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Daeton Taylor
Homelessness, what is the cause?
Homelessness, what is the cause?
The causes of homelessness and how we can help
Homelessness throughout America has been a problem since the mind 1640’s. (Fischer, Robert. 1) Whether caused by their own actions, the actions of others, or just bad luck, a recent study done by the Department of Housing and Urban Development has shown that over half a million people, 552,830 to be exact, were homeless on a given night during the holiday months in 2018. Currently, that number is only on the rise. With homelessness being such a problem throughout the country, in addition to its number seeming to only increase every year, what is the main cause of this? Since no one really chooses to be homeless, how does one end up in such a tough situation? Along those same lines, what can be done to prevent matters from getting worse?
What is the Cause?
When you see someone sitting on the street who is homeless, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? In your opinion, why is that person homeless? Many people today believe the reason someone is homeless is due to their own actions. Things directed to drugs, alcohol, dropping out of school, or many other possible reasons. Although some of these scenarios are true, there are many different factors that go into someone losing their home and ending up on the street. Everlyne Rotich in her article “Being Homeless: Reasons and Challenges Faced by Affected Women,” helps us to better understand some of the factors that contribute to someone becoming homeless.
She explains,
Homelessness often resulted from orphanhood, family problems arising from alcoholism, marital disagreements among participants’ parents, polygamy, and participants themselves being in unstable marital relationships. Other reasons for being homeless include searching for means of survival and unwanted and teenage pregnancies. . . The homeless experience challenges including the lack of basic needs for themselves and their children.
There are many different reasons someone may become homeless. Illustrating this topic on even simpler plain, the National Law Center of Homelessness and Poverty breaks it down by mentioning, “domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness. the country report that top causes of homelessness among families were: (1) lack of affordable housing, (2) unemployment, (3) poverty, and (4) low wages, in that order.” In other words, there are multiple different factors outside of self causing issues that lead someone towards homelessness. We all have seen homeless people at points in our lives, and I’m sure many of us have had thoughts that come our mind that reflect similar to what has been previously stated. It is vital, however, that we alter our views towards those who are homeless and come full circle to the fact that the situations these people are facing are not centered around their own mistakes, rather, they are primarily due to uncontrolled and outside circumstance.
How Can We Help?
As a result of homelessness rising more and more each year, what is there to be done? How are we able to provide and help those who are in need? While it is important to participate in organizations who help combat the effects of homelessness, there are even more simple ways we can do to help. All of us are human. We all deserve a decent place to live no matter who we are or what events have taken place throughout our lives. Imagine if you didn’t have a home to go to tonight. What would that do to physically? Mentally? Psychologically? Having a home provides much more than just a warm place to sleep. When someone has a home, that person is much more likely to have peace and stability in their lives. It’ll help propel the individual to do more and overcome any trials. To help us understand what we can do to help, Jeff Olivet, the CEO of The Center of Social Innovation, in his article “4 Ways to End Homelessness” emphasizes that, "Until we see one another as equal human beings, worthy of living happy and fulfilled and connected lives, we will continue to think of the world in terms of “us” and “them”—a world view that is, I believe, fundamentally flawed. . . Creating a strategy for social inclusion and social connectedness must be part of our thinking in our work to end homelessness” As we go about our day-to-day lives witnessing the effects of homelessness, being able to look at these people as people, individuals who are no different than you and I, is going to be the most basic yet impactful way we can help.
When all is said and done, homelessness is a problem. As it continues to grow worse every year, it is vital that able individuals like you and I understand that there are simple yet effective ways we can contribute to preventing this number from rising. There are thousands of people in every city who do not have a place to call home. Recognizing this issue, it’s primary causes, and knowing we can make a difference, overtime we can begin preventing this matter from getting worse, and slowly but surely we can have a dramatic impact on these people’s lives.
Olivet, Jeff. “4 Simple Ways to End Homelessness”. www.huffingtonpost.com (2017) Web. 16 Feb 2019https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/4-simple-ways-to-end-homelessness_us_58a45fe9e4b080bf74f04294
Rotich, Everlyne, et al. “Being Homeless: Reasons and Challenges Faced by Affected Women.” African Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, vol. 6, no. 1, Jan. 2012, pp. 41–48. EBSCOhost, libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=104522110&site=eds-live.
The National Law Center of Homelessness and Poverty. “Homelessness in America: Overview of Data and Cause”. www.nlchp.org (2016) Web. 18 Feb 2019.https://www.nlchp.org/documents/Homeless_Stats_Fact_Sheet
Parker Wood
Understanding the Real Life Issues and Stigma around Homelessness
Homelessness is a universal issue that effect many different people all over the world. One reason I decided to study this topic and see how we can help is because of the many people I see on a daily basis who are homeless right here in Utah. We may be driving to the grocery store and see someone panhandling with a creative sign, or we might just be walking downtown somewhere to see people living on the streets. We also need to understand the correlation of increased homelessness in LGBT youth, women, children, and veterans. As a child I always thought that these people must’ve been bad and because they were bad they were homeless, but as I have gotten older I have realized that is not always the case. Homelessness can affect many different people from all walks of life and the issue is only getting worse.
