Homelessness in the United StatesEssay Preview: Homelessness in the United StatesReport this essayWhen you think of a homeless person, what comes to mind; bum, drunk, drug addict or lazy people not willing to work? This is not the case in many instances. People who experience homelessness are a diverse group of people with a variety of factors contributing to their homelessness. The destruction of the recession, including an increase in foreclosures and unemployment, has driven thousands of families onto the streets. In 2005 when hurricane Katrina wiped out New Orleans, it almost doubled the national ranks. “We saw a 34 percent increase in families and a 24 percent increase in homeless children last year alone.” (2009) One city has given hope back to the homeless community by given them a place to call home. Can we together change the way the average American looks at a homeless person?
“Last year, we saw a 34 percent increase in homeless families and a 24 percent increase in children.” (2009) The Urban Institute estimates in between 444,000 and 842,000 to be homeless at one point or the other. Although the number of homeless individuals remained relatively stable, the number of homeless families rose. “The typical homeless person has changed to become less focused on the chronically homeless or single individual homeless to somebody who is part of a family, whether it be a mother or a father or a child in a homeless family” (2009) According to the Washington Post, women make up 81 percent of adults in a homeless family. Unlike homeless men, who are usually middle aged, homeless women tend to younger than 25 with children younger than 5 years old. The average homeless person is not a man or a veteran anymore, more and more are homeless families.
Even during harsh economic times there are those who still believe that the homeless are homeless because they refuse to seek help. People often mistakenly believe that there is an abundance of resources available for the homeless. Unfortunately, there is not an abundant amount of resources to help the homeless rebuild their lives. I hear it all too often, “get a job”, “quit drinking”, and “druggie”. This is not the case though in a lot of circumstances. We as Americans should try to help the homeless instead of name calling and judging. There is shelters and soup kitchens that house and feed the homeless but not for long periods of time. It is a temporary fix for the homeless. It does not help them rebuild themselves in any way. It gets them off the street for the night and that is pretty much it. Shelters typically expect the homeless to exit in the mornings and they may return in the evening for a meal and a place to stay. They do not give them any structure or self-support to help them rebuild their lives.
Causes of homelessness are so widely stretched; we never know what the situation is. Many women are homeless due to an abusive situation. To escape the attacker they leave and in some cases it results in their homelessness. Another uncontrollable cause of homelessness is natural disasters. Hurricane Katrina is a prime example of this. When this hurricane hit, it wiped out the entire city of New Orleans. This left hundreds of thousands of people without a place to live or a job to support them. As a result of the recession and foreclosures, the rate has increased the homeless population about 25 percent. There are many underlying factors for so many to be homeless, so many of our fellow Americans cannot shake the burdens that has been thrown at them and have no choice but to remain homeless. Homelessness often results from circumstances beyond an individuals control rather
Crisis: A Brief History
Bethan Sullivan, a former Army Sergeant, experienced homelessness firsthand. At age 8, she started a business and lost her job to homelessness. In 2010, Sullivan was a sophomore in college that was working part time for a local high school football club. She decided to start her own business and saw a lot of things that were wrong with it. In 2012 she founded the People’s Network, a movement for people with disabilities to “Get Legal Help”.
Today, Sullivan is an experienced criminal justice advocate, legal strategist and legal blogger, helping to establish and strengthen an all-encompassing legal framework for people with disabilities in the San Francisco Bay Area. She provides legal advice, counseling and advocacy to the thousands of people seeking to become legal professionals, community leaders, and leaders of disability law across the country.
“It’s very stressful and it’s heartbreaking to see how very many the people we’ve seen have experienced homelessness, even as people are being held hostage by a lot of this horrible discrimination. But when I see a lot of people like me who have worked through it, we always find a sense of connection with the people, those who are trying to go through it and find answers to so many of the problems facing those people. One of the best things about the People’s Network was that we had the community and we offered so many support services and we were able to take care of so many of them and we provided solutions that we didn’t have access to. “We really had a great foundation here in San Francisco, a great trust in a network, a firm that would help people. “We did have an organization based in California called Children’s Justice, and this was after the earthquake hit and we were able to get some good guidance that we needed on how to do this. We had to go through this really emotional thing on our own, because we didn’t know where we were. “The Kids Justice Committee is part of the Kids Justice Network which is a new organization that we founded in October 2015, which we use as a place where we give everyone the tools they need and also bring awareness to their issues. “They’re not just like we’re talking about. It’s called the Kids Justice Action Network, which is an organization of our own, and it has this amazing mission. We don’t just ask for help ourselves, we give people the tools they need and they go out and help. “They’ve started to have that a little bit more. So we’re starting to look and grow into how we can reach out to our members on a case by case basis that’s less of another group of people and more of us and get them to participate in this program so that we can reach out to someone in some way where we can work directly with them. Once we get those pieces together, we can get the word out and we can get people talking about this issue in other places. So for now, we’re just trying to make this work as a very good business as we go forward.”
About the People’s Network
The People’s Network is a group of dedicated attorneys, lawyers and counselors whose practice focuses in the areas of health and social work, personal life, and community development who are currently homeless. They receive financial support and legal assistance from the California Department of Human Services.
You will see firsthand how difficult it sounds. A lot of the work required to do this project takes place on your own, not in your own apartment. The more time