Analysis Of Ignoring Homeless Families By Greg Kaufmann

Summary: “Ignoring Homeless Families” by Greg Kaufmann

In the article “Ignoring Homeless Families,” Greg Kaufman claims that increasing family homelessness is not an accident, rather it is the result of the horrible decision made together by us, the people of the nation, and the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to “abandon homeless children and their families.” First and foremost, Kaufmann’s main point in the article is to explain why family homelessness is increasing. Well, it is the result of the decision made by us and the HUD and also because we are focusing our “fiscal and human capital” only on single adults. The statistics provided by Kaufmann prove the previous point made because there has been a 13 percent decline in “chronically homeless single adults,” whereas at the

Moving on, the second point Kauffman makes in his article is, that even though there is a goal set by the federal government to end family homelessness by 2020, some advocates argue that the housing first approach is not the best way to fix this problem. This is because “It’s a whole different dynamic for families,” explains Volk, who operates shelters and housing for both single adults and homeless families. For instance, Kaufmann gives an example of a single adult who can live on Social Security Benefits ($770 per month) in Wisconsin with a “fully furnished apartment with utilities paid,” whereas a single mother has to apply for TANF ($653 per month, no matter what the size of your family is) and this includes no help, so she would pay all the utility bills and provide resources to all challenges that she and her child will face. Finally, the last point made in Kauffman's article is brought up by Dana Anderson, who is a director of ICHP. Anderson points out, that rather than preparing families for the outside world, we are putting more “emphasis on getting them out of the shelters quickly.” Volk agrees with Anderson and