Homeless in Amercia

Homeless in America

Should [Make sure paragraph indentation is five to seven spaces or one tab stop] The Government Have Programs in Place for the Homeless in America? Many people call or write the National Coalition for the Homeless to ask about the number of homeless people in the United States. There is no easy answer to this question and, [Remove comma (unless it introduces a nonrestrictive phrase)] [Remove comma after "and" (the comma goes before it if this is a series or a nonrestrictive phrase)] in fact, the question itself is misleading. In most cases, homelessness is a temporary circumstance-not a permanent condition. A more appropriate measure of the magnitude of homelessness is the number of people who experience homelessness over time, not the number of “homeless people” (NCH, 2009) [The citation for a direct quote needs the page number] . In addition, the economy and [in academic writing, if this is a series, place a comma before the final conjunction (and)] high unemployment rate across the country with foreclosures add to the amount of available shelters and housing for the homeless. Also, [Remove comma (unless introducing a nonrestrictive phrase)] due to [Check word usage: This phrase is most accurate in referring to something owed ($5 due) or an arrival time (due at 6:00)--try "because" or "because of"] the recent foreclosures crisis, homelessness has been on the rise. The main reason families become homeless was finances and lack of employment (NCH, 2009). The McKinney Act originally had fifteen [Express numbers higher than nine in digits (when not the first word in the sentence)] programs providing a spectrum of services to homeless people, including the Continuum of Care Programs: the Supportive Housing Program, the Shelter plus Care Program, and the Single Room Occupancy Program ["Single" is often used as an intensifier, but it is redundant--how is "and the single Room Occupancy Program" different from "and the Room Occupancy Program"? ] , as well as [No comma before "as well as" (which means "in addition to" and is not a conjunction the equivalent of "and")] the Emergency Shelter Grant Program. It was signed [The passive voice is a form of "be" (was) and a participle (signed). Over-use of the passive voice can make paragraphs officious and tedious to read. Prefer the active voice. For example, passive voice = The paper was completed on time. Active voice = the student completed the paper on time. See Center for Writing Excellence > Tutorials & Guides > Grammar & Writing Guides > Active & passive voice] into law by President Ronald Reagan on July 22, 1987. The McKinney Act has stood the test of time, [Remove comma (if the preceding is not a phrase set off with commas--and the following is not an independent clause)] and provides the best first step to address the needs of the population that is, by and [in academic writing, if this is a series, place a comma before the final conjunction (and)] large, unknown and [in academic writing, if this is a series, place a comma before the final conjunction (and)] underrepresented (McKinney Act, 2009). Regardless of the all [Writing suggestion: "All" or "all of" used as an intensifier very often can be removed with no loss of meaning] the programs in place for homelessness in United States [If "United States" is not used as an adjective or in an organizational name, place "the" before it] we [Use "we," "us," or "our" to mean yourself and coauthors, not general humanity (or yourself and the reader)] [Place comma before this word if this is the end of the introductory phrase beginning with "Regardless"] have to work together at state and local agencies to have programs for employment. It is the most common reason of [The preposition should be "for"] homelessness due the lack of finances, medical bills; monthly living bills that compound every day. Employment and Education Programs Job Training The three leading causes of homelessness of families in America are lack of affordable housing, poverty, and unemployment. [Move the period to follow the citation] (PBS, 2012) For single Americans, the three leading causes are substance abuse, lack of affordable housing and mental illness. [Move the period to follow the citation] (PBS, 2012). One of those main problems can be remedied [Passive voice ] by interview training and job placement programs for the homeless. This would allow homeless families to find employment and reduce our homeless rates, and put money back into the economy by putting tax dollars and money earned from salaries back into it. [Move the period to follow the citation] (Boushey, 2011). Another benefit of a government program to retrain the homeless would be creating jobs itself with program staffing. This would also tie into the current unemployment training programs in place. [Move the period to follow the citation] (Boushey, 2011.). Education The McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Grant Program provides funding to states to meet the education needs of the homeless. The Department distributes grants competitively to local education agencies that have developed programs that document effective collaboration among school districts and service providers to ensure that homeless children in that district receive needed services. Drawbacks The downside to a new government program would be an increase in tax dollar spending by the government, and it may come at a detriment to currently funded government programs and strain already weakened resources. Another downside to these programs is some individuals may enroll in training to continue to receive other benefits, but choose to remain homeless, wasting the resources.

