The Leading Causes Of Homelessness

Last month, the Obama administration released a plan designed to end homelessness in 10 years. The goal reflects new optimism among academics and advocates that homelessness is not an intractable feature of urban life, as it has sometimes seemed, but a problem that can be solved. This belief is fueled by recent research debunking a number of long-standing myths about homelessness in America -- and showing that many of our old policies were unwittingly making the problem worse.

Homelessness has always been a major social issue for cities across the nation but in recent years it is reached astonishing proportions. In this essay I will try to summarize ten recently published articles and each of the authors view of homelessness. First I will discuss some of their opinions of the causes of the recent increase of homelessness and who or what is to blame. Next we will look into just a few of the effects of homelessness, both to the homeless and those around them. After that we will explore possible solutions that have been tried or proposed.

In the United States the homeless population continues to grow rapidly. Homelessness has been a public health issue for many decades. Often times these individuals feel as though society has turned a blind eye to them. This at risk population is seen by society as lazy or chose to live a life on the streets, but if one would examine this population closely would see that there is more to this at risk population than what society has labeled them as. The forces, which affect homelessness, are multifaceted. Social forces such as family breakdown, addictions, and mental illnesses are in combined with structural forces such as lack of low-cost housing, insufficient health services, and poor economic conditions. Many would

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 is a serious societal problem affecting our communities. Katel of Housing the Homeless says “about 1.5 million Americans use a shelter in a given year- and advocates for the homeless say that figure badly understates the problem.” Yet, society looks down at these people, not doing anything to help them. They are judged, criticized, and bombarded by false assumptions everywhere they go. I have heard people say “they are like that because they chose to” or “they are lazy and don't want to work.” This is not true in most cases. The reality is life can go wrong at any moment for anyone. For some people there is no one there to help them and their only option is living on the streets or a shelter.

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

The first reason, many people choose to being homeless is because they cannot afford rent. “The lack of affordable housing is a primary cause of homelessness according to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. HUD has seen its budget slashed by over 50% in recent decades resulting in the loss of 10,000 units of subsidized low income housing each and every year”. By: Bill Quigley. Common Dreams, Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community. Through my experience of being homeless, it is a true complaint that homeless are always making, that rent is too high amongst each other. Having affordable housing would be great for getting the homeless off the streets. Family’s with kids, that mothers receives Welfare that the Federal government provides can help a bit with the homeless. People with low-incomes, that have minimum wedge jobs but the income is not enough for

One of the top reasons for why someone is homeless is because of the recession we are living in today. The world we are living in today is slowly going back to decades ago, with bringing back hate

When it comes to criminalization against the homeless, I feel that it is going to get us nowhere. What good does it do too fine a person when you already know that they cannot even afford or know where they are going to get their next meal at? I also feel that it does place an unnecessary burden on the criminal justice system, because I feel as if it would be a waste of tax dollars and also policing. We as a nation need to purse alternative approaches to dealing with the crisis of our homeless. For an e4xample one county that is taking a stand in helping our homeless citizens is Broward County, in Florida. They have come up with a program that they call “Homeless 101”. This program main propose is to developed a long-term plan and manage a year-round planning effort that will address the needs of homeless individuals and households

I Feel like homelessness is a serious yet under rated issue specially here in the United States of America. In fact, the economy is still recovering from a big recession in 2008 caused by the banks giving out loans to people who really couldn't afford to pay them. I recall watching the news back in 2008 and 2009 and seeing the rate of people getting foreclosures on their homes skyrocket that it made me think about my living situation. Although this is a circumstantial situation that would force some one to become homeless, There are people who voluntarily choose to be homeless as well. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/recession-leads-to-25-rise-in-homelessness-as-spending-to-tackle-the-problem-falls-7994416.html).

Overall homeless can happen for many different reasons. People can become homeless from divorce, poverty, mental illness, domestic violence, drug addiction, and sexuality. Many people become homeless every year. Some of these things can be avoided like LGBT youth becoming homeless, if their family would accept

If one saw a homeless person living on the side of the street, one may think he has an substance abuse disorder or mental illness that lead them down this path. Although substance abuse and mental health can lead to homelessness, there are many other factors that contribute to this terrible trend. A homeless person could experience personal trauma, such as an accident or loss of a loved one, and they may be unable to provide for themselves. Experts claim that lack of affordable housing, low income/poverty, and domestic violence are also a few contributors that lead to homelessness in America. Homelessness in a major concern in our country. This issue is important because the rate is heavily increasing as the months go on. Especially in states such as New York and California, that house hundreds of thousands of people. These two states also

Homelessness is a very complex issue that affects the community from an economic and a social perspective. Homelessness and poverty are inevitably linked. Poor people are frequently unable to pay for housing, food, childcare, healthcare and education. The primary cause of homelessness though is the lack of affordable housing and the limited scale of housing assistance programs. “Often, poor people can afford to live only in inadequate housing-housing that is unsafe or broken down in a way that degrades the life and dignity of the residents.” (Windley-Daoust, 207). The growing gap between the number of affordable housing units and the number of people needing them has created a housing crisis for the less fortunate. Operating shelters, medical services, day centers and so on cost a lot of money and generally, funding for these programs come from taxpayer dollars and private donations. Many though go unfunded and many homeless are forced to find other methods to meet their needs. Since most communities do not have enough resources to give adequate shelter to the homeless, they will be ultimately forced to find alternate places to sleep and live. This could be behind buildings, benches, doorways of businesses and this can cause pollution within public areas. According to the National

The history of homelessness dates as far back to the American Civil War, but the most noticeable is the 1930s Great Depression. During this time a lot of families were not able to afford their homes so they traveled a migrant working trail to find work. “the effects of the Great Depression threw many families out of their homes and into parks and temporary encampments in the countryside, homelessness became a national problem” (Jimenez, A., J., Pasztor, Mayers, E., Chambers, (McDonald), R. M. (03/2014). Over 2 million people were considered homeless at this time who suffered from hunger and poverty. Today The National Alliance to End Homelessness reports that 564,708 people were experiencing homelessness in 2015. Which is down “from 18.3 in 2014 to 17.7 homeless people per 10,000 people in the general population” (NAEH, 2016).

The cost of housing is on the rise and many become homeless because they that are not making enough money to afford the cost of housing. The cost of health care and insurance has risen dramatically over the past years. For families living low or middle incomes that can be devastating. Families or individuals that lack health insurance, a sudden illness, chronic disease or accident can be financially devastating. Many people don’t understand the problems homeless families are facing and most families are homeless because of finical situations or because