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HOMELESSNESS 6
HOMELESSNESS
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Abstract
Every so often, we see fellow humans lying on the pavements of the streets looking frail, dirty, and hungry. We do not stop to really think about their story or what can be done to improve the situation. To be homeless means that one has a condition where they lack stable, safe, and adequate housing. It is estimated that there are over five hundred thousand homeless people in the United States alone (Tompsett et al., 2019). the actual number is definitely higher. These are two categories of homelessness, the primary homelessness where the population lives on the streets. The secondary homeless people move between temporary shelters, including houses of friends, family, and emergency accommodation.
Introduction
What are the factors that lead to homelessness? What has been done to tackle the issue, and who is responsible for tackling the issues? These are some of the questions that this paper seeks to answer. Homelessness is an issue that should be everyone’s concern, but the world is going on their business without much care that human beings sleep on cold pavements on rainy nights. Human rights activists have recently described homelessness as a profound assault on dignity (Cutajar, 2019). That description is accurate as having a safe place to live in is a fundamental human right, and anything short of that is a violation of the right to housing. Not so long ago, homelessness was associated with developing nations, but recent studies have shown that the problem is distributed equally globally. In fact, it is even more prevalent in States that have adequate resources to address it. Does the big question remain to be why homelessness is not being addressed accordingly?
Causes of homelessness
Many factors can cause homelessness for individuals, but the common ones include; stagnant wages, which is basically the increase in the cost of living, but wages remain the same. The rent rates go up, but the earnings don’t match. It then reaches a point where one cannot afford to pay for the house and is forced to move out with no alternative place to go. Unemployment is also a significant factor in homelessness. Lack of employment opportunities means a lack of funds to sustain a decent living arrangement. Studies show that a majority of chronic or secondary homeless persons are unemployed.
Another cause of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing. This is so common, especially in developed countries. Housing developers tend to focus on high ned houses that are expensive and target a particular social class. The poor or low-income earners are left with very few options or no options at all. The lack of affordable housing is closely related to poverty as a cause for homelessness (Vidova & Sika, 2019). when people are poor and the available houses are meant for the rich, the poor are doomed to be homeless.
Other economic factors such as the lack of affordable healthcare also contribute to homelessness’s prevalence. Many people are one disease away from poverty. It is common to see cases of homeless persons who lost all their savings in health care and ended up homeless as a result. While on healthcare, we cannot ignore the role of mental health and addiction on homelessness. The inadequate treatment services for these issues have contributed significantly to increasing the number of the homeless population. Other social factors such as racial discrimination and domestic violence have seen people become homeless.
Effects of homelessness on education
One of the direct adverse effects of homelessness is the physical health issues caused by exposure to extreme weather and so on. But the other effect that is rarely discussed is the education of homeless children. (Rafferty & Shinn, 1991) carried out a study on homeless children and education. The study showed that homeless children confront severe threats to their ability to succeed in education, which is the equalizer in today’s world. So the chances of these children breaking the cycle of homelessness in the future are even dimmer because they lack the opportunity to get a quality education.
The inadequate shelter conditions and instability in residences and shelters threaten homeless children’s availability to access education even if education is free and available to them. Also, the social stigma from their peers who are in stable homes makes eh children not want to attend school. In addition, hunger, poor nutrition, developmental delays, anxiety, depression, and behavioral problems quickly lead to educational underachievement. The education stakeholders need to start looking into public policies that can specifically address the education of homeless children (DeVilbiss, 2014).
What can be done to reduce homelessness?
The issue of homelessness cannot be ignored anymore. The first step in addressing eth matter is acknowledging that the problem exists. To do that, countries must not hinder society and authorities from acknowledging the existence of homelessness in both poor and rich countries. After the acceptance that indeed there is a problem that needs to be addressed, the following steps can be taken to tackle homelessness globally:
Having a good supply of affordable housing by initiating projects that can put up such housing, integrate healthcare that will also address mental and addiction issues, have a working crisis response system that people who suddenly lose their lobs can turn to for help, and most of all build career paths that creates more employment opportunities. And last but not least, the issue of racial discrimination and other social injustices must be addressed.
The most fundamental step in eradicating homelessness is to have solid poverty reduction strategies that can reduce the number of poor people since the common denominator in homelessness is poverty. Poverty is the genesis of many homelessness cases, and solving the issue by strategically empowering the people economically is critical. To safeguard children’s rights, an initiative must be taken to protect the homeless children; such initiative can include criminalization of children’s homelessness.
Conclusion
Using temporary solutions to tackle permanent problems is part of eth reason why homelessness has never been tackled. It is time to think differently about homelessness and the homeless population. We must discard the public notion that the homeless population is to blame for their predicament. The governments handle homelessness by tackling the underlying causes such as lack of adequate access to mental and addiction treatment services and lack of employment or little wages that cannot sustain a decent livelihood.
References
Busch-Geertsema, V. (2010). Defining and measuring homelessness. Homelessness Research in Europe: Festschrift for Bill Edgar and Joe Doherty, 19-39.
Cutajar, A. M. (2019). Homelessness.
DeVilbiss, J. M. (2014). Narrative case studies exploring homelessness and education. The University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Rafferty, Y., & Shinn, M. (1991). The impact of homelessness on children. American Psychologist, 46(11), 1170.
Tompsett, C. J., Toro, P. A., Guzicki, M., Manrique, M., & Zatakia, J. (2019). Homelessness in the United States: Assessing changes in prevalence and public opinion, 1993–2001. American Journal of Community Psychology, 37(1-2), 29-46.
VIDOVÁ, J., & SIKA, P. (2019). POVERTY AND HOMELESSNESS AS A RESULT OF INCOME INEQUALITIES. Social & Economic Revue, 17(4).