Here in Salt Lake there have been some changes in new shelters that are being constructed throughout the valley currently to help accommodate the rising numbers of homeless people. These changes have caused many issues due to the moving of these shelters to new parts of the valley. There are currently three new shelters under construction, one of which has caused most of the issues with community backlash. It is a new 300 bed shelter near the Jordan River in South Salt Lake. This has caused the community to be concerned with the possibility of drug use and crime to go up in the area with the completion of the shelter. These new shelters are to be a replacement for the downtown shelter on Rio Grande. In an article from the Deseret News by Katie McKeller, she explains, “Last year the issues in Salt Lake City’s Rio Grande neighborhood reached a boiling point. Before State leaders stepped and launched Operation Rio Grande, the streets around Road Home’s downtown shelter were a hotbed for open air-drug dealing, drug use and violence.” These concerns caused the former Salt Lake County Mayor, Ben McAdams to secretly spend a night in the men’s portion of the shelter. What he found was very concerning to him so he decided this needed to be addressed and changed. Since this new initiative the streets around this area have seen a substantial drop in crime. Although this helped this part of the city other neighborhoods have seen a rise in homeless activity.
Issues in Utah
Utah had been a beacon for quite a few years of helping reduce the homeless population and it caught the eye of many across the nation. In an article written by Gregory Scruggs, he explained, “…Utah reduced chronic homelessness by 91% over the decade leading up to 2015.” They attribute that drop to a program called ‘Housing First’ which focused on getting people unto housing regardless of mental illness or substance abuse problems. The article continues, “The mistake we made was stopping. Utah’s 2018 report said that the number of people sleeping outdoors in the state has nearly doubled since 2016.” This is a substantial number which may seem very intimidating to some. State officials say that there are a combination of different factors for the rise in the issue, including rising land and housing costs in booming US cities, stagnant wage growth, and the nationwide opioid epidemic. Not only are people who are homeless have a higher chance of being addicted to different substances, there is also a much higher chance of these people being on the streets due to families kicking them out because they are gay, veterans might suffer from PTSD, or people with mental illnesses might have been abandoned.
Who is Homeless?
According to the Washington Post, LGBT youth represent about 7% of the homeless population. These kids were either forced to leave their homes due to families kicking them out, or they might have been facing emotional or physical abuse. There are also staggering numbers for those who have served our country. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, there were approximately 39,471 homeless veterans in 2016. These statistics show how alarming is should be for us to take action and to realize that most of these people who are homeless have faced immense heartache in their life. These stats show that many of our homeless are or were teens who might have been kicked out of their homes, people with mental illnesses who were abandoned, or veterans who have experienced postwar trauma.
The few issues in this report that might cause homelessness may be surprising to some. These issues are real and effect many different people from different walks of life. Not all homeless people are on the streets due to addiction or other issues. These facts hopefully may show that most homeless have been dealt a bad hand in life and that they should be treated with respect. The stigma and fear that many people have around homeless people is valid, but if both sides come together to understand then more of the people who are suffering with have the necessities of life.
Peter Do
Homelessness Struggles
Everyday there are homeless people without food, shelter, and clean water. There are so many homeless people whose live we can impact daily and help decrease the population. Getting people out of homelessness won’t be easy. There are going to be a lot of challenges we are going to have to face like proper hygiene/ health issues, poverty, and a starting point. But there many organizations in the community who are trying to help the homeless. But to start them off they would need proper hygiene and better health.
We all know that living on the streets can be difficult and tough to keep clean. In the article “Homelessness” by Jennifer Christian and Alexandra Howson they discussed the important health issues this may cause. In the article they asserted, “Shelter is a basic requirement for health, and lack of it contributes to a range of health problems.” Helping the homeless get into any type of shelter home can impact and change their lives dramatically. These can be a beginning point for them to start a better lives for themselves. Consequences of being homeless is the health issues and what diseases they can catch. The authors stated the health consequences; including increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases, mental health problems, physical impairments, morbidity and mortality. There are so many ways we can help but this is only the beginning.
In order to decrease our population rates we would need to get the homeless out of poverty. Poverty has been one of the main trends in relation to home in the last ten years. The wages have stayed very low in many “service sector jobs” like housekeeping, janitorial services, and fast food industries. But the cost of living has aggressively gone up. Due to that causes people to become homeless and struggle to keep a roof over their head. Housing is a big factor because with these low wages the basically can’t even afford a low income housing. Studies from “Losing Homeless” by Amien Essif shows that “few people on minimum wage are able to channel 30% of their income into housing, nor will 30% of their earnings be sufficient to purchase or rent accommodation.” Poor people are frequently unable to pay for housing, food, childcare, health care, and education.
A starting point can mean the world to someone being homeless. I remember when me and my girlfriend started dating she made me give money to this homeless man. The smile on his face was precious and I knew that he needed it more than me and this could help him get something to eat, get a bus stop, just something enough for him to better himself. In an article “Get Back on Your Feet Guide for the Homeless” by Mike Brown he expresses “The first and most important step is seeking out the right assistance program, either through local organizations or the government.” With local organizations everywhere there are plenty of starting points for the homelessness. Even a small act of kindness like giving them five dollars or an apple can go a long way.
In conclusion, being homeless is not easy. There are plenty of ways we can help out the homelessness community. There are going to be a lot of challenges we going to have to face like proper hygiene/ health issues, poverty, and a starting point. But as a community we can help them now and in the long run. All they need is some help and a little encouragement. If we all came together and help we will see change and the population decrease.
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