Housing Programs Funding: Funding is provided [Passive voice ] by many government programs in which there are grants available for the homeless and their families. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in partnership with The Veteran Affairs Supportive Housing Program provides the funds to help homeless veterans with renting of homes and other expenses associated with renting a home. The veteran has to agree to put 30% of whatever income he or she has toward the expenses of the rental property. The Veterans family can reside in the rental property as long as the veteran remains the head of household. The Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It provides a fund of $1.5 billion for the prevention of homelessness. It helps with renters in danger of losing their rental homes and helps the homeless acquire rental homes and with moving expenses. The Single Room Occupancy Program assists homeless individuals with renting a home but they also have to contribute 30% of their income to the rental property. Work share: This is a program that is [Wordiness: see if you can remove "that" or "that is"] funded [Passive voice ] by donations from individuals along with donations from various organizations. Its goal is to put the homeless, willing to work, back on their feet and become a part of society and gain back their self- confidence they lost after going homeless. However, the program is not a handout to the homeless. He or she has to work for the money he or she receives from the work share program. Habitat for Humanity: This is a worldwide nongovernment and non-profit [Spell as one word without hyphen] organization with locations in other countries, including the United States where the main headquarters is located [Passive voice ] in Atlanta, Georgia. This is a program where people volunteer to build homes for the less fortunate. The [Possible incorrect indentation] primary means of raising money is by fundraising and homes are sold at no profit for the people who volunteer to build them. The volunteers usually come from within the neighborhoods where the homes were built [Passive voice ] . Pros and Cons: Advantages of all the programs mentioned earlier are numerous. One is that it gets people off of ["off of" is awkward wording; remove "of" ] the streets and away from the criminal element that tends to follow the homeless. This is good because the less crime [Place comma here] [Place comma before the following comparison phrase] the less the taxpayers have to pay to prosecute those individuals convicted of a crime (Nlada.Org [If this URL is in a citation, it should not appear here but rather on the references page] ) . Another advantage is that most programs set aside for the homeless are self- sustaining and self- sufficient. A good example of this is the habitat for humanity program where the volunteers give back to the community and results in saving money that would be wasted [Passive voice ] on other programs. The disadvantages are just as numerous as the advantages. The people who volunteer their time and services are not always the best citizens in the community so safety is a major issue when it involves people who come into a community from the outside. The other disadvantage is the amount of taxpayer dollars set aside for the programs that benefit the homeless and their families. Billions of dollars are needed [Passive voice ] to fund most of the programs directed at the homeless, which means that other areas such as social security and welfare could be affected if more money is needed [Passive voice ] . Health and Welfare of Homeless [Insert comma here to set off the adjective phrase beginning with "according to" (unless it is a dependent phrase)] According to the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH), poor health can be a huge factor in homelessness. Families struggle every day with bills, some barely get by from month to month. Most of those families cannot afford health insurance. If the head of one of those families were to get ill or disabled and could not work for an extended amount of time, he or she could lose their job -- their [Doctoral-level comment (also recommended for any academic writer): The preferred usage is the dash without surrounding spaces--it is attached to the words on either side] means of providing for his or her family. Eventually that family would be evicted [Passive voice ] , causing homelessness (NCH, 2012). Health Care Currently there is only one federally funded healthcare [The preferred spelling is two words: health care] program specifically for homeless persons. Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) was established [Passive voice ] in 1987 and was authorized in 2002 by Congress through the Health Care Safety Net Amendments Act (NCH, 2012). [Insert comma here to set off the adjective phrase beginning with "according to" (unless it is a dependent phrase)] According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness and the 2010 Census Bureau, there were 805,064 homeless residents in the United States. Only 25.3% of those had health care coverage (NAEH, 2012). Food Expense It is common knowledge that good nutrition goes hand-in-hand with good health care. Malnutrition causes many health problems. Diabetes and anemia are very high in the homeless community. The Food Stamp Program and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) are two very important federally funded programs for families of poverty. Several communities generously donate food to homeless shelters and soup kitchens across the United States. These donations, however; do not provide