Homelessness in the United States

Homelessness in the United States

The homeless population in the United States is far from invisible. It is impossible to walk down a street in any city without encountering someone sleeping in a doorway, pushing a shopping cart filled with personal belongings, or approaching a passerby for money. The homeless are no longer the skid-row white males roaming the countryside by hitching rides on freight trains and working for handout meals. Today, the faces of the homeless are a myriad of ages, genders, and races.

Homelessness is inextricably linked to poverty. The poor are not able to afford housing, health care, education, food and often child care (National pg). Because housing constitutes such a large portion of income, many are forced to drop that expense in order to simply supply the necessities of existence, such a food, clothing, and health care. Unfortunately, homelessness is simply a paycheck or illness away for the many of the population (National pg). According to a 2000 report, 31.1 million people or 11.3% of the U.S. population live in poverty, with 39% living on less than half the poverty level of incomes and over forty percent of that population being children (National pg).

Due to the declining skid row population and declining poverty rates, the urban renewal efforts of the 1960's and 1970's led to the typical skid row housing being torn down (Wasson 212). This optimism led many to believe that homelessness was a problem of the past, however, today, the homeless population has never been greater since the Great Depression (Wasson 212). Declining wages and job opportunities during the last two decades have made affordable housing impossible for many which now requires more than minimum wage for a simple one or two bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent (National pg). In fact, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition in 2001, a minimum-wage worker has to work 89 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom apartment, at the federal definition of affordable housing of 30% of one's income (National pg). This connection between homelessness and deprived workers is apparent in the homeless shelters, where one in four are employed but still cannot afford housing (National pg). During the 1990's, for more than 20% of U.S. households, rents increased faster than income and affordable housing units decreased by some 20%, leaving an even greater number of people at risk of being homeless (National pg). Lack of affordable housing has led to high rent burdens, overcrowding, and substandard housing, leaving roughly 11 million people, nearly 4 million children, on the list for 'worst case needs' housing assistance according to 1999 Housing and Urban Development study (National pg).

The chronic homeless are those who have adjusted to living on the streets and often resist assistance of any kind. The chronic homeless are usually associated with drug and substance abuse and mental illness (Wasson 212). The economic homeless are those who are employed but are unable to obtain housing due to low income and unavailable low-income housing (Wasson 212). The situational homeless are those who are going through some sort of crisis such as abuse and need assistance in establishing themselves outside that lifestyle (Wasson 212). Today, the homeless population is more likely to be economic or situational than chronic. A 1987 study indicated that the majority of the homeless population did not have chronic problems such as substance abuse. In fact it found that less than 40% abuse alcohol or drugs and less than a third suffer from mental illness (Wasson 212). Moreover, a 1989 study found that the majority of the homeless receive no public assistance and have a high school diploma. Residential instability seems to be the typical pattern of homelessness (Wasson 212). However, the effects of deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill during the 1970's are still apparent in the homeless population. Moreover, today the mentally ill are usually not institutionalized and if they are, the are released without adequate support and end up living on the streets (Wasson 212). The most visible, those sleeping on part benches or in business district doorways, are believed to be alcoholics, drug addicts, or the mentally ill, however, they make up the minority of the homeless population (Wasson 212). More than half of the single men and roughly 75% of the remaining homeless do not abuse drug or alcohol. Furthermore, many have suggested that drug use and mental illness are more likely to be the result of homelessness rather than the cause (Wasson 212).

A recent "Time" survey reported that the fastest-growing population among the homeless is families, increasing year after year. According to the Urban Institute, homeless parents and children in the year 1999 made up about 15% of the case load, or roughly 35% of the total number of homeless people (Stein 52). "These families mainly consist of single women with kids, whose greater housing needs, compared with those of single people, make them more vulnerable to rental increases than are single people" (Stein 52).

The waiting lists for public housing are several years long, while increased welfare payments have not kept up with inflation (Homelessness pg). Roughly 75% of available help for the homeless comes from the private sector, such as churches that operate soup kitchens, shelters and offer free clothing (Homelessness pg). The key federal programs are those established by the 1987 Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act which established a nationwide network of health clinics for the homeless (Homelessness pg). This act also "established adult education programs, provided emergency homelessness prevention funds, and created a number of transitional housing programs" (Homelessness pg). Programs such as these have made a huge difference in many lives by offering alternatives, however small, thus making an intolerable situation or circumstance a little more tolerable (Homelessness pg). But these programs do not address the low-income housing crisis, a problem that many feel can only be solved by government commitment to affordable housing construction (Homelessness pg).