How Does Homelessness Affect The Community

Have you ever seen a homeless man standing on a street corner, asking for money and wondered ‘Why doesn’t he get a job? What does he need money for? Where is that money actually going? Is there any way I can help him?’ Don’t worry, you wouldn’t be alone. Many people in today’s society would agree that homelessness isn’t a good thing; so, how come the majority of cities aren’t doing anything about the 500,000 people living on the streets just in the United States? Lots of people are misinformed about what homelessness really means to the community. These topics that the population should be properly informed about include: actions that communities have already done for the homeless, what actions don’t help, things an average person could do to help, and why criminalizing homelessness has a negative impact.
Businesses and neighborhoods find it unpleasant and dangerous to have panhandlers on their street corners, causing reports to be filed to the police asking for action to eliminate these people. But, in reality, this does more harm than good of getting people off the streets. Issues such as the following occur more often than one may think: “Homeless persons who are arrested for non-violent offenses develop criminal records, accumulate fines, and may be temporarily incarcerated...” (Hodge, Homelessness and the public’s health). Many homeless people are unable to find sustainable jobs due to the fact that the law makes it so difficult for them to begin to build their lives back up in the first place. Less than 22% of homeless people have a regular job because an employer does not want to hire someone with a consistent criminal record. This also prevents them from finding safe, secure homes. The criminalization being homeless