the nutrients needed to be healthy. Most donations consist of canned goods and packaged meals that can fill a hungry child’s belly, yet are extremely high in fat and sodium and very low in nutritional value. The food stamps give the homeless more nutritious food options, including some restaurants and soup kitchens (Faqs.com [If this URL is in a citation, it should not appear here but rather on the references page] , 2011). The WIC Program supplies nutritional needs for pregnant women and children from birth up to five. This program is available to ensure the child has the nutrition that he or she needs during the most important times of bone and brain development. Personal Hygiene [Insert comma here to set off the adjective phrase beginning with "according to" (unless it is a dependent phrase)] According to the National Health Care for the Homeless, homeless people are three to six times more likely to become ill than housed people because of poor nutrition and poor personal hygiene (NCH, 2009). With a program in place for rehabilitation, the homeless persons would have access to showers and laundry facilities. Through government funding and community donations, we could supply these men, women, and children with the necessities of good hygiene. Such as soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, deodorant, laundry soap… [Check punctuation--An ellipsis (the three dots) means something is missing; it does not mean a pause. If you are not indicating here that words are missing from a quote, instead use a dash --] , etc. Pros and Cons There are several advantages of supplying health and welfare to the homeless. For instance, with [Remove comma before "with" (unless beginning or ending a parenthetical phrase)] the health care issues, there would be less disease on the streets. Fewer cold and flu outbreaks, and hospital stays would be shorter. With the Food Stamp Program, there would be less hunger and malnutrition, which of course, goes back to less hospital stays. Good personal hygiene will not only help the persons stay healthy, but also [Remove comma (if the following is not an independent clause or last element in a series)] an employer is more apt to hire someone if he or she is clean and well groomed. Most jobs have medical benefits, which would eventually, get them out of the system and on their own. There are few cons as well. For a short time, this program may put a strain on the taxpayers. Just like some housed families, there will be some homeless people who choose to stay in the system. There will be those people who do not want to improve themselves, but they are few and far between [Cliché--"few and far between" is an old phrase, seen too often, and marks your writing as unoriginal. Try to express the idea in another way] . In Conclusion By its very nature, homelessness is impossible to measure with 100% accuracy. More important than knowing the precise number of people who experience homelessness is our progress in ending it. Recent studies suggest that the United States generates homelessness at a much higher rate than previously thought. The economic collapse of 2008 that put more people out of work and who lost homes and became homeless. Our task in ending homelessness is thus more important now ["Now" is a difficult word. Because this is being read some time after you wrote it, "now" is ambiguous--do you mean at the time you were writing? When was that? If you mean "as of the present time" (Hawaii is now a state), you can leave out "now." If the time or date is important, fill it in. If the essay is in the past tense, instead of "now," use "then"] than ever (Aron, 1996). To improve the areas for the homeless it would require a program to support health care from public health care agencies within the community. To improve and develop affordable and efficient programs from health care providers, social workers, labor and [in academic writing, if this is a series, place a comma before the final conjunction (and)] [Insert a comma before this word if this is the last in a list of more than two -- or if it begins a new clause] housing at state and local levels. To ensure basic core elements are followed [Passive voice ] to support homelessness and to make affordable working models or programs to succeed across United States. This would allow for [This is a phrasal verb, two words that together mean something different from their individual definitions--looking up each word in the dictionary would not produce the meaning, which could cause misinterpretation in an international business communication. Try different wording, such as simply "allow" or a form of "provides," "permits," etc.] federal grant money to support such programs and instead of abroad. The high costs of basic family needs exceeded income in most families. Many did perceive traditional forms of government assistance. Nearly 20 percent [Use the symbol with numerals--20%] said lack of child care [Check spelling: in most cases the preceding two words should be spelled as one word] was the main reason for not working. Over ["Over" is used to describe something physically above something else (e.g., over the rainbow) or time (over a period of years); for comparisons of amount, try "more than" ] 40 percent [Use %] of parents were working (The Other America, 2000). There is another important issue that should be considered [Passive voice ] . With all this data and reports the trend of homeless still increases every day in the nation. We have to be accountable for our homeless and provide assistance if we can spend millions of dollars abroad on disaster around the world.

