Problem Of Homelessness Essay

In the United States, homelessness is like a revolving-door crisis. This means that you could be homeless one night and not homeless the next night. According to (www.homeaid.org) as many as 3.5 million Americans are homeless each year. Of these, more than 1 million are children and on any given night, more than 300,000 children are homeless. The definition of homelessness is the state of having no home. People who are homeless are most often unable to acquire and maintain regular, safe, secure, and adequate housing. Many people go in and out of homelessness. They may transition from sleeping in cars or parks to sleeping in a shelter, then moving to housing, then staying with a friend and back to shelters. In most situations homelessness is caused by the impact of several different factors over time. Structural factors are broad economic and social issues that affect an individual’s ability to thrive and meet their basic needs. This can include the amount of housing that is available and affordable, income rates, a lack of jobs, problems with health care or experiencing discrimination. Systems failures occur when other systems of care and support
The challenge for of the newly homeless is to figure out how to return to their normal lives. Organizations that build emergency shelters work to provide services such as job training, social skills training, and financial training. These services help people to get back up on their feet and regain employment. In these programs homeless people can use these skills and work towards getting their own place. Many of these services are household names like Volunteers of America, Rescue Missions, and the Salvation Army. Instead of looking over homeless on the street corners due to belief that they are victims of their own choices, it should be recognized that they are victims of social conditions who need help finding