General Problem Statement
Homelessness is a worldwide phenomenon observed in all nations regardless of economic development status. Many often believe homelessness is only a result of financial distress but there are many instances wherein homelessness is a result of other circumstances; advocates of the financial viewpoint – Miller, Herzberg, and Ray (2012) – claimed the urgency of addressing economic problems of society to effectively deal and combat homelessness. In contrast, Wright (2009) emphasized political and social origins of the problem rather than economic ones In the hopes of helping the problem, Hodas and Myers highlighted social and educational issues in schools that impact children and, consequently, impact the homelessness issues. Hodas and Myers (2008) pointed to the neglected problem of homelessness in rural areas in comparison to the plenty of shelters provided to urban homeless persons, while Burton and James (2008) stressed the extreme vulnerability of veterans to homelessness and considerable public assistance required to gain stability.
Homelessness as a social phenomenon emerged in the 1980s with two types of homeless persons – those intentionally leaving their homes to live in the streets and those forced to become homeless (Miller, Herzberg, & Ray, 2012). Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) distinguishes four types of homeless Americans, such as homeless families, homeless youth, homeless veterans, and chronically homeless. From the overall data for homeless persons in the United States reported by January 2015, about 15% are chronically homeless, 8% are veterans, and 2% are chronically homeless individuals in families (National Alliance to End Homelessness 2016). The rest are either homeless families or young people leaving their parents to live in the street.
The population of homeless families is the least vulnerable to the long-term homelessness and requires little public assistance to return to the community. In particular, homeless families need rent assistance, employment, and housing placement services to restore their independence and stability in a short-term period (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2016). The group of homeless youth is quite problematic in terms of public assistance and return to the community. Children can become homeless for a variety of reasons. Their parents may become homeless, thus, making them homeless. They may experience severe unrest in the home and runaway, experiencing homelessness at their own hand. Regardless, homeless youth also require a multitude of assistance programs, from housing and foster care, to counseling services, according to Vagernova, Csemy, and Merick (2014). Rent assistance is the core of the public support to the homeless, but most of young homeless individuals are not eligible for renting. Furthermore, the key reasons for youth intentional homelessness is drug abuse and crime, which explains high return-to-homelessness rates among young people (Vagnerova, Csemy, & Marek, 2014). Nonetheless, various educational and public assistance measures have been enforced to support youth in gaining independence and stability or coming back to their families (Crook, 2015).
Chronic homeless people defined as individuals, predominantly with a disability, who either have been homeless for over a year or repeatedly return to homelessness consume the majority of public assistance services. Preventive measures to mitigate homeless among veterans are also well defined, such as employment, housing assistance, and medical services to support them in coping with post-traumatic stress, physical disability, anger, and other post-combat disability manifestations (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2016). Therefore, up to date, the U. S. government has succeeded in defining measures and strategies appropriate to prevent homeliness among different populations.
Specific Problem Statement
HUD attempted to design and enforce effective preventive measures against homelessness that would allow for ongoing recovery, which have already yielded outcomes with the number of homeless people steadily decreasing each year. By January 2014, 34 states had reported a significant decline in the overall homelessness, while 17 reported increases. However, the nationwide data for 2014 indicate that 40 states have reduced the number of unsheltered homeless, including streets, abandoned buildings, cars, and other locations (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2015). The AHAR’s portrait of the national homelessness relies on point-in-time estimates of both sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals and one-year estimates of sheltered homeless persons grounded on data provided by local Homeless Management Information Systems. (Cortes et al., 2010). The evidence claims that despite different outcomes achieved by states in their respective end-homelessness campaigns, the United States have managed to improve its public concern for and policing to increase access to housing assistance by the homeless.
Along with the promising findings, the 2015 AHAR reveal the persistence in some challenges faced by vulnerable populations with the steady poverty rates and number of people living in poor households. This, of course, is a factor which largely contributes to homeless and has been left widely unchecked by most states. The relatively unchanged rates of populations at risk of homelessness indicate the difficulty of homeless people to return to the community. Public housing assistance provided to the homeless is crucial for their restoration of stability and independence and successful return to the community (Zalot, 2015). Thus, further development and growth of the national economy is required to provide adequate access to public assistance services to all homeless Americans.
