Homelessness: Who Are The Homeless?

Homelessness: Who Are the Homeless? When we think about people who are experiencing homelessness, we usually think about adults. Sadly, many of those experiencing homelessness every day, are young people. These youth sleep in cars, shelters, and abandoned buildings. Living on the street makes homeless youth more vulnerable to crime and therefore impact society financially. The vast majority of these youth have been thrust into homelessness by life altering event or series of events that were unexpected and unplanned. Contrary to the belief that homelessness is primarily the result of major traumatic event or physical and mental disabilities, there are many factors that cause homelessness in the U.S.; homelessness is, in fact, caused by …show more content…
These youth often turn to drug trafficking, prostitution, and other forms of criminal activity in order to survive, particularly if they become homeless at a very young age. Poverty and desperation make some of those youth turn to crime. This further decrease their chances of finding work and escaping their situation. Crime can be effectively controlled by punishment because criminal activity is a choice. But homelessness is not a choice, so those efforts that are geared at punishing the homeless for the circumstances they face are …show more content…
It may sound simple, but directly asking the homeless about their situation began exploring, prevailing myths about homelessness, such as the notion that homeless people want to be homeless. They sprawl on the streets, sidewalks outside of downtown businesses, refusing to meet our eyes, with most of us looking away. Anyhow, homeless youth seemed determined to hold us at a distance even as their cardboard sign beg us for money. They build bond with small groups that feel like surrogate families, and teach group members to encourage each other in behaviors that will lead to better life. Successful programs such as, TANF, crisis care, and outreach program can help by stabilizing these youth through shelters, along with permanent supportive housing for these youth and implementing assistance program to keep them in their housing will help reduce the homeless