their dysfunctional home, or possibly run away from home feeling as if they are not good enough for the family. Dropouts will find it difficult to preserve a job, most will turn to drugs, becoming an addict, only hoping that it will make things better, really just increasing the rate of poverty and homelessness.

The thought of being homeless is a terrifying to anyone, but sadly for many it is a reality. I could never imagine not knowing where I was going to sleep for the night, especially not as a teenager. Teenage years are a struggle for everyone then adding homelessness into it gives an entirely different set of issues for someone to be presented with.

Homelessness is a continuing growing problem, with more and more not just adults but children forced to live on the streets. Homeless people are humans just like us. Being homeless, you

buy the Big Issue from him. That day I arrived late to work because I

The National Health Care for the Homeless project showed that children up to twelve years of age that are homeless, are twice as likely to come down with an ear or upper respiratory infection. They are three times as likely to have a gastrointestinal problem and four times as likely to have a skin problem and ten times more likely to have bad teeth. For children thirteen to nineteen there

My friends often describe me as a cynic and a pessimist. For the most part, they're right. Sentiment loses value when it permeates one's attitudes and behavior just as the value of a commodity decreases as it becomes ubiquitous, so as a rule I reserve expressing sentiment for rare occasions that I deem worthy. Fortunately, even the harshest cynics are surprised sometimes.

Children of many ages are affected by these tremendous problems resulting from homelessness that have just become greater as time has passed. Homelessness leaves long lasting scars on these children (Crary 2). “The burden places upon these people can influence every facet of their lives; from contraception to early adulthood” (Hart-Shegos 2). All stages of life are affected by this experience of homelessness and severe problems can be caused in every stage.

     Homelessness as an issue in today's society is largely ignored. To many, the problem of homelessness is invisible or barely noticed. When these people do see the homeless it is found in the form of beggars who need to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” or mentally ill people who “just can't help themselves”. In either case the central point remains; the homeless must be people who are incapable or unwilling to help themselves. After all, wouldn't they stop being homeless if they just tried? These sorts of rationalizations cover a more disturbing truth; that for many in today's society, the spectre of homelessness is more pressing of a problem than helping those who are already on the

Homelessness is an epidemic that affects millions of people all over the world. These people have no place to live, are rarely able to bathe, and they have little to no food to eat. There are many reasons why people become homeless, but they can be broken down into three categories; Structural factors, systematic failures, and individual and relational factors.