It is very difficult to define clearly homelessness and find out exactly the number of homeless people in America. This research paper is just going to discuss who is homeless, the reasons why people become homeless and how to solve this problem. Homeless people in this research paper may be whole families, men or women, those who have job or no job, children, the elderly, the mentally disabled, veterans, victims of domestic violence, and people with HIV. Who are homeless? Homeless people are poor people.
After all, the roof keeps the rain out; what more do these homeless people want. Anything else would be a simple matter of choices that people can and should make themselves. Defining the problem so it’s theirs( not ours): You know when you hear people say…” He’s a drug addict.” “ She’s a drunk.” “ She can’t support her kids.” “ He really doesn’t want to work at all.” “ Her parents kicked her out.” “ Most of them have mentall illness, you know.” From these statements, the victim is seen to be beset by personal problems brought on by personality flaws, invidual pathologies or circumstances created by his or her own decisions. Blaming the visctim is one of the easiest things we can do. Defining the problme so that it’s someone else’s: Governments, politicians, bureaucrats, at all levels, federal, provincial, municipal, are all frequent users of this strategy.
Dan Murray teacher English 112 April 9th 2011 We Should Not Discriminate the Homeless Many Americans live just a few paychecks away from homelessness. Being so it seems that most would have certain sympathy toward homeless people. However, it’s quite the opposite. Even as people see those around them, people they were once friends with, become homeless, the fears and hatred remain. Some people fear and hate homeless people so much that even if they know the people, such as when their sibling becomes homeless, they apply those same hatreds and fears to the people who cared for them.
The most shocking of all to me was to find out that veterans of the armed forces (like myself), make up some of 23 percent of the homeless population. (The Urban Institute Press, 2001) Before talking with this man who was a Vietnam veteran I thought homeless people were lazy and didn’t try hard enough in life to maintain a simple lifestyle. I asked myself, how can someone become homeless if all the right things are being done to avoid this situation? This Vietnam veteran spoke of all his war stories, what countries he had seen and how much he had wished he was still in the armed forces. To hear how proud this man sounded when he spoke of his accomplishments would make one think he was a hero.
Vulnerable Population University of Phoenix Health Assessment and Promotion for Vulnerable Population NUR 440 Abstract According to Fitzpatrick-Lewis, Ganann, and Krishnaratne (2011) “Being homeless negatively impacts health as people who are homeless or marginally housed have less access to healthcare and poorer health outcomes than those living in stable condition” (p. 2). In America, people are becoming homeless for a variety of reasons. Some homeless people have addiction problems, some are illiterate, mentally ill, and they are veterans as well. On the other hand, others have experienced a string of bad luck and joblessness. At the end of the day, having no roof over their head is a hard reality that homeless people faced.
The Concept of Program Reengineering Mayor Schell’s Zero Homeless Family Pledge Week 7 Assignment 3 Professor J. McCue PDA 500 [Type the author name] 2/18/2012 For a variety of reasons, people find themselves in homeless conditions. Solicited donations to homeless citizens are sometimes used to rent hotel rooms to escape unforgiving weather. To support other critical needs and objectives, homeless citizens need a reliable and secure place to sleep, especially overnight. Otherwise, family, employment, health, emotional states and overall functionality will be at further risk (humanitytest.org). Cities often find themselves unable to sustain the shelter needs of the homeless population, primarily due to financial constraints.
It turns out that people not only careless, but also rude and label homeless as “undesirable” or even “trash”. “Untouchables” shows how homeless people survive while others are trying to get rid of them or evict from the streets. There are many thick and gruesome examples try to play with the guilt of people. In addition, they do not have any compassion because they do not understand what the homeless people are going through. "Attitudes towards the homeless have gone from indifference to pitying to hatred," says Kozol.
According to a study by the U.S. Department of housing and Urban Development (HUD), there were 671,888 homeless people in the United States as of January 2007, including sheltered and unsheltered population. HUD defines homelessness as lacking a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. The number of homeless fluctuates with the health of the economy (2011). Homelessness raises the susceptibility to disaster events. Some of the barriers that may prevent these groups from obtaining needed services are: The lack of health insurance, a home, financial problem, mental illness and physical inability to do for themselves.
People like the Catholics, someone with a physical disability, people with mental disabilities, alcoholics, widows, orphans, the elderly, or anyone who was perceived to not be strong enough to carry their weight in society was asked to move on (streetnewsservice.org, 2010). All those people were considered a transient class of people. These people were homeless, moving from place to place looking for some place to settle and not finding anywhere that would take them into their community. It was a new world filled prospects, but not for everyone. The Great Depression of 1929 was also a great contributor to the number of homeless in America.
They assume that I should be just as able-bodied as them since they can’t “see” my disability and use oppressive words like lazy and ‘no good for nothing’ which only leads to further denigration of an already awful feeling. It also makes me feel even more isolated and alone because I internalize the oppression and my negative self-talk continues to tell me that I am the only one who truly understands. This form of oppression is what stopped me from reaching out to get help for my mental illness for many years. The stigma (negative stereotype) of mental illness which we are often led to believe through outlets like the media, caused me to fear what others may think about me and so I didn’t speak to anyone about my mental health until it was so unmanageable that I had to be hospitalized. Before that, I lived many years with the debilitating symptoms of depression and anxiety without any medical or therapeutic intervention.