Many factors can contribute to a person becoming homeless. A shortage of affordable housing can lead to homelessness. A simultaneous increase in poverty or not having an income can make a person become homeless. These are two large trends which happen to be responsible for the rise in homelessness in America over the past 20-25 years. People who have served time in prison, have abused drugs and alcohol, or have a history of mental illness find it difficult to impossible to find employment for years at a time because of use of computer background checks by potential employers. The failure of urban housing projects to provide safe, secure, and affordable housing to the poor is a factor of homelessness (Frontsteps 2).…
Poverty in America is a subject that though everybody recognizes is existent, most do not pay attention to very often. In 2010 the poverty line for a family of four was $22,314.00 and 15.1% of Americans were living off of less than that (Tavernise, 2011). While 15.1% is a high number to begin with, the truth is that many more people are living on the verge of homelessness. Countless families are split up every night with children going to a friend’s house or an extended family member’s house to ensure that everyone has somewhere to sleep. These people are called the “hidden homeless” by the Charlotte Observer (Whitesides, 2011). Even more people are either living in tent cities or in their cars all around the United States. The events that lead to homelessness range from drug abuse to being laid off from a career because of a poor economy; but sadly the former makes it seem as if everyone who is homeless is in their situation because of their own faults. Many people who are approached by someone who is homeless or sees them panhandling for money hesitate to offer money because of the discourse that all homeless people are alcoholics and drug abusers. Unfortunately, the truth is that “many adults panhandle on corners for money to pay for a cheap motel room so that their children can have a warm place to sleep for the night” (Whitesides, 2011). Through this essay, the topic of homelessness and poverty in America will be explored by understanding some of the causes that have contributed to poverty throughout history and how the homeless are coping with their situation.…
“America has the largest number of homeless women and children in the industrialized world. It’s a depressing statistic”. This is an extremely depressing statistic for a few reasons; It doesn’t mean that the United States has the most homelessness in the world, it means that it has the most homeless out of all the countries with benefits, no wars and the promise of a better life. There are many reasons that the United State as the most homeless in the industrialized world, one is the lack of affordable housing, education(or a lack thereof), and the lack of mental health treatment for those who need it.…
Sadly, a large reason why the LGBTQ community are homeless is because family and religion. Mostly, people aren’t very open to transgenders. Transgenders are coming out more and more now, which is a shock to some people. It’s also disappointing to see, since transgenders are just like everybody else. “According to the Family Acceptance Project, LGBTQ youth who come from highly rejecting families are more than eight times as likely to have attempted suicide as LGBTQ peers with little to no family rejection” (Working Together for Homeless LGBTQ Youth 1). Overtime, the traumatic experiences can ruin a person mentally, emotionally, and physically. The risks of getting STIs and engaging in risky sexual activities are also very high for the homeless LGBTQ…
Among the many day to day problems we face in America from drug abuse, high crime rates, and unhealthy eating, Poverty is ranked as one of the top problems. In America today there’s more than 46.7 million people living in poverty. One major effect of poverty is homelessness. “According to Homeaid America, as many as 3.5 Americans are homeless. Of these, more than 1 million children and on any given night, more 300,000 children are homeless”(“Homeaid 4). There are many causes of homelessness: lost of family member, domestic violence, splits between spouses. “Other impairments, such as depression, untreated mental illness, post traumatic stress disorder, and physical disabilities are responsible for a large portion of the homeless” (HomeAid).…
Everyday many Americans get kicked out onto the street with no food, shelter or water. Without proper housing or the ability to care for themselves, many times this leads to mental illness. So the question is, how many homeless people develop a mental illness and what is the federal government going to do about this issue.…
One of the greatest complications currently concerning America is homelessness. The citizens of America must face a world of global conflict, decline in jobs, rising costs for education and an increasing amount of poverty, making it almost impossible for them to earn a living. Children and adults alike are facing life without a warm home and cooked meals. In the past couple of years, the national poverty rate rose to roughly 13.2% of the population. 1 in 7 homeless people are suffering from hunger. In addition, 3.5 million people were forced to sleep in places such as park benches, sidewalks or anywhere that they could possibly inhabit, ignoring the living conditions and the danger surrounding them.…
