Progression Out Of Homelessness Essay

Maintaining homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and other such programs to support the homeless are necessary measures, but do little to end homelessness. In Nishio et al.’s Causes of homelessness prevalence, a poll among 114 homeless individuals found approximately half believed their homelessness derived from their unemployment (Nishio et al., 2016). Of course, unemployment is a byproduct of any capitalist economy and is an entirely different problem to tackle. Nevertheless, prospective employers hold potential employees to a certain standard, such as having a residence, a reliable mode of transportation, and testing negative to a drug-test. Homeless individuals usually do not have a permanent residence, nor a reliable mode of transportation, and some suffer from chemical dependency. Progression out of homelessness is not a simple process, nor is it always linear; comparably progression in either mental health or chemical dependency often involves relapse. A program must acknowledge the turbulent nature of recovery and forgive, to a degree, mistakes made by those within the program. …show more content…
As stated in Fitzpatrick-Lewis et al.’s Effectiveness of interventions, housing provision is an effective intervention to reduce substance abuse, increase abstinence, and reduce medical service use of those suffering from substance abuse in the homeless community (Fitzpatrick-Lewis et al., 2011). By providing those suffering from chemical dependency in the homeless community with a solid foundation, the city could construct a steady path to exiting homelessness. It would also prevent extreme measures some homeless individuals take, such as committing petty crimes to go to prison, as prison provides a place to sleep, food, and medical