Despite the effort of the National Alliance to End Homelessness and positive outcomes reported in the field of homelessness’s prevention, some critics continue claiming that the current society remains ignorant of many problems and difficulties faced by the homeless in terms of re-integrating into society. This indicates the need for a more accurate consideration of homeliness reasons and barriers to the return to the community (The Morning Call, 2007; The Economist, 2016). Furthermore, the study of Herring (2014) proposed the point that the overall government effort in relation to ceasing homelessness assistance deals little returning the homeless to society. Instead, large-scale homeless encampments created across the USA serve to preserve the homeless within local borders and to ensure their safety. This fact is explained by the correlation between homelessness rates and criminality. The long-term statistics show the linear dependence of the increase in crime rates on the expanding homeless population (Miller, Herzberg, & Ray, 2012.)
With each initiative to end homelessness in place, the researcher plans to examine how homelessness is such an overwhelming problem. They plan to do this by examining whether or not initiatives are effective for different groups, primarily the most vulnerable groups, i.e. children, the elderly, singly mothers, and if the homeless are able to take advantage of said initiatives. For example, are the initiatives easily accessible to homeless individuals or does one need what would be considered extravagant resources, such as a phone or the internet, in order to reach out? Are their community outreach programs in place in areas with a high volume of homeless individuals or not? How do volunteers perceive the homeless population’s perception of the programs and if they cope well with the initiatives offered to them? All of these questions will be examined in an effort to discover why, if there are so many attempts made to end homelessness, it is still a growing a problem.
Purpose Statement
Given the evidence above, the federal government’s campaign on ending homelessness seems incomplete with the focus on prevention rather than returning-oriented services. The existing scope of public assistance concerns economic reasons, but relatively ignores social and emotional origins of homelessness. Hence, the purpose of the proposed study is to define most effective approach to encouraging and helping the homeless to re-integrate into society.
Research Questions
In line with the research purpose, the formulated research questions are the following:
How do homeless individuals cope with merging back into what is considered “normal” society after receiving assistance?
What is the perception of what motivates each homeless individual based on volunteers who engage in housing assistance services for the homeless?
Importance of the Study
Public policy concerning prevention and cessation of homelessness grounds on the public perceived origins of the matter. Most research projects and public studies are conducted by people with minor exposure to homelessness. Through obtaining self-reported motivation and the perceived motives by public volunteers who deliver assistance services to the homeless, the proposed research is expected to contribute to the existing body of knowledge and to clarify actual reasons that encourage the homeless to seek public assistance and return to the community. Thus, the research is likely to indicate effective ways of the public appealing to the homeless to encourage their re-integration into society as well as providing relevant assistance fostering their transition to the community, thus, reducing crime.
Methodology and Research Design
In the pursuit of the formulated research goal, the researcher has decided to utilize quantitative research methodology to examine the realm of homelessness through multiple interconnected variables and components (Rovai, Baker, & Panton, 2013). Quantitative will be more valuable in these circumstances than qualitative due to the varying numbers in data, and will permit solid evidence. The selected quantitative methodology shaping the overall research design also allows answering research questions and drawing generalized conclusions based on numerical findings. In this vein, the researcher has defined the desire of homeless people to return to the community as a dependent variable and numerous motives underpinning it as independent variables. By surveying public volunteers and homeless people seeking that assistance, the researcher will measure the impact of independent variables on the dependent one.
Population, Sampling, and Instrumentation
In reference to the formulated research questions, the researcher targets two population groups characterized by high exposure to homelessness – the older homeless enjoying public assistance services and volunteers delivering that assistance. Both samples will be recruited from a single community center employed with providing shelter and social assistance to the homeless. On the ground on prior research findings, the author will develop a survey questionnaire, asking about reasons underpinning the homeless people’s decision to return to the community. The questionnaire body will contain close-ended statements addressing demographic, social, crime avoidance, economic, and political variables that might underpin the decision for the re-integration.
