Studies show that, low income home energy assistance program benefits seem to reach families at the highest social and medical risk with more food insecurities have higher rates of low birth weight children (Frank, 2006). The reason behind this is that the money for food is spent on the electric bill when no assistance is provided. In result many children are born with a low birth weight and some even experience a life line of hospital visits. Some children even have a hard time focusing in school because of the lack of energy. Children are blocked from living a somewhat normal life all because the household could not get the financial assistance needed in order to help with their electricity
Foreclosures have hit an all time high, and unfortunately some people were allowed to finance beyond their means and now have become homeless too. According to The National Coalition for the Homeless, “Housing assistance can make the difference between stable housing, precarious housing, or no housing at all. However, the demand for assisted housing clearly exceeds the supply: only about one-third of poor renter households receive a housing subsidy from the federal, state, or a local government. The limited level of housing assistance Campbell - 2 means that most poor families and individuals seeking housing assistance are placed on long waiting lists.” Not being able to afford housing does not mean that they are completely without a source of income. Many people that become homeless have jobs;
For a family of four that level is $22,000 annually or less. The thing, is a lot of people have to live way under that level because the jobs that they can get do not pay much at all. Many high school students are dropping out of school to get restaurant jobs to help their families out. Also, people who want to go back to school to better their lives can’t because the cost is too much and there is not enough aid to pay for college. Because of the recession many Americans are forced to leave their houses and move in with family.
HOMELESS IN AMERICA Nothing in this changing world is guaranteed, none of us are exempt from becoming suddenly homeless. To most people, America seems to be the land of endless opportunity. A place to come to make a better life, to find a job and live out your dreams in the land of the free and the home of the brave. However, we in America all are suffering due to the plunging economy and still rising cost of living. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, there are about 672,000 homeless in America, with the most being reported in Florida.
However, after doing a little research about what causes homelessness in America, my opinion has somewhat changed. I still believe that anyone can work hard enough and if have the right priorities in their life they can become successful, for example in the movie starring Will Smith- “The Pursuit of Happiness.” However my opinion has changed somewhat because of the fact that some homeless people can not control living with no home. Causes of being homeless could be because of a natural disaster (hurricane, floods, earthquakes, etc.) that has destroyed a persons home or workplace. Another big cause of homelessness is people not having health care.
Even outside urban communities, this has become a common sight at busy intersections and freeway off-ramps. As many as 3.5 million Americans are homeless each year and of these, more than 1 million are children, which on any given night can total more than 300,000. Homelessness has so permeated the American landscape that it may seem that the social conundrum has always been a part of our society. However, homelessness is a thoroughly modern phenomenon and primarily an economic problem. It is affected by a number of factors such as people not wanting to help the poor, lack of or limited income and those affected by disabilities.
With the economy faltering, the homeless epidemic has risen amid a lack of funding and resources. Providing information and outlets to the poverty-stricken and homeless are imperative to the reform of these individuals and society as a whole. Oftentimes, we view a person’s predicament with “colored lenses”, not fully analyzing the causes and circumstances that have led to their current state of homelessness. Because a large number of Americans have never been downtrodden or lived below the poverty-line, it is somewhat inconceivable for them to understand how one can fall into such a beleaguered state. This is where the mental health provider or counselor is needed most, providing an empathetic view as well as offering assistance in recovery and re-acclimation into society.
To solve this market failure, government intervention seems to be the only feasible solution so far. The government can either subsidize or ban unpaid internships. However, subsidy is not reasonable because based on cost-benefit analysis. It costs the government too much to solve this market failure. On the other hand, banning unpaid internship opportunities is not effective because if business could not afford to provide internships, young graduates cannot gain experiences and provide positive externalities to the society.
Every year, more than 200 million children under five years old fail to reach their full cognitive and social potential. Most of these children live in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. As a result of poor development, many children are likely to under-achieve in school and subsequently to have low incomes as adults. As adults, they are also likely to have children at a very early age, and provide poor health care, nutrition and stimulation to their children, thus contributing to the intergenerational transmission of poverty and poor development. Despite the overwhelming evidence, the health sector has been slow to promote early child development and to support families with appropriate information and skills.
Because there were no child labor laws in the 19th Century as opposed to today, children did not have time to play with friends or get an education like most children in the 21st Century. To start, during the industrial revolution women and child labor were in very high demand. They worked more than 12 hours a day in coal mines, factories, chimneys, and other jobs. Children and women only received a five minute break for lunch and recreation. Most people of the 19th century raised concern for many women working.