Homelessness is a human tragedy, especially in world’s largest economy, community members live in tents, under bridges. They are vulnerable to violence and stripped of dignity and collective respect. It has great impact on us whether we experience it or not. Homelessness is a worldwide problem. U.S is not an exception. It is also a great economic problem for a country because they stay outside of the main economic steam. Being the world’s one of the largest economy it is trying to eradicate the problem in many ways. There are certain reasons which creates homelessness problem. It also greatly affects the homeless people physically and mentally. Government has certain policy to support the homeless people and giving them opportunities to be the part of mainstream society.
Homelessness
There is a myth about the homeless people is they choose to be homeless. People often blame them they are accountable for their actions and the consequences result from these actions. Some people mistakenly believe that every person in the society gets equal opportunities and benefits. Indeed it is not true. No one chooses to end up in the roofless street intentionally.
How changes in definition create differences
McKinney Act of 1987 defines the homeless person as an individual or family who lacks fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence. Family or individual who uses a car, park, abandoned building, bus or train station as primary and regular nighttime residence will be regarded as homeless. With the change of nature of homelessness and in response to the criticism the Act was significantly amended under Obama Administration in 2009. The act was signed into legislation as Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act. According to this act, more people have come under homeless act due to the change of the definition. Now people who are facing difficulties to pay rent, people staying in hotel or motel for more than 14 days, Chance of the families to lose house immediately will be considered as homeless and people has little chance to have permanent residence will be considered as homeless people.
Homelessness in United States is a vital issue for public health. The conditions of homelessness can create infectious diseases such as tuberculosis may put the homeless people at risk. Various surveys show that the number of homeless people grew dramatically during the 1980s. It is argued that the number of homeless people is more than the estimated number. The reason of this underestimation is the hidden homeless people who sleep in boxcars or roofs and many people tried to conceal the fact for social causes (Link et al., 1994). This group of people is vulnerable in many aspects. They experience the poor physical and mental health relative to the adults who have residence. There is a multiple health risk behaviors can be contributing factors to these disparities.
Homelessness: Causes and Effects
There are many reasons behind the homelessness of US. Tragic life occurrence like loss of loved ones, loss of the main earning member of the family, job loss, divorces, domestic violence and family disputes etc. are considered as the causes of homelessness. According to Reitzel (2017) There are some causes which are bi-directional such as depression, mental illness, post-traumatic stress, imprisonment etc. high cost of divorce, serious illness, and disabling accidents may deplete the economic capability of a family and push them to the street.
Homeless people are prone to many psychological disorders. Poor physical and mental health may be caused by common sleep problems such as inadequate sleep duration, non-restorative sleep quality. They cause to fall asleep during the day. The examples of mental disturbances are anxiety, depression, psychosis, hypertension etc. poor physical and mental health increases the premature mortality. Researchers mentioned that imprisonment is one of the main reasons behind the homelessness (Kushel et al., 2005, p. 1749). They found that the relation between the homelessness and imprisonment is bidirectional. Homelessness may increase the risk of imprisonment by a likelihood of getting arrested. And imprisonment can precipitate homeless by disrupting family and community.
The sleep disorder and other physical and mental breakdown can be created by drug abuse. There are some other issues are also associated with homelessness such as socioeconomic status, lack of health insurance, unemployment, lack of social support etc. negative emotions and intolerance may occur due to continuous distress. Such negative emotions lead to criminal behaviors (Reitzel, 2017).
Strategies adopted by private and government agencies to eradicate homelessness
Shelter
The charitable activities for the Housing Readiness Model work under the assumption that the homeless people are not ready for housing. The goal was to provide shelter, food and stabilize the mental health. The Denver Rescue mission is a non-profit and a nondenominational Christian homeless service. The mission houses for homeless people and runs the city’s emergency overflow shelter. Their capacity, safety, and living conditions lead people to argue either there is a reason to live outside in street. But some people prefer living outside because of some conditions such as pets are not allowed, restrictions on the belongings they want to hold inside. Many homeless people complained that it takes a lot of effort to get in and that’s why some sleep outside (Link, 1994). The officials have acknowledged the need for shelter improvement. But they also confirmed that the shelters are safe noting the shelters are run by the non-profit groups
Healthcare programs
Homeless people are susceptible to disease and have greater difficulties in getting proper health care. Heterogeneous nature of this subgroup and regional variations create difficulties to provide medical assistance. Healthcare problems arise from developing the treatment plan. As there is no fixed address it is difficult to supply medications. Isolation from the society is against the establishment and maintaining relationship explains the reasons for lack of motivation (Dorney-Smith et al., 2016).