Data Collection and Analysis
Prior to data collection procedures, the researcher will introduce the research purpose and expected significance to the selected center’s board to gain its approval of the project. The approval is needed to comply with the academic ethical requirement and to receive contact information of volunteers engaged in the assistance delivery and regular interactions with the homeless. Recruiting volunteer sample in person or via phone or email, the researcher will distribute survey questionnaires for completion. Further on, volunteers are expected to serve as liaisons between the researcher and older homeless individuals to obtain their views and motives underpinning their referral to the public assistance to gain stability necessary for the society’s re-integration. Using statistical software, the researcher will process two volumes of data to define
the key motivational variables reported by the homeless and perceived by volunteers.
Result and Knowledge Gap
The expected results are likely to shed light onto reasons that encourage homeless people to seek public assistance in order to gain stability and independence as manifestations of their re-integration into society. The existing body of knowledge lacks ideas, attitudes, and opinions of homeless people. This inquiry is expected to illustrate the efficiency of the current policy-making approach to preventing and mitigating homelessness and to indicate areas for improvement or new paths to the fulfillment of the goal.
Summary
Homelessness is a negative phenomenon, illustrating the country’s economic and social weakness to create equal working and living conditions for its people. Besides, homelessness is associated with criminal behaviors. The U. S. government and public demonstrated commitment to end homelessness with preventive measures. The practiced anti-homelessness campaigns rely mostly on the public perception of homeless people’s problems rather than their own ideas. This study seeks to fill this knowledge gap.
References
Burton, C. E., & James, K. (2008). Homelessness and veterans: Untangling the connection. In R. H. McNamara (ed.), Homelessness in America (pp. 61-76). Westport, CT: ABC-CLIO.
Cortes, A., Khadduri, J., Buron, L., & Culhane, D. P. (2010). The 2009 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress. Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: Office of Community Planning and Development.
Crook, C. (2015). Educating America’s homeless youth through reinforcement of the McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Faulkner Law Review, 6(2), 395.
Herring, C. (2014). The new logics of honeless seclusion: Homeless encampments in America’s West Coast cities. City & Community, 13(4), 285-309.
Hodas, B. S., & Myers, D. T. (2008). Sight unseen: The neglected problem of rural homelessness. In R. H. McNamara (ed.), Homelessness in America (pp. 29-42). Westport, CT: ABC-CLIO.
Miller, K. s., Herzberg, G. L., & Ray, S. A. (2012). Homelessness in America: Perspectives, characterizations, and considerations for occupational therapy. New York, NY: Routledge.
National Alliance to End Homelessness. (2015). The state of homelessness in America: An examination of trends in homelessness, homelessness assistance, and at-risk populations at the national and state levels. Washington, DC: Homelessness Research Institute.
Rovai, A. P., Baker, J. D., & Ponton, M. K. (2013). Social Science Research Design and Statistics: A Practitioner’s Guide to Research Methods and IBM SPSS. Chesapeake, VA: Watertree Press LLC.
The Economist. (2016, February 22). How many homeless people are there is America?: Counting street sleepers. The Economist. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2016/02/counting-street-sleepers
The Morning Call. (2007, June 17). Homeless, hungry people need America’s attention. The Morning Call, p. A10.
Vagnerova, M., Csemy, L., & Marek, J. (2014). Homelessness as an alternative existence of young people: A narrative analysis of developmental trajectories. Prague, the Czech Republic: Karolinum Press.
Wright, J. d. (2009). Address unknown: The homeless in America. New York, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
Zalot, M. (2015, November 19). Homelessness in America: HUD reveals strides, setbacks with 2015 homeless count data. NBC Philadelphia. Retrieved from http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Homelessness-in-America-HUD-Releases-2015-Homeless-Count-Data-351810021.html
