Problem Of Homelessness

As Super Bowl season draws near, many of the homeless living in San Francisco are being encouraged to head away from the vicinity of the recently built Super Bowl City in San Francisco, California and move towards local homeless shelters nearby. Home to nearly 7,000 homeless people and growing, San Francisco is ranked 8th in the nation for its substantial homeless population city. According to “The 2014 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress”, “...Most (69 percent) [of the homeless living in the USA] were staying in residential programs for homeless people, and the rest (31 percent) were found in unsheltered locations.”(Henry, 5). However in San Francisco, “64 percent [of the current homeless population in San Francisco are] living outside of shelters”(Veckshin, 2). San Francisco cannot and should not just keep turning a blind eye on the men, women, and children harming their health by living on the streets.

First and foremost, how do we defined a homeless person? According to National Health Care for the Homeless Council, homeless is defined as “an individual who lacks housing, including an individual whose primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private facility that provides temporary living accommodations, and an individual who is a resident in a transitional housing” (“definition of homelessness,” n.d.). It is important to recognize that homelessness is worldwide and social problem because it is directly affected by large social forces that affects individual’s social life. In a research made by Coalition for the homeless says that in December 2015, there were 60,096 homeless people in New York city, including 14,553 homeless families with 23, 885 homeless children. Moreover, this becomes a social problem, due in large part to structural inequality and it affects a wide variety of people that can range from those people experiencing eviction, unemployment, family relationship breakdown, domestic violence, health crises, poverty, mental illness and substance abuse. These reasons can be the precipitating factor in the onset of homelessness.

The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty currently estimates that each year at least 2.5 to 3.5 million Americans sleep in shelters, transitional housing, and public places not meant for human habitation. At least an additional 7.4 million have lost their own homes and are doubled-up with others due to economic necessity. According to Point-in-Time Count, San Diego had 8,692 homeless people. Almost 3,800 of them were sleeping in emergency shelters or transitional housing. The Count showed more than 5000 people were unsheltered. Some slept in cars, sidewalks or abandoned building. Moreover, 61%of the homeless people in shelters were children and 40% were families and 1157 were homeless veterans. Two advocates put this dilemma of the issue of “falling from the scene” into perspective:

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.

There is no doubt that being homeless has always been a problem in America. It is a problem for everybody, no one ever wants to be deemed homeless. Recent studies reveal that being homeless has now turned into an epidemic in some cities across the country. The homeless population has increased this year for the first time since the Great Recession and I think it is utterly ridiculous when the top two prominent cities in the United States (New York City and Los Angeles) are among the top three homeless cities in the world. The increase has been so disturbing that some state governments decided to call for a state of emergency. The reason behind the homeless population increase is due to the West Coasts flourishing economy. Rent wages increased

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.

Homelessness is a major topic affecting the United States and other parts of the world; it is a very complex issue that affects the community from an economic and a social perspective (Clapham). This paper will focus on how urbanization has played a role in the homeless population and homelessness in general; we will also look at the recent reports that homelessness is on a slight decline. We will propose ideas on what we can do to affect homelessness as well. Defining what exactly it is to be homeless and the difference between homelessness and homeless was very difficult to do as numerous sources gave very difference responses with categories and subcategories. National statistical series contain title to no information on the homeless; the census essentially only takes into consideration those with homes. Based on prior research primarily conducted by Peter H. Rossi and James D. Wright along with several other sources, we are able to propose several ideas to help reduce the amount of homelessness in the United States and other countries along with more empirical data.

Homelessness is an arising problem within the United States. Poverty and homelessness are inheritably linked. As children we were raised to believe that through hard work and determination that we could accomplish anything. We all had dreams of having nice cars, a nice home and lots of money, however this is impossible when a person is living pay check to pay check and close to being homeless. Knowing that we live in the “land of opportunity” brings many dreams to anyone’s mind, however, many families are experiencing financial issues that are causing them to become homeless because they cannot afford to live and pay their bills, food, child care, health care and education (National Coalition of the homeless, 2007). Homelessness in America is persistent, complex and widely-occurring problem that incorporates many economic, social and psychological dimensions (National Coalition of the homeless, 2007). With the shortage of affordable rental property is causing the increasing number of poverty families. Homelessness doesn’t only affect an adult but it does affect many children. In America, 3.5 million Americans are homeless each year. However, of these Americans that are homeless children make up more than 1 million people who are homeless (Home Aid America , n.d.). With children and many families that are homeless, veterans, and domestic

Over the years Los Angeles has had the highest number of homeless people; this situation has been highly overlooked by media and political attention. Cities in many parts of the world may be known as centers for poverty whether if it 's a developed or developing country. No city, state, or country is prone to homelessness. Los Angeles in particular is an entry point for many immigrants who come to look for jobs. The intentions are not to cause there to be a vulnerability to poverty but to try to make a living some how. “Skid Row homeless population originates in South LA – where services and shelters lack resource adequacy and unemployment rates are high among adult men – and policy discussions rarely focus on this trend” (Howard, 4). Los Angeles Skid Row, is known to have the heaviest homeless population compared to other cities. Los Angeles does provide some homeless services like shelter and low-cost housing options for the poor but one of the issues that many homeless people come across is the lack of healthcare. Everyone can suffer from physical and mental health issues but there is a bigger impact on the homeless people in the Los Angeles county because they are not obtaining the proper help mentally, physically, and socially. Many people lose their lives or spread many disease amongst the community. The city of Los Angeles should provide healthcare for the homeless because this issue affects the homeless and everyone else around. More disease are passed around, more

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.

Unemployment, under-employment, and low wage employment are frequent causes of homelessness. The economy plays a significant role when it comes to homelessness seeing that as the price of the cost of living rises, wages remain the same; so how can one survive in a society under those circumstances. As stated by the National Coalition for the Homelessness, low-wage workers have been particularly hard hit by wage trends, minimum wage workers working 40 hours a week and 52 weeks per year would earn $13,624; with that income, it is impossible to pay rent for a one bed apartment that’s roughly $1,200 a month, pay for gas, electric, food, and other essentials. Many times it is not hard to think that the government wants you to suffer because you have people who have ambition that is willing to seek a job so that they can provide for themselves and their family yet they are being paid little to nothing. How can one afford a comfortable living and support their loved ones, if their annual earnings amount to $13,624? Yet those same people who are working and paying taxes and have to live at home with other family members till they can find better hard working money is going to some people that is not willing to work but rather depend on the for government assistances. Millions of hard-working, responsible families are at risk of losing their homes as a result of job losses, reductions

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

Homelessness. It’s a problem all over the United States, a problem all over Missouri, and a problem all over the entire St. Louis area. About 30% of people who are chronically homeless have mental health conditions about 50% have co-occurring substance use problems. A lot of those homeless individuals do have jobs, in fact almost half (44%) of homeless people have jobs. This shows that there is more to homelessness than just not having a home. Although those that are homeless do have jobs most of them don’t pay enough, to get homeless individuals in better paying jobs programs need to be made to help the homeless get over their addictions, help them get rid of the effects of their mental illnesses, and help them get an education.

On average, there are about “549,928” people sleeping on the streets at night. Shelters are maxed out, attempting to provide individuals shelter from the outdoors. Although highly susceptible to infectious diseases, wild animals, and extreme climates, sleeping on the streets is the norm for some Americans with no place to call home. Homelessness has quickly become an “epidemic” caused by abrupt unemployment, mental illness, and drug and alcohol abuse (“Homelessness in America”). Those living on the streets often face inhumane conditions that no American should have to endure.

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.