Several programs have been developed for homeless people before mid-1980s. Some models were very effective for service deliveries and these were modified later with changing conditions. Shelter-based clinics bring services to homeless people health care developed clinics at shelter locations. The rescue mission is operated by the group of volunteering networks of doctors, nurses, and social workers. It relies heavily on the private donations but some of these have begun to have the local government’s financial support. To better manage the health issues an innovative design to help the complex patient is designed to support the homeless people of Los Angeles. Research study shows a substantial drop in the use of medical and mental health service among the participants of the program. That program saved 60% in medical and public service cost (Dorney-Smith et al., 2016).
Educational support
US Department of Education released the guidance for the support of youth and children educational program. A new provisions Every student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has been created for homeless youth. It will guide the local and state partners to ensure the educational rights and necessary protection for homeless youth and children. There is a serious problem occurs when homeless children strive to get an education is community schools. They feel uncomfortable to make a relationship with other children. The teachers reportedly said that most of the times homeless children have some behavioral problem which makes them unacceptable to other children. Educational researcher Baakeel states “Continued change and instability impacts [students’] ability to connect with adults and can’t establish long-term friendships with children” (Baakeel, 2014, p. 862). They also emphasized that the success of a student depends on the communication between home and school. Moreover, the homeless people are regarded as dangerous and violent.
Government policy
The government also designed a policy to meet the needs of homeless subgroups. Government is funding 10 different programs through its many authorized federal agencies such as Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Education (ED), Health and Human Services. The federal budget for homeless people was $2.62 billion in 2009. The government also allocated $1.5 billion for homeless prevention (Baakeel, 2014).
To fight the homelessness problem National Alliance to End Homelessness and U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness started to encourage the communities to develop strategic plan to end homelessness in 10 years. It was thought that needs of these communities are same but communities were different and the needs were also different. The idea was to end homelessness that requires the community-wide solution. No single entity is capable to solve this problem alone. The primary goal was to remove chronic homelessness within 10 years (Link et al., 1994). Chronic homelessness means homelessness more than at least one year.
There are five components in the 10-year plan. To track the homeless people a database has been created and the municipal and county worked as an integrated unit. They tried to solve the problem permanently by investing resources in permanent housing programs. The question is, whether the plan is working or not? Asheville has reduced chronic homelessness by 75% and the overall homeless population was decreased by 24%.
References
Baakeel, O. (2014). Homeless Teenagers: The Growing Segment of Homelessness in the US. British Journal Of Education, Society & Behavioral Science, 4(7), 857-868. http://dx.doi.org/10.9734/bjesbs/2014/7234.
Dorney-Smith, S., Hewett, N., Khan, Z., & Smith, R. (2016). Integrating health care for homeless people: Experiences of the KHP Pathway Homeless Team. British Journal Of Healthcare Management, 22(4), 215-224. http://dx.doi.org/10.12968/bjhc.2016.22.4.215
Kushel, M., Hahn, J., Evans, J., Bangsberg, D., & Moss, A. (2005). Revolving Doors: Imprisonment Among the Homeless and Marginally Housed Population. American Journal Of Public Health, 95(10), 1747-1752. http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2005.065094
Link, B., Susser, E., Stueve, A., Phelan, J., Moore, R., & Struening, E. (1994). Lifetime and five-year prevalence of homelessness in the United States. American Journal Of Public Health, 84(12), 1907-1912. http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/ajph.84.12.1907
Reitzel, L., Short, N., Schmidt, N., Garey, L., Zvolensky, M., & Moisiuc, A. et al. (2017). Distress Tolerance Links Sleep Problems with Stress and Health in Homeless. American Journal Of Health Behavior, 41(6), 760-774. http://dx.doi.org/10.5993/ajhb.41.6.10
