Homelessness: Causes and Solutions
Today, more than 500,000 people are homeless in the United States, and many of these unfortunates are categorized as chronically homeless, meaning they have lived on the street for more than a year (McIntosh, 2023). Although the causes of homelessness are unique to each individual, they generally include a fundamental lack of affordable housing; income and resource disparities; family conflict and domestic violence; untreated mental health needs and addiction; post-incarceration barriers as well as systemic racism which disproportionately affect minority groups. Because homelessness translates into multiple social problems, identify potential solutions to this national public health threat represents a timely and valuable endeavor which has personal importance. To this end, the purpose of this paper is to describe the impact of homelessness in the U.S. as well as an examination concerning how this social issue affects both individuals and American society as a whole. In addition, an examination of recent developments and progress in solving homelessness is followed by a discussion concerning potential solutions to this urgent public health threat and a summary of the findings in the conclusion.
Impact of homelessness in the U.S.
Prior to the 19th century, homelessness was handled through localized religious charity. Rapidly creasing urbanization and industrialization, though, overwhelmed such limited relief. During the Great Depression era, a so-called hobo culture emerged which raised public awareness of unemployed transients which helped create the first public shelters specifically for the homeless. Nevertheless, public sentiment remained ambivalent between pity and disgust for people who were seen as lazy and even deviant from mainstream American society (DePastino, 2009). Unfortunately, this stigma persists unto the present where an out of sight, out of mind mentality characterizes many Americans views about the homeless. This mindset is also unfortunate because homelessness has multiple, severe negative impacts on affected individuals and families ranging from trauma to worsened physical and mental health. To the extent that the homeless because more visible will likely be the extent to which their suffering erodes the overall community quality of life and...
…population are not fully understood or appreciated by most people. Therefore, some policies worthy of advocacy include high-profile, successful outreach programs that publicize homeless remedial efforts as well as community-level public awareness campaigns that emphasize the fragility of many Americans housing status today, highlighting the fact that they may in fact be next unless and until something drastic is done to address the homeless problem in America today and in the future.Conclusion
In a free market economy, the invisible hand should eventually respond to the increasing demand for affordable housing, but the research was consistent in showing that there is a wide array of barriers preventing this type of straightforward solution to the nations homelessness problem. Many formerly gainfully employed Americans have been displaced due to innovations in technology, and these modern-day Luddites are being forced into a homeless situation where there are no easy solutions. The complex nature of homelessness demands multifaceted yet coordinated policy responses rather than piecemeal, fragmented efforts. While certain interventions such as supportive housing projects have proven effective when…
References
Cobb, J. (2020). Reflections on Working with Homeless People. American Journal of Economics & Sociology, 79(2), 383–399.
DePastino, T. (2009). Citizen Hobo: How a Century of Homelessness Shaped America. University of Chicago Press.
McIntosh, S. G. (2023). Homelessness in the U.S. Developmental Politics. Retrieved from https://developmentalpolitics.org/platform-of-policy-recommendations/homelessness-in-the-u-s.
Homelessness has remained one of the min problems for the countries who are wealthy and rich in resources. Some of these countries include UK and Canada. It is still one of the strangest facts that there are millions of homeless people still living on the streets of these wealthy countries in shattered homes or streets. Various studies have been conducted on the issues faced by these homeless people as well
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et al. (2005) Facts on Trauma and Homeless Children. National Child Traumatic Stress Network - Homelessness and Extreme Poverty Working Group. Online available at http://www.nctsnet.org/nctsn_assets/pdfs/promising_practices/Facts_on_Trauma_and_Homeless_Children.pdf Burt, Aron, Douglas, et al., (1999) Homelessness: Programs and the People They Serve: Summary Report - Findings of the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, 1999 Burt, Martha, (2001) What Will it Take to End Homelessness? Washington, DC: The
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Crime is not the only issue where homelessness is concerned, however, and homelessness in and of itself can be very difficult for someone to deal with, especially if the homelessness was unexpected or there are many familial obligations that suddenly will not be met (such as in the case of a single mother, for example). When homelessness occurs this way and causes these kinds of problems, there can be very
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