All across America there are many families without homes and even in Bowling Green there are homeless individuals and families The Daily News mentions, that Warren County is the 7th county in Kentucky for the amount of homeless people per capita. Rhodell Miller, Executive Director for Hotel Inc., stated that even couch surfers are considered to be homeless and anyone without a permanent residence. A good reason that Miller gave that lead someone to become homeless is because of the lack affordable housing in our area. The policies and procedures of income based housing just takes too long and most people are looking for housing immediately. Another big cause to homelessness that there isn’t a lot of housing that anyone can afford on just a minimum wage job. It is really surprising in the documentary Tent City, USA, that there is a lot of women living on the streets because it is better than staying in their abusive relationships. One women told her story and she said that she had a nice house, a big…
Poverty is viewed as the underbelly of society, a topic continuously being pushed to the shadows. Unspoken, yet commonly seen, the homeless are pressured from the streets by the desire to give the impression of cleanliness that society so desperately tries to obtain and preserve. The homeless seem to be a necessity of society, someone needs to fall for others to grow. The eradication of poverty is a continuous goal of many individuals, yet it unceasingly persists even in the most developed of countries. But is this a choice of the people in the society or the natural order of things?…
“ Almost thirty years ago, most people started coming out in their 20s, well after most had left home and started working. If someone’s family rejected them for being gay or transgender, it may have been emotionally painful, but the person could still likely take care of himself or herself.” (Quintana, Rosenthal, Krehely 2010) In the new millennium, our youth are coming out the closet at younger ages. They are coming out at ages where they are still dependent on their parents and guardians for food, money and shelter. For the LGBT youth in these predicaments, the shunning of their families many times leads to rebellion, trauma, suicide, mental illness, crime, sex trafficking, school drop outs, drug/alcohol abuse, etc. The lack of adequate resources such as shelters that support our youth instead of discriminating against LGBT youth and the ignorance to the issue causes this to be a growing problem. Perhaps a study which investigates the presence of homeless Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered youth in America by raising awareness, increasing specific resources and valuing all human life we can eradicate this major…
Being homeless is the biggest epidemic in modern day America next to health care. As the numbers climb the local and federal governments have no answers as to why. As 407,966 people are homeless the local cities need a answer to this problem. With the homeless drug addicts roaming the streets and committing crimes. Also with them bringing down the looks of the local neighborhoods we need to build a bigger homeless shelter for this people to be able to go. That is why during this speech i will present facts on why are city needs a bigger homeless shelter.…
Homeless people have the tendency to treat the streets of cities like their personal homes. It’s only natural that they do this because hey, the streets are their homes. But this becomes a problem when you are strolling the streets of your beautiful city and are overwhelmed and distressed by the horrific stench of urine and waste consume the side walk. Like I said before, the sidewalks are homeless people’s homes but when you have to hold your breath, it becomes a problem.…
Millions of Americans experience homelessness every year but are still outnumbered by abandoned, empty, and government owned buildings. Instead of keeping them on the streets, why doesn’t someone place them in those buildings? If they did, America would still have buildings leftover that they can either fix up or move in the homeless from other countries that are in need. America should help the homeless in other countries as well as their own. After they help their own country, they should reach out to others and give supplies that are needed.…
A problem that persists through every part of the world is a lack of compassion for the homeless. No matter how many charities are available for people to donate to, they are often careless and forgetful. This problem stems from laziness and a lack of motivation to be involved. This carelessness can account for the lack of resources or the lack of knowledge about resources for the homeless.…
some of the reasons people find themselves without a roof over their heads. So with these…