http://www.endhomelessness.org/section/policy/focusareas/families
Families
Most Americans underestimate how the problem of homelessness affects families. About 600,000 families and 1.35 million children experience homelessness in the United States. Family homelessness is more widespread than many think, but it is not an unsolvable problem. Across the country, hundreds of communities are planning to end homelessness, and a handful of communities and many local programs are making progress in ending family homelessness.
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http://www.endhomelessness.org/section/policy/focusareas/chronic
Chronic Homelessness
Chronic homelessness is long-term or repeated homelessness accompanied by a disability. Many chronically homeless people have a serious mental illness like schizophrenia and/or alcohol or drug addiction. Most chronically homeless individuals have been in treatment programs, sometimes on dozens of occasions.
The federal government’s definition of chronic homelessness includes homeless individuals with a disabling condition (substance use disorder, serious mental illness, developmental disability, or chronic physical illness or disability) who have been homeless either 1) continuously for one whole year, or 2) four or more times in the past three years.
Research reveals that between 10 to 20 percent of homeless single adults are chronically homeless. This translates into between 150,000 to 200,000 people who experience chronic homelessness.
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http://www.endhomelessness.org/section/policy/focusareas/health
Mental Health and Physical Health
Homeless people suffer from high rates of mental and physical health problems exacerbated by living on the streets and in shelters. The lack of residential stability makes healthcare delivery more complicated. Health conditions that require ongoing treatment—such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, addition, and mental illness—are difficult to treat when people are living in shelter or on the streets. Homeless people often lack access to preventative care, waiting until a trip to the emergency room is a matter of life or death. These emergency room visits are costly. Additionally, when homeless people become ill, they often do not receive timely treatment.
In addition to chronic health problems, approximately half of homeless people suffer from mental health issues. At a given point in time, 45 percent of homeless report indicators of mental health problems during the past year, and 57 percent report having had a mental health problem during their lifetime. About 25 percent of the homelessness population has serious mental illness, including such diagnoses as chronic depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorders, and severe personality disorders.
Many homeless people have problems with drug and alcohol use. In a 1996 survey, 46 percent of the homeless respondents had an alcohol use problem during the past year, and 62 percent had an alcohol use problem at some point in their lifetime. Thirty-eight percent had a problem with drug use during the past year, and 58 percent had a drug use problem during their lifetime.
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http://anitraweb.org/homelessness/faqs/causes/index.html
Homelessness & Poverty
covered by homeless and formerly homeless people
Homeless Not Helpless
What Causes Homelessness?
The Broken System
Ending homelessness does not mean fixing broken people. It means fixing a broken system.
There are many different reasons why each individual becomes homeless. Personal problems, lack of education, domestic violence, alcoholism, drug addiction, mental illness, poor work habits, lack of social skills — all are contributing factors. But the main reason people become homeless is economic. There are people with each of these problems who are still housed. They or their families have the economic resources to deal with mental illness, alcoholism, etc. No one becomes homeless just because they have problems. They become homeless because they don't have the economic resources to deal with their problems.
Most individuals do not stay homeless for long. The majority of people who are homeless are working. They save up money, find inexpensive housing, share an apartment with a friend, or find another solution within two months to two years. There are many successful programs for helping those people with more extensive problems to become stable and self-sufficient.
But an increasing number of people become newly homeless, so the total number of homeless people is rising. People who considered themselves to be making a good income a few years ago are now at risk of becoming homeless, or have done so.
The Income Gap
Since 1979, when Ronald Reagan began deregulating corporations, the income of people earning 20‰ or less of the median has actually fallen; the income of the people earning between 20% to 60% of median income has risen moderately, and the income of the upper income brackets has skyrocketed.
Anyone selling goods — or renting housing — naturally wants to make as much money from it as possible. As some people become more wealthy and begin purchasing more, prices rise. Those whose incomes are not rising as fast are less and less able to afford the same goods that they used to be able to get — including housing.
Therefore, a rise in homelessness.
Thomas Jefferson, aristocrat though he was, warned that if the gap between rich and poor grew too wide, democracy would fail. He had a vision of every person (well, he said every man, but we´re going to give him the benefit of the doubt) owning "five acres and a mule" and a public education — and he advised a cap on how much capital any individual or group could accumulate.
There are good reasons for associating a free market with a free democracy. But a fair market is as important to democracy as a free one. The CEO of an American corporation may earn 400 times what a line-worker in the same corporation earns. Some people legitimately contribute more to the productiveness of an organization than others do, and should be rewared accordingly. But nobody contributes 400 times what anybody else does — unless you're comparing them to [insert politcal target of choice].
Until we find a way to make our economy more fair to everyone, we will continue to have increased homelessness.
On the Individual Front
In the meantime, the people in front of us now have immediate needs.
Meeting those needs has to begin with providing the basics of survival, because dead people aren´t going to get ahead in life. If we just provide survival needs, however, we are servicing poverty, not ending it.
An absolute essential, missing from a regrettable number of programs, is to respect the human dignity of each person. There is no human dignity without free will. All too many agencies, however, operate on an unspoken assumption, "You obviously don´t know how to manage your life, or you wouldn't be here. So we´re going to take over."
Almost everyone has a born-in desire to thrive. If they aren't thriving, there´s something in the way. Helping someone help themselves is usually a matter of getting the obstacles out of the way and letting them go for it.
Most people have a very good idea of what they need and what they need to do; they´re just looking for help to get it done.