References Aron, L. (1996). "Rural Homelessness; A Synopsis. Washington, DC: Oryx Press. Development, U. D. (2009). Mckinney-Vento Act. U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development. (July 2009). How many People Experience Homelssness? National Coalition for the Homeless. Proverty, I. f. (2000). The other America. New York, NY. Shenk, E. ( 2009). Homeless in America. Virginia: Children 's Voice. Faqs.org. (n.d.). Homelessness - calcium, effects, food, nutrition, deficiency, needs, body, diet. Internet FAQ Archives - Online Education - faqs.org. http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Hea-Irr/Homelessness.html#b How the Food Stamp Program is structured ~ California Food Stamp Guide. (n.d.). California Food Stamp Guide. http://foodstampguide.org/the-structure-of-the-food-stamp-program/#options NAEH. (2012, January 17). The State of Homelessness in America 2012 . National Alliance to End Homelessness. http://www.endhomelessness.org/library/entry/the-state-of-homelessness-in-america-2012 NCH. (2012, February 21). National Coalition for the Homeless. National Coalition for the Homeless. http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/health.html Salit, S. A., Kuhn, E. M., & Hartz, A. J. (1998, June 11). Hospitalization Costs Associated with Homelessness in New York City. The New England Journal of Medicine. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199806113382406#t=articleTop Facts andFigures: The Homeless . NOW on PBS. (n.d.). PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved September 11, 2012, from http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/526/homeless-facts.html Boushey, H. (n.d.). Unemployment Insurance Dollars Create Millions of Jobs | Center for American Progress. Center for American Progress. Retrieved September 11, 2012, from http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/labor/news/2011/09/21/10367/unemployment-insurance-dollars-create-millions-of-jobs/ Federal Programs: Title X, Part C-Homeless Education. (n.d.). Tennesee Department of Education. Retrieved September 11, 2012, from www.tennessee.gov/education/fedprog/fphomeless (Internet from 4/5/12) www.nlada100years.org (Internet from 2/17/10)www.journal-news.net

Grading Guide Learning Team Debate Paper Purpose of Assignment - The debate paper includes and exhibits many of the issues in the course—formulating and presenting valid arguments, awareness of an audience, use of a paper as a communication channel, critical thinking by being able to see and argue both sides of an issue, and the ability to express the arguments and rebuttals with appropriate and persuasive language. Content60 Percent | Points Available10 | Points Earned10 | Additional Comments: | * All key elements of the Learning Team Debate Paper are covered in a substantive way. * * Introduction: Introduces the issue that is the subject of the debate. * Body: * Includes a minimum of two but no more than four arguments for the pro and the con sides of the debate. * Evaluates the potential ethical, moral, or legal issues. * Conclusion: * Identifies the team’s determination of the more persuasive argument. * Reflects on the arguments presented and reveals the team’s consensus. * The consensus is based solely on the pro and con arguments. * Includes a rebuttal of weaker arguments. * Explains why the selected arguments were more persuasive. * Cites at least three sources. * * All key elements of the Cultural Evaluation are covered in a substantive way. * Identifies ways in which the argument or presentation of the argument would need to be changed as the result of cultural differences in the selected country. | | | All key elements of the Learning Team Debate Paper are covered in a substantive way.All key elements of the Cultural Evaluation are covered in a substantive way. | Organization / Development20 Percent | Points Available2 | Points Earned1.75 | Additional Comments: | * The Learning Team Debate paper is 1,750 to 2,100 words in length and the Cultural Evaluation is 350 to 500 words in length. * Paragraph transitions are present, logical, and maintain the flow throughout the paper. * The tone is appropriate to the content and assignment. * Sentences are complete, clear, and concise. * Sentences are well constructed, strong, and varied. * Sentence transitions are present and maintain the flow of thought. | | | The paper met the organization/development course requirements.The sentence transitions are present and mostly maintain the flow of thought.. However, the flow would have been more effective with a different format. | Mechanics 20 Percent | Points Available2 | Points Earned1.75 | Additional Comments: | * The paper—including tables and graphs, headings, title page, and reference page—is consistent with APA formatting guidelines and meets course-level requirements. * Intellectual property is recognized with in-text citations and a reference page. * Rules of grammar, usage, and punctuation are followed. * Spelling is correct. | | | The paper — including the headings, title page and reference page—is mostly consistent with APA formatting guidelines and meets course-level requirements. The use of headings made the paper easy to read.Rules of grammar, usage, and punctuation are mostly followed.Spelling is correct. | | Total Available | Total Earned | | | 14 | 12.5 | |

References: Aron, L. (1996). "Rural Homelessness; A Synopsis. Washington, DC: Oryx Press. Development, U. D. (2009). Mckinney-Vento Act. U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development. (July 2009). How many People Experience Homelssness? National Coalition for the Homeless. Proverty, I. f. (2000). The other America. New York, NY. Shenk, E. ( 2009). Homeless in America. Virginia: Children 's Voice. NAEH. (2012, January 17). The State of Homelessness in America 2012 . National Alliance to End Homelessness. http://www.endhomelessness.org/library/entry/the-state-of-homelessness-in-america-2012 NCH