Los Angeles is well known for its overpopulation, tall structures and ideal weather. It is portrayed as an ideal place to live. An issue that is often over looked and ignored is the homeless crisis in Los Angeles. In a 2015 Los Angeles Times article, “How Los Angeles’ homeless crisis got so bad” Shelby Grad and Gale Holland, question the severity of the homeless crisis through various questions. For instance, “Is the homeless population really increasing?”, “Why is this happening?”, and “Is there a cycle of homelessness among the working poor?”…
Julie Adkin 's “The View from the Front Desk: Addressing Homelessness and the Homeless in Dallas” explores upon the prevalent homelessness issue by studying one of the meanest cities; Dallas. She explores the misconceptions of homelessness and the homeless by expanding in depth about the reality of their situation. Adkin also discusses the reactions and actions taken by governmental agencies and nongovernmental agencies to alleviate the extremity of the persistent problem. Two important points she stresses is the lack of opportunities and resources the homeless have and the problem with the strategies used by national and local agencies to deal with the rampant homelessness issue. Clearly, the problem of homelessness is not adequately dealt…
Feature story critique The feature story written by Alan Semuels revolves around the homelessness issue in New York City. Specifically, she talks about an element of homelessness that is often underlooked. She does a great job using a primary source in former homeless individuals who were able to overcome such an obstacle (McCrea and Calvin Bennett) and using a source in someone who manages one of the supportive-housing buildings (Jeff Nemetsky) how the solution she mentions can mitigate the issue. With respect to the lead, improvements can be made.…
Homelessness has been an issue for Americans since the foundation of our country. Although the issues faced by those without a home have changed, many characteristics have remained constant over the years. For example, shantytowns have played a large role in American homelessness from the Dust Bowl to modern day. John Steinbeck’s groundbreaking novel The Grapes of Wrath shows the life of migrant workers in the 1930’s.…
Homelessness is a very serious issue not only in our area, but all over the United States. According to statistics, there are approximately 578,424 individuals that are experiencing homelessness(National Alliance to End Homelessness). This epidemic, so to speak, is so widespread that it reaches into every state and impacts every community. In most cases, the people who are homeless cannot help that they are without a home. The circumstances of the homeless individual’s position could be that they were laid off their job or couldn’t make the payments of their rent or the house foreclosed.…
Throughout his memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, Nick Flynn discusses the varying causes of homelessness in America. He discuses every topic from mental illness to poverty, drug abuse to alcoholism, and how each had there own effect on the homeless. While there are a multitude of possible reasons as to why someone is living on the street, Flynn focuses on the effects it has on an individual and on the reactions of society. Flynn calls attention to the rampant crisis of homelessness in America through the use of personal reflection, metaphor, and symbolism. The memoir is riddled with social criticism, and challenges the reader to understand homelessness in its full capacity.…
The primary purpose for researching this topic is to inform the readers on homelessness. Also to give them insight on how and why homelessness is a crisis. Throughout the paper I will solely focus on homelessness in America. I chose this topic because of what happened to me and my brothers during my 7th grade year. We slept outside of our old house for a night.…
According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, “homelessness occurs when people or households are unable to acquire and/or maintain housing they can afford”. People who are living in poverty have the highest possibility of becoming homeless. Homelessness in America can be improved if the government developed employment, housing, and mental health assistance. Since 2007, the government has implemented several programs and in doing so, homelessness has been on a steady decline.…
New York City’s population is nowhere near the small town of Chadron, Nebraska’s 5787, New york has a population nearly 1500 times our population at 8.4 million. Out of all the people living in New York 1 in every 152 people are homeless putting them at 55,000 people that are homeless and have no where they can go. A little over 3,000 of them don't live in homeless shelters. There are 14,000 families that live there everyday lives on the street. Alone children take up almost half of the homeless with 24,000.…
The New York city has people living on the streets. They are people who are homeless, this problem must be resolved urgently. The problem of homeless is a very important . That these people without living because he doesn't have a job or alcoholic or drug addict or mental illness.…
Abstract: Homelessness in the United States is an important issue that in the past has been under studied. The homeless in the United States face the monumental problem of increased hostility from local governments and business owners who see the homeless as economic burdens. Homeless people also have the problem of not being able to meet basic needs. This paper explores the geography of homelessness and the multifaceted aspects that contribute to homeless. Introduction:…
They identify policies as a key factor when addressing homelessness; they state that “Workable and effective policies addressing homelessness need to be based on a clear definition of homelessness.” They go on to state that “older outdated policies only address minimal issues of homelessness and failing to recognize the dynamics involved will result in less effectiveness. “Good practice” policy incorporates changing how homelessness is seen and by addressing the housing psychological and social needs of the homeless, as well as integrating across programs and increasing independence through capacity building.” Another key factor related to the homeless issue is inequality among residents. Greene, S., Pendall, R., Scott, M., & Lei, S. (2016) argue that “cities drive economic growth in high-income countries, creating hubs of innovation and generating an outsized share of national wealth.”…
The steadily increasing rate of homelessness in Chicago is a social justice issue that is difficult to ignore. It is nearly impossible to walk down Michigan Avenue without noticing the countless shivering, hungry people begging for spare change. But the people we see on our everyday route to school and work are only a very small portion of the thousands of people suffering throughout the city. The National Health Care for the Homeless Council defines homelessness as “…an individual without permanent housing who may live on the streets; in a shelter, mission, single room occupancy facilities, abandoned building or vehicle; or in any other instable or non-permanent situation”(1). Chicagoans may think they know about the issue of homelessness…
During my sophomore year of high school, the issue of homelessness within Idaho was called to my attention as my sociology teacher had shown my class a news broadcast on the “Hiding the Homeless” project. The goal of this so-called project was to clear up the streets of Idaho by ticketing and arresting the homeless and in turn converting homelessness into a crime. When asked to decide on a topic for this essay, my mind immediately came to the idea of homelessness in Idaho due to my previous knowledge and encounter with the concept. In order to find materials/supporting evidence for my topic, I looked mostly towards news articles and governmental reports for my statistics and data, while leaning more towards journals and magazines in order to connect with the idea on a personal level.…
Growing up in a southern Alabama town of less than 10,000 residents, I was not truly aware of the issue of homelessness. Homelessness was only a subject which I had seen in the news and in movies. However, when I became a peer helper as a junior in high school, my perception soon changed. I became part of a peer mentoring program, in which I counseled underprivileged and troubled middle school students. Through this program I discovered that homelessness was not a problem rooted in major cities, for it lied even in a town as small my own.…