Introduction
There is no particular definition of the term homelessness. However, it can be described in simple terms as the condition where one lacks a home or permanent residence. The National Health Care for the Homeless Council has a wide range of definitions for homelessness (Bahumohl 5). First, it describes the condition as the one in which a person lacks permanent housing and resides in deserted buildings, vehicles, shelters, or lives as a street urchin. The person lives in a temporary transitional housing, single room or shelter. Secondly, it recognizes a homeless person as the one who is in a doubling up situation whereby he/she relies on various friends or relatives for residence. For example, individual who have been released from captivity or hospitals can lack a stable home to return to hence double up at their friends’ or relatives’ homes. Therefore, the study of homelessness is mostly based on the degree of stability of the person’s housing. Besides, homelessness can be viewed as lack of fixed, conventional and sufficient place to spend the night .Living in a non-human residence or regular movement and change of housing can also be said to be homelessness. This paper will look into the issue of homelessness in-depth; analyze its causes, its alarming concern and possible solution to the problem.
Overview of the issue
The society must first acknowledge that the issue of homelessness is a real problem that needs to be solved with immediate effect. There are three categories of homeless, which include primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary homelessness affects individuals who lack fixed and regular residence while those who make regular shifts in their accommodations experience secondary type. The tertiary homelessness affects the individuals who reside in houses that do not meet the minimum standards of the community. It can also be classified based on the length of time such as short term, long term and chronic. For instance, people who suffer chronic homelessness are the one who has been in the situation for more than a year and suffers some kind of disability. There are those who encounter multiple homelessness episodes or double up due to their economic status (Bahumohl 32). This implies that different people experience homelessness at different levels.
There are millions of people in the contemporary world who are homeless. This can be proved by the lots of people on the streets wearing ragged clothes and begging for help. The society has viewed the issue of homelessness to only affect those who take drugs or are mentally ill. Even though most victims end up in such situations, there are many who are in genuine need for a home. Recent studies show a significant increase in the number of homeless families over the past decade with rural homelessness accounting for 35%.Even though the situation dates back to the war periods where many people were displaced, it has incredibly risen to severed levels since 10970s. Those in their 40s and 50s account for 4% of homeless victims whilst 25% of street urchins use hard drugs substances (Bahumohl 56). This posses them to a lot of risks especially the construction of HIV/AIDS due to the use of contaminated needles. The issue of homelessness is a society problem mostly accelerated by the worsening economic situations. The trend of homelessness is on the rise and may hit 50% in the next three decades if not counteracted on time.
Causes
Homelessness can be contributed by individual and social factors. An individual who lacks solid support especially in financial matters risks lacking a place to call home. Besides, if a person suffers from insanity or criminal issues cannot acquire a house through means like mortgage due to disqualification. The family background can also influence one’s ability to own a stable home especially if it is poverty-stricken. Lack of support for ex-convicts also leads them to poor housing situations. However, some causes are beyond the control of an individual since they are determined by the society or the prevailing economy. For instance, unemployment, government-housing policies, poverty, changes in development policies among others. These issues need long-term solutions especially in relation to government policies, for example building affordable housing.
Nevertheless, the top causes of homelessness are financial constraints and domestic violence. Many people lack rent or financial support to cater for their housing needs. The rising unemployment gap makes it hard for poor people to acquire a homestead. The number of work opportunities is declining every day. The level of wages is too low and on a declining trend making it hard to afford a decent home. The tragic life incidents also drive people into sudden loss of their homes. These include loss of jobs, loved ones, divorce, violence and family wrangles. There are other harmful tragedies like depression, stress disorder, trauma, mental impairment and disabilities that eventually render one unable to own a home. These factors together with other life pressures can push people into the street corners, slums or non-human residences.
Poverty is another major cause with those living under the poverty line unable to acquire a descent residence in most countries. The poor cannot afford to meet their housing, medical education needs. They therefore have to make hard decisions concerning this need, which leads to their settlement in poor households. Since the poor status makes them highly vulnerable to diseases and accidents, they end up dropping the housing need to concentrate on their health first. Divorced couple usually renders one of them homeless especially due to the shared income and homestead (Kennett et al. 93). The costs associated with the process are harmful enough to lead to homelessness. This is also true for domestic violence, which usually impact severely on the children and women. In most cases, it is the woman and the children who are usually kicked out of the home hence remain homeless. Another uncontrollable cause is the natural disasters that occur and require an emergency exit of one’s home. These include hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and violence, which lead to costly repairs or total destruction of the home. For example, when violence breaks down in a country, many people are displaced from their home and others run away to other countries for refuge.
Foreclosures are also contributing to high level of homeless with many people unable to settle their mortgage loans. About 6 million renters and foreclosures have evicted people from their homes in the recent past. This is also accelerated by the rising rate of unemployment in most nations (Todd 151). Homelessness is also increasing due to the decrease in the level of public assistance. The social welfare agencies that used to help homeless individuals have declined mostly due to inflation, hard economic times or unbearable number of victims. This reduction in help has exposed many to homeless situations. Lack of affordable housing in many countries is also a problem. This is due to the increased tax burden, long waiting lists and rent expenses.
