Homelessness can be a detrimental experience as a result of being exposed to constant stress and unpredictable weather. It may lead to families and individuals having to find a temporary refuge in an unsafe environment, or obtain food from resources that can be harmful. Individuals and families caught in these predicaments frequently are ineptitude in areas of housing stability, managing money skills, coping skills, and support systems which would be significant in helping them modify hardships. As a result, a vast proportion of homeless families, individuals, and children have been exposed to a variety of traumatic occurrences such as childhood abuse, domestic violence, combat-related trauma, sexual assault, and the like.
The exercise to establish the number of homeless people in the United States is of critical significance. Homelessness poses immense challenges to efforts aimed at controlling infectious diseases and renders the homeless at immense risk of serious mental and physical health effects. This subject is particularly becomes sensitive on considering the significant number of homeless veterans in the US. Especially in the recent past, homelessness has emerged as a costly problem. In his seminal article in the New Yorker recounting a story of a homeless alcoholic man, Gladwell (2006) observed that homelessness costs the taxpayers considerably and focus ought to be given to housing provision and supportive care. According to Gladwell (2006),
Veterans and our soldiers are coming home from war or getting out of the military and when they get home they can’t afford rent or they have a mental disease from war. Homeless veterans tend to experience homelessness longer than non-veteran homeless. This should not be happening to our soldiers. This is very undesirable for our troops to come home and becoming homeless. They fight for our freedom and our rights and we repay them by becoming homeless. Us Americans should be helping our troops when they come home.
With the increased use of housing-based assistance programs being created, there is a positive outlook for homeless looking for assistance getting back on their feet by acquiring affordable housing. The ability to apply and gain benefits through state and federal programs is helping to provide food and some financial assistance to the homeless population as well as a community outreach programs being deployed in cities all over the country. New opportunities for employment and training are available for those who are homeless and looking to get back into the workforce and get off the street. The road ahead for the homeless population is, of course, paved with struggles and detours, but with the continued efforts of our country, states and communities we can work together to aid in the reduction of homelessness with the continued efforts in creating and maintaining affordable housing programs, assistance programs, and workforce development
A lack of affordable housing and the limited scale of housing assistance programs have contributed to the current housing crisis and to homelessness. The National Low-Income Housing Coalition estimates that the 2017 housing wage is $21.21 per hour, exceeding the $16.38 hourly wage earned by the average renter and greatly exceeding wages earned by low income renter households (NationalHomeless.Org). Today, 11 million extremely low-income households pay at least half of their income toward housing, putting them at risk of housing instability and homelessness. The solution to housing the homeless is straightforward. By connecting the people experiencing homelessness to housing and the services needed, so that they may have a platform from which they can address other issues that may have contributed to their homelessness, such as employment, health, and drug abuse. There are two housing models that have been proven to effectively end homelessness. Permanent supportive housing, and rapid re-housing. Permanent supportive housing, is long-term rental assistance and supportive services. This type is targeted towards individuals and families with physical and mental health issues or substance abuse that have experienced long-term or repeated homelessness. Rapid re-housing provides short-term rental assistance and services. The goals are to help people obtain housing quickly, increase self-sufficiency and stay housed (EndingHomelessness.org). Housing is key to ending homelessness, there is simply not enough affordable housing and without this housing many homeless are likely to continue to cycle in and out of
On any given night, approximately 49,000 American veterans are homeless, men and women that served our country and fought for our freedom (Unique Issues). Most are suffering from traumatic brain injuries, physical disabilities, and some are over the age of 50 (Unique Issues). Veteran homelessness continues to be a persistent problem. A system in which increased funding goes to housing and providing care to veterans would drastically help these peoples if not homelessness will continue to grow because of the United States’ involvement in the Middle East.
In my experience, my homeless clients have engaged in high risk health behaviors and neglected their health. These high risk behaviors include substance abuse, criminal activity, incarceration, and unsafe sex practices. As a result these individuals experience high disease burdens and mortality rates. Boston Health Care for the Homeless estimated that the total annual expenditures from ER visits was $16,011,738 annually (Thakarar, Morgan, Gaeta, Hohl, & Drainoni, 2015). “Multiple factors have been identified as predictors of frequent ER use in homeless persons such as older age, previous hospital admissions and emergency room visits, multiple primary care visits, perceived inadequate mental health care, poor health status, and HIV” (Thakarar, et al., 2015). Previous studies have shown that homeless individuals are frequent emergency room (ER) users and this leads to high health care costs (Thakarar, et al., 2015). Several clinical trials have shown that interventions such as intensive case management programs, assertive community treatment teams, or supportive housing can reduce frequent ER visits and hospital costs. (Thakarar, et al., 2015). The cost of providing case management needs to be weighed against the value of
Homelessness amongst veterans is a very big concern in the United States for those returning from the military. According to the Annual Homeless Assessment Report (2014), it was estimated that there were about 49,933 veterans out at night (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs). That is a big number for people who were out there serving our country and sacrificing themselves and putting their lives on the line. Many of them are coming to be in this position because of transition issues, substance abuse, mental health issues and housing limitations. We must be able to understand and relate to these issues that the veterans are having in order to help them overcome the homelessness and find housing and employment.
An epidemic is raging through the country: one that is a war on its own. It is the homeless veteran scourge. Homeless veterans have become a common occurrence in today’s society; they can be seen sitting in the street of nearly every metropolitan area of the United States. The men and women who so bravely defend the nation have been abandoned and left unprotected on the streets. This tragedy must be put to an end. While some believe that creating local housing programs that aim to assist the veterans who have lost their homes is the only solution to the homeless veteran problem, the only logical answer is to create federal programs to sponsor and financially support service members when they get home. The number of homeless veterans in the
According to Tampa Crossroads, a nonprofit homeless assistance center, approximately 900 of those homeless persons in Hillsborough County are Veterans. These numbers are extremely hard to validate and do not take into consideration those Veterans that are in jeopardy of losing their place of residence within the next two-week
In 2009, President Obama and Secretary Shinseki committed to ending homelessness among Veterans with the Policy H.R. 806 (Bill, 2011). In support of that effort, the Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness in 2010 developed by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) established as one of its goals to prevent and end homelessness among Veterans in five years. (Balshem H, Christensen V, Tuepker A, et al, 2011)
Psychological, emotional, and mental abuse which are linked together, the abuser uses emotional abuse to wither away their partners self-esteem and reduce their confidence to increase their reliant on the abuser. Tactics such as criticism, intimidation, isolating them from their family and friends to gain control over them(Lwa,2018).
The strengths that I saw in the video, Domestic Violence: Role-Play of a Therapy Session, were strength, conviction, determination, hard worker, devoted wife and mother.
Research tells us that more than eighty percent of the massive homeless population include children, women, and families that experience a life-altering event such as a natural disaster, abuse, job loss, or medical condition that makes these people homeless left to fin for themselves on the streets. Most of the time all these people who are homeless need a second chance to come back into the world and live a normal life with family and friends. These people need to secure self-sufficiency, and acquire some form of permanent