Some of the most common needs are:
Domestic violence intervention: safe shelter, counseling, legal assistance, assistance in developing a source of income and housing
Medical assistance, including mental health treatment
Treatment on demand for alcoholism or drug addiction (this means that when you are ready, you can get into a program immediately)
Education and training for real jobs, earning more than minimum wage
— Anitra L. Freeman
Contact by Email or Guestbook
References
The National Coalition for the Homeless
United for a Fair Economy
The Institute for Washington's Future
The Center for Ethical Leadership
Related Articles on AnitraWeb
Who Is Homeless?
Why Are People Homeless in a Booming Economy?
Personal Stories
Work First: Think Later
Homeless Page
Last updated November 30, 2002
Note: Direct links at original website. ~ PSL
http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/faculty/jkaret/cbny96/ap8kyopap.html
Homeless in the United States: By Kyosuke Yoshida
June, 2, 1995
Note: See Original Website for chart. ~PSL
Introduction
This paper explores homelessness which is a serious problem in the United States of America. According to The National Coalition For The Homeless, "there are between 30,000 and 7,000,000 homeless people in America." (Lunde, 1995) This paper will analyze the causes of homelessness, including unemployment, alcoholism, drug abuse, mental illness, and so on. The argument is that the homeless people are responsible for their own condition, for example, all alcoholics and drug addicts do not become homeless, so This means alcoholism or other reasons, cannot be the only cause of homelessness.
Unemployment
Homelessness is a complex problem, so not all homelessness is caused by one particular reason. First, the most serious cause of homelessness is unemployment. According to a 1993 report by the U.S. conference of Mayors, " About 60% of homeless population works and is still homeless." (Ropers, R. H. 1988,) "Their average income is less than $176 per month."(ICH, 1991) It is far lower than the poverty level; therefore, some homeless people receive the following government assistance payments.
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Employment Status of Homeless People in the United States by Sex
(Ropers, R. H. 1988)
Note: See Chart on source webpage. ~PSL
According to the table and the chart above, approximately 25% of homeless people does not have a job and 60% has a job; moreover, 54% of homeless people gets some money which, however, is not enough. Not all people who are unemployed are looking for jobs and although the precise figure is not available, some homeless people, who do not want to work, think that getting money without working is the best way of living.
Alcoholism and drug abuse (chemical dependency)
Alcoholism is also a major cause of homelessness. According to The National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH), "50% of all homeless is a 'single' adult who has a drug or alcohol problem," but it is not the only cause of homelessness. Alcoholism also contributes to unemployment. For example, more than 85% of alcoholic homeless men had not been employed for at least 6 months, and neither had 79% of nonalcoholic homeless men. (Bennet, G. , 1992) This means that, regardless of sex, to get a job is more difficult for alcoholic homeless people than nonalcoholic homeless people; therefore, alcoholic homeless people get money from illegal activities. According to NCH, "many drug and alcohol abusers never become homeless, but people who are poor and addicted are clearly more tend to become homeless." (NCH, 1995)
Mental Illness
About one-third of the single adult homeless population suffers from some kind of severe and persistent mental illness. (Federal Task Force on Homelessness and Severe Mental Illness, 1992) According to the National Resource Center on Homelessness and Mental Illness, "at least a half of mentally ill homeless people are dually diagnosed with an alcohol or drug problem." (NCH, 1992), but according to the Federal Task Force on Homelessness and Severe Mental Illness, "Only 5-7% of homeless persons with mental illness needs to be institutionalized", so mental illness is not the major cause of homelessness.
Conclusion
Each one of the above causes of homelessness cannot be the only cause of homelessness by itself because most of homeless people get some money whether they are employed or not employed ([ICH], 1991), and some people are not willing to work because of the government assistance payment. In terms of alcoholism and drug abuse(chemical dependency), only homeless people who are addicted have a high risk of becoming homeless. ([NCH], 1995) Only 5% to 7% of homeless people with mental illness need to be institutionalized.([NCH], 1995) It can be said that homeless people escape from working. Even though social factors should not be overlooked, I strongly insist that the homeless people are responsible for their own conditions.
Reference list
Bent, G.(1992, March) Employment experience of homeless persons with alcohol and other drug problems.(CD-ROM) SIRS Government Reporter, Job Training and Employment Service for Homeless Persons with Alcohol and other drug problem: A technical assistance paper, SuDoc Number: HE 20.8302:H75/5
Interagency Council on the Homeless (1991, April) What are the characteristics of homeless population? (CD-ROM) SIRS Government Reporter, Fact sheet, SuDoc Number: Y 3.H 75:17/2-1
Interagency Council on the Homeless (1991, May) What are the causes of homelessness? (CD-ROM) SIRS Government Reporter, Fact sheet, SuDoc Number; Y 3/H 75:17/7
Interagency Council on the Homeless (1993) The nature of the population. (CD-ROM) SIRS Movement Reporter page number: 7-13, Outcast on Main Street: Report of the Federal Task Force on Homelessness and Severe Mental Illness, SuDoc Number: Y 3.H 75:2 AU 8
Lunde, R. (1995) Who is homeless in the United States of America. (on line) available: http://www.teleport.com/~cool/homeless.html
Ropers, R. H. (1988) The invisible homeless: a new urban ecology. New York: Human Sciences Press, Inc.
The National Coalition for the Homeless (1995) Homelessness and Joblessness (on line) available: http://nch.ari.net/jobs.html
The National Coalition for the Homeless (1995) How Many Homeless People Are There ? (on line) available: http://nch.ari.net/numbers.html
The National Coalition for the Homeless (1995) Why Are People Homeless? (on line) available: http://nch.ari.net/causes.html
Watkins-Goffman, L., Goffman, R.,Velazquez, C.V. (1993) Making your point. Boston: Heinle&Heinle.
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