Other factors that cause homelessness include expensive medical care that hits many families and leave them with nothing. Abusive relationships, which lead to domestic violence, cause close to 50% cases of homelessness. Mental illness and addiction disorders also contribute highly to this situation due to inability to acquire a stable home. Studies reveal a high relationship between drug addiction and homelessness with 17% of the victims found to be mentally ill.
Why people should be concerned
The problem of homelessness causes many severe consequences to the people affected and the community a t large. Therefore, no one can afford to ignore it because it calls for genuine concern and more effort. The reasons why people should be concerned are the adverse effects it leaves ranging from personal to health issues. First, people who lack stable homes are highly exposed to poor health conditions, which worsen due to lack of necessary medical attention. They end up contracting severe illnesses such as cold, respiratory issues, malnutrition, skin diseases, mental illnesses, assaults and physical abuses (Todd 151). These affect badly on their individual health and worsen their living conditions. Personal effects such as loss of esteem, criminal activities, substance use are also true. Since the people do not rest well, they may suffer acute problems such as pneumonia and communicable diseases increasing the mortality rate.
The level of health effect on the individual has many evidences. The exposure to extreme weather and poor housing has increased the number of premature deaths. The population of homeless consist of mostly the youths of age 18 .They are exposed to use of drugs at this age and involvement in criminal activities (Jenks 42). The adolescents are usually affected by sexual abuse and violence with weapons, which compromise their life situation. The community is described by the kind of people who reside in it. I f it is filled with many homeless people, it will definitely record a high number of beggars, criminals, unproductive and poor people. The economy is also affected since the people are not usually productive. The taxpayer has to cater for the compensation of such people. The increasing cost of living is majorly due to the housing situation in the world. The government is forced to spend a lot of money on settling down the displaced in squatters, financing the refugees, settlement schemes, running resettlement projects which eats badly into the government budget. The cost of clearing the streets and providing a decent life to the street children is also unbearable. In essence, the issue of homelessness affects every person and demands attention and concern from everybody.
Solutions to the problem
After identifying the various causes of homelessness, it is easier to formulate some of the possible solutions to the problem. First, the level of financial ability should be increased in order to counter this problem. The government can help bring a rise in the number of financially stable citizens through increase in the level of employment. This can be done by creating opportunities for those who are qualified in various fields. The employed should be given an assurance of their job security to prevent cases of sudden loss of employment. The government could also increase the number of vocational skills institutions to train those who lack any skills and enhance their financial independence. The spirit of entrepreneurship should be encouraged to reduce the number of job seekers (Jenks 88). The government could focus on raising the level of financial independence among its citizens to enable them acquire a stable household.
Another way is by treating the homeless especially those with mental disorder. The rehabilitation programs for the drug addicts could be fostered to restore the homeless people and help them gain financial stability. They will be helped to live a healthy lifestyle and increasing their productivity level. The housing policies should also favor the poor people. They should have minimum requirements and help the poor to afford it easily.
The government can also initiate a housing assistance program to its citizens. For example in USA, the federal government has launched two systems to help solve the homelessness issue. These are the federal housing and the public housing vouchers. They help low income earners acquire a household at flexible payment rate, leading to curtailing the homelessness problem in the states (Coryne 120). Permanent supportive housing helps the chronically homeless people settle down. The program is offer cheap convenient housing to people who have constant homelessness problems, are mentally ill or disabled. In the process of solving this issue, the focus could also be given to other special group of people such as those leaving prisons, hospitals, mental institutions or army forces. These people are not usually integrated into the community easily hence require government help.
The homeless youths and adolescents could be assisted by intervening early and seeking solution by reuniting their family. Institutions can be put in place to help trace the family of the homeless kid and reunite them. People should also be encouraged to acquire permanent housing, which can serve them for long with adequacy. The children homes and care institutions should be given adequate financial support. This will help them give the youths who have outgrown the institution get a good transition into the society and become independent. This can be done through the provision of temporary housing to help in the transition process.
Conclusion
It is clear that homelessness is an overwhelming tragedy in the modern world. It is highly related to poverty since it affects most of the poor people. It is also a socioeconomic problem associated with poor behaviors, health and mental stability. The problem requires a lot of intervention especially on financial matters. It mostly affects the marginalized community and the low-income earners (Coryne 63). The methods that have proved to work in solving the problem include the federal housing assistance, permanent house program and the housing first project. The federal government offer houses to the low-income citizens at an affordable rate. The permanent housing helps the newcomers in the society to be easily integrated and settle down. The housing first project ensures that new houses are created to cater for the ever-rising population. This project has been successful in many regions including America, Montreal, and Moncton.
Work Cited
Baumohl, Jim. Homelessness in America: A Statistical Handbook and Resource Guide. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1996. Internet resource.
Coyne, Barry V. Homelessness: A Bibliography. New York, NY: Nova Science Publ, 2007. Print.
Jencks, Christopher. The Homeless. Cambridge, Mass. [u.a.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1997. Print.
Kennett, Patricia, and Alex Marsh. Homelessness: Exploring the New Terrain. Bristol: Policy, 1999. Print.
Todd, Ernest P. Homelessness: Is Society Looking the Other Way? New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2005. Print.
