1. Importance. Domestic policy is like a patchwork of various issues, each of which demands scrupulous governmental action. Today I would like to focus on one of extremely important public policies, which unfortunately seems to be underestimated nowadays.
In particular, the issue of homelessness evokes, on the one hand, serious anxiety in statesmen as well as in common people, whereas, on the other hand, it is simultaneously concealed and ignored. The reasons of such ambiguous attitude is that society either estimates homelessness as relic of the past (allegedly, contemporary governments have more important issues to care about – e.g., terrorism, environmental pollution, etc.) or society overlooks this issue as the problem of exclusively homeless themselves.
In spite of the rationality of particular arguments, homelessness is still the problem of top priority, which should be dealt by US government as efficiently as possible. Just imagine that any of your relatives fears the night with great panic, as he or she merely does not have any place to return after day troubles, and you will immediately understand what homeless people feel every single minute. In other words, while the problem of homelessness is dwarfed by some of the other problems that confront the nation, it in turn exceeds other problems that have long been accepted as urgent national priorities (Wright 26).
2. Background. No doubt, the homelessness is not a new challenge for American society (frankly speaking, it is rather a common social issue for almost any state, even irrespectively of the level of prosperity). Throughout the American history the attitude towards the homeless has rapidly changed for many times: from free, a bit arrogant vagabonds and vagrants, who neglected social norms, to those, who become exploited by state; from poor, ill-fated and unfortunate, who need social support to immoral parasites and freeloader. Time has run, and apart from distinction between the “deserving” and “undeserving” poor, and from understanding the homeless as criminals, who need to be rehabilitated, in the middle of the 20th century homelessness became viewed less as a matter of individual morality, and more as the outcome of social and economic conditions (Ciment 870).
As a response, numerous social institutions of different scope and individuals took active part in the finding of solution to this problem. Temporary emergency responses of nonprofit organizations and local governments failed to take into account the long-term nature of the problem; therefore, federal government also conducted reforms in housing, welfare, employment and healthcare policies (Ciment 874). No doubt, such attempts deserve our attention, but simultaneously, a new approach should be suggested in dealing with still growing homelessness.
3. Underlying causes. In fact, saying that homeless lack housing is like saying that the poor lack money: the point is correct, but it is by no means the whole story (Wright 33). That is why, the reasons of economic insecurity, lack of financial sources or stable welfare, sky-high prices for real estate, and hundreds of other financial reasons are, no doubt, crucial, but not the exhaustive ones. Therefore, poverty and homelessness are not equal notions, they just thave tendency to overlap.
In addition, the attention should be also drown to the issue of unemployment. This point can be the subject of separate discussion, so, briefly, permanent unemployment often leads to the homelessness. In addition, substance abuse and the wide spreading of particular diseases are also usually connected with life of vagabonds. It is impossible to state what has come first – either abuse and disease or homeless life – as in each situation the answer may differ, but the fact is that these social phenomena are often overlapped as well.
Last but not least, there is one reason, which is too rarely researched – namely, the social causes of homelessness. People usually see consequences, and too rarely try to understand the roots of homelessness. We are not interested in what made today vagrant appear on the street, why he or she is excluded from common social circle, etc, whereas such questions are the most crucial ones. In fact, researches show that homeless men and women have experienced disengagement from social groups that function to link people into mainstream society at any level of social class, in the years preceding their homelessness (Schutt, Garrett 100).
4. Policy Options. Obviously, there are various approaches to considered problem. For instance, one way is to provide approachable medical care for those of homeless, who suffer from different abuses, as well as to provide mentally ill homeless with sheltering and proper care. What is more, in spite of conquering with consequences, it is also highly recommended to prevent them, for instance, by sound propagandizing of the benefits of healthy lifestyle among less prosperous or socially insecure people, who are likely to appear on streets.
In addition, the issue of unemployment should be actively addressed as well. For example, it is a good idea to pay attention to skills, interests and previous work experience of homeless people, instead of proposing them exclusively manual, uncreative work.
Considering financial opportunities, it is also advantageous to facilitate those homeless people, who dedicate many efforts to the improvement of one’s life, with some social benefits. Those people should understand that society does not stigmatize them as criminals, but on the other hand society also would not pay and care for them without any substantial reasons. Instead, society is interested to be enriched with one more active and open-minded member.
This policy is very close to the necessary campaign of resocialization of the former homeless, which is considered as workable solution to considered public policy challenge.
5. Solution
Taking considered arguments into account, homelessness is not primarily an economic problem, not primarily a housing problem, and not primarily a psychiatric problem, but it is a social problem in the richest sense of this much-abused term (Wright 90). Consequently, the key solution should be connected with social aspects as well.
In other words, if we address only some causes of homelessness (like unemployment or poverty), the root will still be over there. Therefore, the best and the most efficient way is to combine all aforementioned policy options, emphasizing exactly the social points, doing our best to returning the homeless of yesterday into their common (or new) social circles.
Works Cited
Schutt, R. K., Garrett, G. R. Responding to the Homeless: Policy and Practice. New York: Springer Science & Business Media, 2013. Print.
Wright, J. D. Address Unknown: The Homeless in America. New Jersey: Aldine Transaction, 2009. Print.
Ciment, J. Social Issues in America: An Encyclopedia. New York: Routledge, 2015. Print.
