Who are the homeless? The Armed Forces represent a large portion of the homeless population in America (roughly 20-25%). Most people don’t consider the factors that contribute to homelessness such as mental illness or armed forces veterans suffering from their own trauma etc. Far too many veterans are homeless in the united state a number that staggers around 130,000 to 200,000 on any given day representing between one fourth and one fifth of all homeless (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2007). Why negative stereotypes have been created for the homeless?
For a country that claims to be so strong and prosperous we have a little more than a million homeless people. American society is failing to support, and help the homeless. When people in the American society look at a homeless person they right away think that it’s by choice. Homeless people don’t want to be homeless, they want to work and earn money
Many people became homeless because of poverty, a situation that can occur because of unavoidable financial expenses or can be manifested through generation-to-generation of poverty. This paper focuses primarily why homelessness occurs in the society and problems associated with homeless people in the community. Homelessness According to Gale (2001) “Homelessness is
The causes of homelessness in America can be classified in to two broad categories, which are: (1) individual shortcomings and (2) societal issues. Individual shortcomings include mental illnesses, family breakdown, addiction to drugs and/or alcohol, lack of education, and amoral behavior. On the other hand, societal issues relate to interrelated social, political and economic factors which include joblessness, distribution of income and wealth and the profit structure of the housing market. People in America are vulnerable to getting homeless irrespective of their educational and ethnic backgrounds. Many studies have found that the homeless population has reached to the figure of 4 million in America that has altered the image of the homeless people as being beggars, hobos and winos.
People are struggling to survive everyday because they have no food and shelter. These people may always dig through the trash to find something to eat for the day, not knowing if they will find anything. Families may always live in horrible conditions, having no other choice, because they do not have enough money. It’s extremely hard for them to find well paying jobs in these countries. For most of these people it’s nearly impossible to get out of poverty because they were born and raised in that culture, unless other people who aren’t in poverty help them out.
Its a long walk for them to get where they need to go so they stay in there house. They take care of each other and try to servive. Everyone can only eat a little bit of food each day because they have no clue how long this storm it is going to last. The electricity goes out, then comes back on, the goes back out and so on. Miranda steps up and takes care her mom and two brothers.
This states that a chronically homeless person is one who is on the streets or in a shelter (The Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, 2007). This often results in the prevention of many homeless families receiving assistance therefore affecting the increase of the homeless population. Two of the main causes of family homelessness are poverty and lack of affordable housing. In fact, recently, children represent a disproportionate share of the poor in the United States; they are 25 percent of the total population, but 35 percent of the poor population. In 2008, 15.45 million children, or 20.7%, were poor (Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2009).
Jobs are scarce and homes are expensive. A person who cannot find a job often cannot afford a home, and many with jobs cannot afford homes either. Another reason the homeless are over looked is the high rate of mental illness. There are more than 630,000 homeless individuals in the United States and approximately 25% of the homeless population have a severe mental illness. Those with a mental illness are not in a position to search for jobs, purchase or rent a home, or use legal defenses to protect themselves.
3) National reports estimate that veterans compose between 24% to 40% of the homeless population. Many of these veterans are homeless due to the general causes of homeless, but it is believed that an additional reason is due to the long-term effects of untreated Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (National Coalition for Homeless, 2008b). Although the majority of homeless individuals are men, women and children are becoming homeless at a disturbing increasing rate. Some of the general causes of homelessness such as affordable housing and poor access to support networks are especially challenging for women and children experiencing domestic violence, who are estimated to comprise of between 46% to 92% of homeless
The poor and homelessness is on the rise because of falling wages, lack of affordable housing , and people loosing their jobs. Homelessness persists because of falling incomes. Low wage workers have been left behind as the rich and poor has mushroomed. To compound the problem, “ the real value of the minimum wage in 2004 was 26% less, than in 1979”. ( The Economic Policy Institute ).