OUR RESEARCH

What is homelessness?

Homelessness is when somebody doesn't have a home or decent housing. It most commonly occurs when a low-income (doesn't earn enough money at work) family/person can't afford rent, or when someone is left on the streets with no money.

Homelessness has a lot of different reasons to why it occurs. So what are the causes of homelessness?

What are the causes of homelessness?

As said before, homelessness has a number of different causes, but the most common cause is low-income (which is the daily payment from work). There are many low-income families living in ramshackle buildings and homes, but sometimes, when they can't afford a roof over their head anymore, they end up on the streets. Most of the homeless population in the world is made out of families, but the homelessness population on the streets of Hong Kong is mostly made up of middle-aged men. However, over the years, there has been a recent increase of women on the streets, as well as younger people aged from 40 - 50 years old, whereas before, the homeless were around 50 - 70 years old, at average.

Another reason includes substance abuse, which is when someone excessively uses drugs or consumes too much alcohol and they might waste away because of it. Often, people with mental illnesses (such as depression, anxiety, amnesia, schizophrenia, or PTSD - post-traumatic stress disorder) use drugs and alcohol to help forget their problems. Drugs are expensive and so is alcohol. The person taking either - or both of them - usually spends too much money and ends up without enough basic necessities. 

Some reasons people become homeless:

• Refugees: people fleeing from another country, arriving at a safe area, but either there is no cheap housing, no available homes, or they are stranded with no money and have to live on the streets with no food or water.

• People who run away, mostly from domestic violence: if someone suffers through domestic violence (aggressive behaviour) at home, then they will most likely run away, because a life on the streets is better than their current life.

• Divorce: divorce is a nasty thing, and if someone loses the rights to their kid or money, as well as their house, then they would be stranded on the streets with not much to live on.

• Disabilities: if someone has a disability, such as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), or physical disabilities like being paralysed, deaf, or blind, then it could affect their work, and they might be fired, leaving them with close-to-no money.

• Unemployment: if someone had never gotten any work in the first place, perhaps because there were no job openings, and their family was in another country and they didn't have enough money, they would also be on the streets (however, this situation is likely uncommon, because they could most likely ask a family member to help them with their problems).

• Health issues: if someone were to get cancer or some other, nasty disease, then they would have to pay for the treatment and most likely use all their saved money in the process and they would get kicked out of their house (see: evicted) for not paying rent. 

• Unequal distribution of necessities: sometimes, in some countries, the government spreads their resources all across the country, but it's unequal, meaning the richest of the country get the best items and the lower ranks of the country are left with practically nothing at all.

• Bankruptcy: If they started a business that hadn't really soared, then they wouldn't have enough money in profit to pay for the rent.

How can I help?

There are plenty of ways YOU can help and yes, I mean YOU. Homelessness is a very serious problem in our world, especially in Nigeria, where there are 24.4 MILLION people living on the streets, due to Nigeria's lack of cheap housing and unequal distribution of wealth, resources and land. And if this problem seems insurmountable, then you should look at what everybody's already doing to help:

See? There are small things you can do to help, but if everyone does this ONE tiny thing to help the homeless, then we can stop homelessness and provide the people who sleep on the streets with safe, cozy homes that they don't have, like we do.

And now, the ways you can help...

• Give a blanket or some food and water to the homeless people! After all, someone needs to survive the harsh life on the streets by themselves.

• Donate some money to your local charity or NGO (non-governmental organisation) to help with homelessness! A small donation goes a long way.

• Volunteer at an NGO! A lot of organisations are always open and they would appreciate a helping hand at any time of the day, depending on when they're open. 

Did you learn anything new about homelessness?

 Not-So-Fun-Facts:

Did you know that Nigeria is the country that has the highest homeless population? Nigeria has 24.4 million people who are homeless (twenty-four million, four hundred thousand!). 

BUT, the country with the least amount of people homeless is Japan. Japan has around 3,448 homeless people, because the government prioritises building safe, public housing for every homeless person on the street, unlike some other governments. 

Most of the population of homeless people is made up of families of 3 - 4 people.

Over the years there has been a definite rise in the amount of homeless women and single mothers raising their children.

Even if someone is homeless, that doesn't mean they don't have a job. Most people do have jobs while they're homeless, but they're paying for other things such as medical bills, food, water, or other necessities.