essay solutions to homelessness

Each is working somewhere else, and will save money and lives here. Boundary Road exit, Vancouver. Photo Elaine Briere. Homelessness is not necessary. Unlike most other urban social problems, homelessness is something policymakers actually know how to address. The U.S. and Britain have slashed their rates of homelessness during the past decade. But in Canada, homelessness is on the rise; and in the Vancouver region, the official count of homeless persons almost doubled from 1,121 souls in 2002 to 2,174 in 2005. Price of Homelessness In 2001, the B.C. Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services published a study  examining costs of homelessness in B.C. It found: Homeless people cost taxpayers up to ,000 per year in service and shelter costs. By comparison, the costs of a person in supportive housing ranged to ,000 per year. Normal Canadians spend an average of ,200 a year on shelter. Homeless people cost taxpayers an average of ,410 a year in costs via the criminal justice system. The average taxpayer, by comparison, pays 2 a year to maintain the system. Homeless people cost ,893 a year in social services; the average taxpayer pays 9 a year to support those. Homeless people cost ,714 a year in health care; the average Canadian uses ,633 per year in publicly funded services. Homelessness is not cheap. Provincial taxpayers spend up to ,000 annually per homeless person, according a 2001 study . That money is spent on police calls, hospital visits and other emergency social services. If there are only 2,174 homeless people in the Vancouver area (an official figure everyone in the field assumes is well below the actual total) and if each person uses ,000 in services (a figure that did not include all local services), then British Columbia taxpayers are spending .9 million a year just to help people living on the streets stay.
David Hogue isn’t sure that he should tell me his name. He sits in a back office in the shelter where he has lived for the past 18 months, hands folded neatly in his lap. It isn’t that he doesn’t want to talk. He tells me about how he’s had trouble finding work. He tells me about how he’s bounced between homes for years. He tells me about how his brother dropped him off here the day after New Year’s. But to identify himself as homeless – this is new. The condition of homelessness is fluid, and so is our definition of it. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) placed the homeless population in January 2014 at 578,424, but advocacy groups such as the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness say that more than 3 million Americans experience an episode of homelessness each year: a night, a week or a month in a motel, in a recreation vehicle or on a friend’s couch might not make you ‘homeless’ in the eyes of the federal government, but they certainly define your lived experience. The US has always had many shades of destitute, but this particular era of homelessness marks a new chapter in the country’s history. The causes of this crisis are no great mystery. Real median household income has plateaued since the 1960s. Adjusted for inflation, minimum wage has fallen since the 1970s. After the manufacturing industry contracted and unemployment grew in the 1980s, the homeless populations in US cities rose precipitously. For the first time since Hooverville – the shanty town built by homeless people during the Great Depression of the 1930s – American poverty was laid bare in its parks and on its streets. Since then, about 600,000 people have lived without a home on any given night in the US. In every housing market, minimum wage is not enough to afford the average two-bedroom rental. Federal and state programmes to support and.
Lying on the ground in sub-freezing temperatures with only a cardboard box and a blanket to guard against the frozen ground and bitter cold temperatures, a family of four tries to survive through the night. Men, women, and children wait for the morning sun's polarizing rays to thaw them out. The doors of the food shelter will open soon, providing many with their only meal of the day. This is the setting for thousands of families and hundreds of thousands of single individuals across America's cities. These frozen, hungry masses are the homeless. Although some non-profit groups try to help the homeless, much more needs to be done because many of the homeless still suffer from a plethora of problems including mental illness, varying degrees of unemployment and increasing numbers of whole families becoming homeless. Most American citizens have pity when they look at the homeless, but cringe when actually asked for help. Consequently, very few citizens know anything about the homeless or their problems. Nonetheless, American citizens want the problem of homelessness resolved as long as it does not affect their pocketbooks. Help for the homeless is hindered by the myth that stereotypes the homeless as older, alcoholic, single men who would rather steal or beg for money than work for a living. Another excuse many people use is the false belief that people sleeping outdoors on the sidewalks, doorways, and park benches do so by their own choice, as if homelessness were an affirmation of an ideal lifestyle. The epitome of ignorance about the homeless comes from one of our own presidents. The homeless are homeless, you might say, by choice - Ronald Reagan (Robertson. Others argue that the homeless should not be helped because they are not worth helping, and even if helped, they would quickly return to that lifestyle. Still others dismiss the homeless as a small problem.
Enter Your Search Terms to Get Started! homeless problem Many homeless people have mental illnesses and it is not easy for them to restart their lives and get a job. Many of them also have drug or alcohol problems, which makes it very difficult to get a long term job making enough income to support themselves. Homeless people need help getting off the streets but are unable to do it by themselves. People should not just give the homeless the cold shoulder and keep on walking like nothing is wrong. In order for the homeless problem to stop, we “the people” must make it end by helping the less fortunate get to shelters or to some other source of help. Fifty percent of the homeless in America today struggle with mental diseases (Kraljic pg11). These diseases make it hard to associate normally with people. The three most common diseases they suffer from are schizophrenia, bipolar condition, and major depression (Mental 1). Schizophrenia, a disease of the brain, is one of the most disabling and emotionally devastating illnesses known to man. Schizophrenia is characterized by major disruption in thinking abilities and emotions which affects the most basic human needs: language, thought, perception, affect, and sense of self. The most common symptoms are hallucinations and/or delusions. This causes a person to act differently and have suspicion and fear of human contact (Mental 1). Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depressive illness, is a common illness shown by episodes of mania and major depression. A person's mood can change from excessive highs (mania) to major hopelessness (depression), usually with periods of normal mood in between. This condition really makes it hard to associate normally with people. Clinical depression is an illness characterized by a bunch of feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that are very different from a person's normal feelings and actions.
Search Results Free Essays Unrated Essays Better Essays Stronger Essays Powerful Essays Term Papers Research Papers Search by keyword:   Sort By:   Your search returned over 400 essays for Homelessness 1  2  3  4  5    Next >> These results are sorted by most relevant first (ranked search). You may also sort these by color rating or essay length. Title Length Color Rating   Homelessness Prevention - Prevention Homelessness has become a problem in the city of Cincinnati. Many families are homeless because of job layoffs and exhausted unemployment benefits. Some employed families but do not earn enough wages to support a family and pay for adequate housing. Some people just plain refuse to pay their rent, as a result, the family will receive an eviction from their dwelling and because of the eviction, either they cannot obtain affordable housing under low income status or can’t afford the market rent, therefore they become homeless.   [tags: Homelessness] 835 words(2.4 pages) Better Essays [preview] The Rise in Youth Homelessness in Canada - Today in Canada, a rise in youth homelessness is being observed across the country. Despite common assumptions, the issue of street youth is not isolated to Toronto or Montreal, but has become pervasive across the country. Although accurate statistics are impossible to come by, the disturbing reality is that both urban centers and rural communities nationwide, are struggling to provide their youth with adequate, affordable housing. Issues surrounding the supply and affordability of housing, combined with personal circumstances characterized by instability, are distancing youth’s access to housing.   [tags: Sociology, Homelessness] 1174 words(3.4 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Preventing Homelessness in the United States - The United States will continue to be a developed country if the numbers of people holding cardboard on the.