Dallas city leaders don’t perceive “homelessness as the problem; rather, they perceive the homeless as being the problem” (226). Their ignorance and restrictive mentality prevents any change, especially since they refuse to understand the full dynamics of the complex situation and their role in orchestrating it. Their “solutions” don’t involve the creation of shelters, more funding on social services, or even advocating for the development of affordable housing. Instead, they fixate on criminalizing them for engaging in certain behaviors to survive due to their incompetence. Evidently, this raises the question: “Why don’t political leaders create more shelters and programs to help the homeless instead of jailing them, when it is less expensive?”…
Visualize yourself unemployed receiving a final note from a bank, stating that within a week all occupants of the house have to dislodge. In consequence, you will become homeless, a parasite to society. without any place to go and rest, you have to trespass a bridge or rest on a bench, now you are committing a crime and surely you will be imprisoned as criminal that you are product of your economic collapse. A majority of homeless individuals have been suffering such harsh reality due to their poverty. Barbara Ehrenreich, a political activist and author in her essay “Is it Now a Crime Being Poor?” discusses the problems of the US correctional system about the treatment of homeless people.…
Urban Rejects: Why the Homeless Still Sleep on the Streets of Sacramento The existence of homeless people in our society is still apparent today. There are over 2,538 men, women, and children homeless in the Sacramento area, (Sacramento Steps Forward). Everywhere you glance around in our cities, parks, businesses, and streets it is more than likely that you will observe a homeless person grappling to live. Homelessness is not prejudice toward race, gender, or class.…
Financial burdens, mental and physical health, substance abuse, incarceration and sudden changes in family’s dimensions are some of the causes for homelessness (Somerville, 2013). One of the main reasons why people experience homelessness is the lack of affordable housing. Specifically, people in more urban areas are in need of additional housing and other resources such as education, and medical care (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2016). Although policy changes in regards of affordable housing have changed, it still remains a great challenge to the majority (Amato & MacDonald, 2011). In addition, incarceration is one of the risk factors that could potentially lead to housing loss and future challenges in employment, and housing due to their criminal record (McQuistion, Gorroochurn, Hsu & Caton,…
Why are the homeless criminalized? Is it because they lack the necessary tools to function in society, therefore, making them a liability? Because poverty causes them to break the law? Or is it for other reasons? American Society has long cast homelessness as a social problem while attempting to escape the reality that those without homes function in society with those who have homes.…
All throughout America you see homeless people either on the side of the road or in homeless shelters. People think that homeless people are lazy, which isn’t the case. Some aren’t able to work because of a disability. The ones with disabilities aren’t able to work and most likely don’t have anyone to take care of them. A variety of factors can contribute to homelessness.…
Issues Found in Urban Communities During the interviews with all three individuals, I ask them what they believe are the primary issues that they have either witnessed or experienced from their community. From the interviews I have concluded that there are three distinct themes that affects urban living: crime, poverty, and homelessness. Among some other issues the interviewees discussed include the cost of living, youth recreation activities, and how the city spent funds.…
Throughout the United States, thirty-nine cities have implemented policies that criminalize or target homelessness. These policies have gone to the extent where basic human activities such as sleeping are limited. Since the initiation of these policies, a homeless person can fall asleep only on private property, which is trespassing, or on public property, which violates the anti-sleeping ordinance. Since there is no way of winning, the homeless person must commit a punishable crime in order to get one’s sleep. According to Smith, “anti-sleeping ordinances violate the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause by effectively criminalizing the status of being homeless.”…
On any given day in the cities and towns of America, a serious social problem is ever present yet ignored by most. Men, women and children are living on the streets, in parks, in cars, in makeshift cardboard structures and in shelters all across our country. These are the poorest people in the United States. According to The National Alliance to end Homelessness, in January 2014, in a required census count, there were over 578,000 actual homeless people in communities across the country(2014). It is estimated that that number could be closer to 3 million.…
What’s the first thing that the human mind thinks of when the words homeless individual is brought up? Is it a middle aged man on the side of the road with ripped pants and a torn up coat, or is it a mother struggling to keep her family alive? It was recognized that the starting point of homelessness is followed back to when the pilgrims originated during the 1640’s, homeless people during this time period were considered dangerous and police were always on the hunt for them. In addition to this, towns during this time like Baltimore and Philadelphia had an increased number of homeless people than any town in America.…
Problem and Background There is a growing rate of homelessness in the United States and it is happening to individuals from all walks of life. Sub groups including veterans, children, families, senior citizens are the collection of homeless individuals. In the 2015 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress, 564,708 people were homeless on a given January night. Majority of these individuals (69 percent) were staying in residential programs for homeless people, and 31 percent were found in unsheltered locations. Twenty-three percent (127,786) of all homeless people were children, under the age of 18, nine percent (52,973) were between the ages of 18 and 24, and 68 percent (383,948) were 25 years or older.…
Discrimination A study conducted by the Australian Department of Criminology, found that on average homeless people are 13 times more likely to experience violence and 47 times more likely to been victims of theft. In addition to physical violence, sexual assault is at an alarming rate. This study also showed that 1 in 10 homeless women have been victims of sexual assault in the past year alone.…
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…
Any individual who walks through a major city is liable to see a homeless person. They lie on the streets, beg for money, and are generally considered unsightly by those fortunate enough to be in better circumstances; where a lack of stability and poverty intersect, homelessness will always be a given. The question that this brings to mind is how will society react – will these people just be left as they are, or will the government try and intervene for good or for ill? What sort of intervention – carefully regulated and limited job training and shelters with time limits and strict rules, or a gentle, unhindered support for as long as a person need in order to get back on their feet? The plight of the homeless people additionally evokes the…
Homelessness is something that has affected everyone in one way or another. Whether it be having a close relative or friend losing all they have had or having an encounter with a homeless person at a gas station. No matter who we are we all have faced homelessness more often than it should. Many have been able to get past the dirty, tattered, and shabby look homeless people have and treat them like a normal human being. Yet, a small population of individuals view homeless people as scum and treat them horribly.…