As according to the U.S housing department and the urban development, and the homeless rapid transition and emergency assistance act of 2009 categories the homeless in four classes. The first being those that are presently homeless, the second class covers them that will be homeless eventually in the pending future, also the third class are those families and youths with children suffering from hardship and home instability. The last class covers those who encounter domestic violence and also home instability. The causes for this trend of the humongous amount of people whom are homeless vary in nature some including the following below.
The department of urban development and housing in the year 2012 realized that about 633,782 individuals all across the whole America occurred to be homeless. The trends thankfully are having a downward trend, in the year 2007 a 6.8% reduction of homelessness among individuals have been noted, also a 3.7 % reduction in the homeless families, then 13.1 % decrease in the population of the unsheltered homeless. The greatest of all is the decline in the chronically homeless people by 19.3%. It comprised of about 62,619 veterans whom were established to be sadly homeless.
As per the Mayors conference in the U.S in the year 2008, the consistent most cited reasons of homelessness in Los Angeles for individuals and families occurred to be lacking and in-availability of affordable and decent housing, this was given as a reason by about 72 % of the homeless, about 52% citing the reason as being poverty, and others said it was unemployment which contributed a 44%. The proposition to assuage homelessness entailed offering more housing that is decent for individuals living with disabilities and was at a 72%, establishing more employment to the jobless and homeless elicited a percentage of 68%, while building and constructing more housing units reached a whole 64%.
Urban poverty can be a major reason but it is too general in scrutinizing the situation. Stagflation and economic crisis that faced U.S and are still facing it have caused high unemployment rates. Lack of efficient housing projects in the urban areas and especially affordable ones to accommodate the poor has led to the huge homeless people. Since many homeless people are the neglected ones especially the mentally ill, this was caused by the move to deinstitutionalize the systems of mental health and institutions. The U.S, particularly Los Angeles is faced with natural disasters which are responsible for destroying the homes. Foster children tend to become homeless after being released from the previous foster care. Those released from prison and those that flee from domestic violence make up the homeless community.
In the downtown part of Los Angeles known as Skid Row, the highest population of homeless people is observed being about 3,000 - 6,000. The sidewalks can be seen to be lined with tents, cardboard boxes, shopping carts and many homeless people. This led to the centralization of homeless people services in Skid Row Los Angeles. The services and organizations that take care of their concern entails the America volunteers, Rescue Mission Union, Jonah project, mental health of downtown, Weingart Foundation, Midnight Mission, and also the USICH whose mission is to ensure the effective coordination of the homeless by the federal and establish every level partnership to end and reduce homelessness and also increasing efficiency of the government in reducing the plight of the homeless.
Conflict theory can be used to effectively address the problem for it establishes that groups and individuals in the society usually struggle to optimize their resource share which is limited. Considering that the said resources are limited and not sufficiently sustainable, the effort and struggle inevitably direct to competition and conflicts. It can be seen as a power struggle which many people blame it on the capitalist nature of the system structure. Los Angeles can be seen to suffer from this problem of homelessness due to failure in institutional capacity and also high poverty levels in the state. The conflict theory explains the reason behind all this competition especially in the urban areas and also the conflicts that are bound to happen because of the battle of supremacy in the social status. Although land is also a factor limiting space for effective housing in Los Angeles, poor planning strategies and lack of proper policies can also be blamed for this problem.
Crime and drug abuse in relation to homelessness can be seen in Skid Row Los Angeles as a major cause of homelessness. According to the conflict theory, criminal justice and subsequent crime in society is meant to favor the powerful in society while disenfranchising and subjugating the poor and lower class in the society. The society will always favor the powerful and mighty but discriminate against the poor. This causes the chain of the poor getting poorer while the rich getting richer. The criminals from jail and drug addicts whom have been alienated from the society more often than not tend to be of the lower middle class and the poor in society. In the street they are left at their own mercy because it is a ‘man eating man’ society. The conflict theory without any doubt backs up the reason why all this happens precisely.
In discord to the American dream, U.S.A holds a lot of social and economic inequality. Although it purports that mediocrity and equality are the guiding principles. The conflict theory suggests that society have been corrupted with a lot of power inequality and wealth inequality. This disparity causes serious social implications of the homeless community and makes them lack effective health care and education opportunity. This further deteriorates the situation and makes them languish in poverty inhibiting their social mobility and living standards. The main reason for their existence is because of the levels of inequalities exhibited in the society. It is seen that the smallest proportion of people in society that is the wealthy, have the most of the resources and opportunities making many others in the society to live in a state of lack.
Social stratification is an element of the society in America especially in Los Angeles. This is the social hierarchy of defining social classes on the basis of prestige and power. This structure main objective is to control the poor. This creates a conflict between both the classes and the gap is consistently being increased between the poor and the rich. The public attitude to the homeless is very negative and the public should be advised no change their mentality on the homeless of viewing them as criminals and beggars. The law also is so punitive to the homeless and inhibiting and limiting them in all ways to live as normal people.
The programs aimed at alleviating the situation are numerous including agencies like America volunteers which work at achieving the eradication of homelessness in the society especially in Los Angeles. They help in offering emergency shelters and also transitional housing for the homeless. Not only housing is provided by the agency but also programs on preventing substance abuse and self-sufficiency to alleviate their living standards. It is through the conflict theory that the issue can be identified, scrutinized and enable the establishment of capable institutions with the required capacity to handle the situation appropriately. An example of the said agency which deals with grassroots issue and applies the principle of equity can manage to handle the homelessness situation with time.
Another program that which should be applied appropriately is the housing first program. This program is an establishment of the council of the government interagency on homelessness. This deals with the homeless individuals suffering from mental health problems and substance abuse. By using a private apartment which is community based, the homeless tends to get a sense of belonging and this makes them better and empowers them subsequently. With this program, it is believed that if the homeless individuals are offered independent housing for a start, with the availability of effective social supports, consequently it would be considered of no use having emergency shelters for the homeless.
Homelessness although not a good thing in the cities and society should be approached in a way that tries to know exactly as to why the person is in that condition and situation and not always locking them in jail and viewing them as societies rejects. Psychologically, it does a lot of harm than good and does not help in assisting to change the situation. In skid row Los Angeles, we can get to learn that the government shows a lot of double standard nature in the way it approaches the homelessness situation. Although it stands for equality and human rights principles, it deliberately neglects the lesser in the societal strata and makes the society believe that it’s all about the power and prestige to achieve in the society.
Health issues affecting the homeless range from HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections caused by prostitutions and lack of good health care.
Drugs and substance abuse comprise the highest levels that affect the health of the homeless due to disillusionment. The Organizations’ that are helping alleviate the situation have done a commendable job but are still faced with myriads of challenges. This comes about in the inadequacy of funds to enable the easy running of their projects, ineffective policies to control the homeless nature and also lack of political will to execute the programs of minimizing homelessness. Capitalism is there to blame and the systems in place in society only make the homelessness worsen because of individualism.
References
Hombs, Mary E. Modern Homelessness: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC- CLIO, 2011. Print
Rowe, Stacy, and Jennifer Wolch. "Social networks in time and space: Homeless women in skid row, Los Angeles." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 80.2 (1990): 184-204.
Sears, Alan, and James I. Cairns. A Good Book, in Theory: Making Sense Through Inquiry. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010. Print.
Wood, David, et al. "Homeless and housed families in Los Angeles: a study comparing demographic, economic, and family function characteristics." American Journal of Public Health 80.9 (1990): 1049-1052.
Zastrow, Charles, and Karen K. Kirst-Ashman. Understanding Human Behavior and the Social Environment. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning, 2013. Print.
