Homelessness in America, Especially Looking at Children Essay

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homelessness in America, especially looking at children and families who are homeless. Homelessness has always been an issue in America, but today, there are even more homeless people in the country because of the economic crisis. People have lost their jobs and their homes, and have nowhere to go but the streets. Homelessness used to be viewed as an often solitary issue, but today, many families with children are homeless, and that leads to a dim view of the future for these families.

First, it is important to define homelessness. Two authors write, "It is usually accepted that those who sleep in public places or squat in derelict buildings are homeless" (Chamberlain, and Johnson 35). However, there are many other ways to define homelessness. Families living temporarily in shelters are homeless, and so are people who are hospitalized or institutionalized that have nowhere to go on their release. So are people who are living with friends or relatives because they are displaced or cannot afford a home of their own. Today, because of the economic crisis, there are many families finding themselves with nowhere to go, so homeless shelters are filling up, and more people are on the streets. That is a frightening statistic in a country that is so advanced in so many other areas.

For many people, the definition of homeless began in the 1970s, when a majority of the homeless were adult men. The two writers continue with, "The image of the elderly, disheveled man living rough, possibly with a mental health or alcohol problem -- the dominant characterization of the homeless population in the 1970s and early 1980s" (Chamberlain, and Johnson 35). Today, however, we understand there are many other types of homeless people, from single mothers with children to entire families. The two writers believe that homelessness is a concept similar to poverty. They write, "Homelessness is a concept like poverty. When poverty is conceptualized as an absolute concept, it refers to situations where people have insufficient resources to maintain even the barest level of subsistence" (Chamberlain, and Johnson 35). Homelessness follows the same idea. The homeless do not have the resources to maintain even the barest level of a home, and often that is directly due to poverty.

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When families are homeless, it presents even more problems. In many cities, homeless shelters are segregated between men and women. That means families cannot stay together, and that is a huge problem in keeping at least some semblance of normality in the family. Two other writers note, "Limitations on the availability of public assistance and a booming, then faltering, economy have destabilized millions of families and ultimately forced thousands into homelessness" (Nunez, and Caruso). These authors note that family homelessness was relatively unknown two decades ago, but after a downturn in public spending and social programs during the Reagan administration, the numbers of homeless families rose dramatically. They continue, "On average, homeless families are substantially younger, less educated, and poorer than those of the 1980s. In essence, an entire generation has been notched down into a chronic poverty that claims homelessness as one of its most defining characteristics" (Nunez, and Caruso). Poverty is often the reason these families are homeless, but there can be many other issues at work as well. For example, a family can be homeless due to domestic violence, health issues, child abuse, lack of education to get a decent job, lack of job skills, and many other issues. Single mothers, who have few job skills or the promise of well-paying paying employment, head many homeless families. Another shocking statistic about these families that are often separated from each other in shelters is that 26% of them are employed (Nunez, and Caruso). The problem is that they are employed in low-paying jobs that do not give them enough wages to afford even minimal housing. Many high-paying jobs have moved out of the country or simply disappeared, and workers are replacing them with low-paying jobs that do not offer enough money to pay for even the most basic housing (Nunez, and Caruso).

The issue of family homelessness has been growing in the….....

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