Homelessness
Why are there so many people who are homeless in the state of Chicago? What causes this and what can be done to correct this issue? Is the Federal Government doing anything at all about the homeless people in Chicago, and if so, what are they? What are the policies that have been made by the government in order to tackle this major issue of homelessness where a person is left to live his life on the streets? The circumstances under which a person or a family finds them homeless are many. One of the main causes is that of poverty, which may lead to a lack of monetary resources for appropriate housing, and/or mental illnesses, which may lead a person to remain on the streets without appropriate housing facilities. Another reason for homelessness is that of substance abuse wherein the individual is a user with unaffordable habits and finds it easier to live on the streets. Domestic violence is another major reason for homelessness, and it is mainly the woman in a marriage who finds her living on the street.
In addition to all this, there are some people, who live on the very edge of homelessness, and some more who exist from one paycheck to the other, with extremely low paying jobs that can hardly provide them with adequate housing money. For these individuals, a minor illness or a temporary loss of job will make them cross the fine line and render them homeless. Who are these people? They are people from diverse backgrounds; they are men, women, the young and the old, either in groups or as families, or as individuals. In Chicago, it is quite impossible to get an exact count of the number of homeless, or, for that matter, in any city anywhere in the world. This is because the numbers are in a constant state of change. It is true that shelters and homes for these people do exist, but there is no way to assess numbers from these homes, primarily because of the fact that sometimes. There is duplication in the people that they serve, and sometimes the homeless avail facilities from several different sources, and quite often, some homeless do no ask or avail of any of these services. (Homeless Prevention and Services)
One study does show that about 6,100 people take advantage of the shelters in Chicago on any given day. It is fact that there are about 125 temporary shelters in Chicago and about 6,000 beds in total for the homeless on any day. The Chicago Department of Human Services offers funding for about 125 temporary shelters for the homeless, and it also supports several programs that help the homeless with offers of housing facilities and ensure that they are able to maintain the housing after they are provided to them. Any individual or group just has to pick up the phone and dial 311, and the CDHS will provide them with temporary housing and shelter until the time when hey are ready to move on. The problem here is that different shelters are geared up for different needs. For example, some shelters are in fact geared up to look after single adults, and not families. (Homeless Prevention and Services)
However, because of the increase in the number of homeless families, the City as well as the Continuum is working hard to make sure that families stay together until permanent housing is located for them. Despite all this, there are a large number of people who still sleep on park benches and on the streets. This is because; the ultimate choice of whether or not to take advantage of the shelters that the City is providing them is up to them. There are some people who do not wish to avail of such help, for reasons of their own, and it is these people who remain outside, homeless forever. (Homeless Prevention and Services)
The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless is an Association that has as its primary goal the prevention and the eventual end of the homelessness of the people of Chicago. This organization reports that in no state of the U.S.A. does a family have a full time minimum wage that would enable them to pay the going market rate for a two-bedroom apartment. In the year 2000, almost 16.8% of full time workers were not able to earn enough to cross over the bottom limit for the poverty level for a family of four people. The findings also revealed that there was an increasing demand for shelters for the homeless in the year 2001, as compared to previous years....
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
Homelessness Is homelessness increasing in the United States? Homelessness has become progressively more apparent in the United States over the past quarter century. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has amassed a wealth of data that confirm low-income housing is a critical requirement. Even as some communities are realizing a decrease in their homeless population; others are experiencing the opposite. It is disheartening to note that the largest increase in
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
" How many people are homeless? The number of homeless is difficult to ascertain because estimates vary depending on the methodology used. Numbers also vary substantially depending on whether a measurement is taken on a single night or is extrapolated to a given year. One approximation of the annual number of homeless in America is from a study done by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, which estimates between 2.3 and
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
Homelessness Intervention Social Work Universally in the developed world, homelessness is something that communities want to end rather than manage. Co-ordinated social services can come together to create and enhance community-based responses that tackle the threat of homelessness rather than attempting to deal with it on the other end -- after the fact, after people are demoralized by the experience. An important part of any community response to homelessness is affordable housing. But
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now