Often, we take for granted the things that we have and the place which we call our home. What about those people who are less fortunate and don’t have a place that they can call home? According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, homelessness has been on the rise for the past 25 years. The National Coalition for the Homeless is an organization dedicated to promoting social justice. Their promotion for economic, healthcare, and housing justice recognizes the never-ending struggle that homeless people face everyday. Because homeless is referred to as a “temporary circumstance—not a permanent condition,” it is difficult to exactly know how many people are actually homeless. This steady increase of homelessness has resulted due to factors such as foreclosure, poverty, job opportunities, and decline in public assistance.Quick Facts:
-Approximately 3.5 million Americans experience homelessness each year
-Approximately 777,000 homeless children are currently enrolled in the public school system
-Children under 18 comprise 39% of the homeless population
- National Housing Coalition estimates that 40% of families are facing eviction due to foreclosure; 7 million households (of low income) are at risk of foreclosure
-In 2007 homeless children ‘over-represented’ 35% of the poverty population
-16% of homeless single adults suffer from a type of mental illness
(*statistics provided by http://www.nationalhomeless.org/*)
Americans have been suffering due to foreclosures, loss of jobs, and loss of health/medical care benefits. No one chooses to be homeless, but people often have no choice. Many people are left homeless due to their previous held jobs that offered low wages and benefits that were insufficient to support their families. Why hasn’t the government taken immediate action since homelessness has been on the rise for the past 25 years? The National Coalition for the Homeless acknowledges that even the federal governments’ support for low-income housing has declined 49% from 1980 to 2003. As a result of this decrease, nearly 200,000 federally supported homeless rental units have been destroyed annually due to insufficient funds.
Many people could argue that since homeless is only considered a “temporary circumstance” why can’t the homeless make ends meet? In a 2007 survey conducted by the National Coalition, rough economic times has not offered many job opportunities. Without a job, a mother/father can’t receive adequate healthcare benefits or funds to be able to afford a home or support their children.
Hate crimes against the homeless have been occurring more frequently within the past decade. Many of these crimes across the United States result in the beating and deaths of the homeless by "housed individuals." Within the past decade, there have been over 1,000 acts of violence committed by “housed individuals” against the homeless and approximately 300 of these violent acts had resulted in death. Although states such as California and Florida have the highest rate of hate crimes within the past decade, many hate crimes go unreported each year. National Coalition researchers can only comment that places with warmer weather year-round such as California and Florida may contribute to the higher rate of homeless people who seek shelter outdoors.
The National Coalition for the Homeless has created a legislative proposal called the “Bring America Home Act.” This legislative proposal has been would be the first to officially address the causes and effects of homelessness. The passing of the “Bring America Home Act” as well as the "Federal Strategic Plan" would "permanently" end homelessness in the United States. These legislative plans are in the early works, but the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness' goal is to end all homelessness by 2020. What about until then? What does the future hold?
1. With great strides being made by the government to pass legislative laws to end homelessness, do you think these newly implemented laws would solve America’s problem of homelessness across the United States?
2. What do you think could be done to prevent these hate crimes against the homeless?
3. If you were homeless, what would you do?
Public service announcement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hrAbctwA3g
The fact that the government has new laws to end homelessness is great. Based on this blog post, many people and children are struggling, and the fact that their are hate crimes against homeless people is just sad. I think the government is going to have a tough time completely ending homelessness in the United States. There are thousands of homeless people, and with today's economy finding a job and a home is more difficult than ever. Until the year 2020 I do not think the government will do much to help the homeless. There are shelters and soup kitchens, but these are temporary and do not serve as a valid place to call a home. Also, some homeless people are without a home because of their own actions. A girl I worked with once told me her and her friend bought a supermarket gift card for a homeless man they always saw out near their street. The man rejected this giftcard, even though it meant he could buy food for months. This is because that homeless man would much rather receive money, probably so he could buy drugs. There are some homeless people who even if we do help, they will still end up on the streets.
ReplyDeleteHomelessness is a serious problem in the United States. In 2007 there were 7,681 homeless men, women and children in Boston alone (http://www.brm.org/homeless/greaterboston.aspx), and in 2006 and 2009 Boston was not even mentioned on the top cities for homelessness. Something needs to be done, and I feel as though that the effort to end all homelessness by 2020 will be difficult. I do not believe that the newly implemented laws will solve America’s problem of homelessness across the United States. There are just too many problems to fix; I do not think it is possible to solve every foreclosure, job loss, and health/medical care benefit loss. Something needs to be done about the “hate crimes against homeless.” Just because somebody is homeless does not mean they should be treated unfairly and have their life ended for no reason. I think police need to be more aware of this problem, and pay more attention to it. It is true that the majority of homeless people reside in Florida and California. In 2006 Sarasota, FL was named the number one homeless city in the United States, and in 2009 Los Angeles, CA was named number one (http://www.citymayors.com/society/homeless_usa2.html). If I were homeless, I would make every effort to find a job. I would try to educate and speak out against “hate crimes against homeless” to people of all ages to make sure they are aware of the problem.
ReplyDeleteThis is a huge problem that needs to be stopped. Poverty and homelessness in America is growing and growing with every year. But what can actually be done? With the bad economy and large amounts of house foreclosures, how can homeless people get to the point where they can financially have a living space? It is hard for fully educated people just out of college to get a job not to mention someone who has been living on the streets. Something needs to be done but it is hard to say what.
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult to anticipate if the new laws can end homelessness because our society has a numerous problems such as unemployments, crimes, and health care to solve. But it might be possible to try and see the result. Not all the strategies or laws which are created can guarantee success, we need to apply it to our real lives. I think there will be solution if everyone works together. As I can see today, there are homeless shelters and services available for homeless people. Also there are many volunteers and donators to support homeless people which is already a great way to help reduce homeless problem. If the crime rate decrease there will be more inclination to help each other because people do not have to worry much about danger or thinking that people whom they help are criminals.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to tell if the laws would help anything, but since nothing is working now it is definitely worth a shot. However, I don't think things will get better over night it is going to take a long time since the country is in such a bad shape right now. I mean if you help the homeless with out fixing the economy what good is actually being done. Yeah they get help for a short time but they still need money and a job and right now jobs are slim pickings. I know people who do have educations and are not homeless and they are having a tough time finding a job nevermind people have nothing. This is a really sad situation that we are in and that people who are homeless are in. Most of these people did nothing wrong for them to be homeless it was just that the economy went sour and they lost their jobs which for some was they only way they survived. I think something should be done but I don't know if we are at that stage where it will end homelessness altogether yet which is sad.
ReplyDelete