Summary: The Epidemic Of Homelessness

The figures are shockingly at around 55,000. 17. One of the most vulnerable homeless populations is the LGBTQ. There is around 110,000 homeless LGBTQ youth in America. They also make up to 20% of the runaway youths in the

The United States is a successful, marvelous, wealthy, and powerful country. However, one major issue that our country has, is homelessness. It is a sorrow for those who walk down this phenomenal country to witness the homeless lined up on the streets begging every traveler for a dollar. About 565,000 people are homeless a year. Furthermore, about forty six percent of this population live with a mental illness or disorder, therefore causing drained health care and shelter resources because they cannot compensate for what they receive.

There are more than 500,000 homeless people in America (Johnson). There are many reasons and causes for people to end up living this way, but the biggest cause is tragic life events, for like loss of loved ones, job loss, domestic violence, divorce, and family disputes. Other reasons for homelessness are depression, untreated mental illness, PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), and physical disabilities ("Top Causes of Homelessness in America."). Many people see homelessness as a bad thing and an issue, but it does serve a purpose in society. Homelessness can be seen in many different ways.

Homelessness and Functionalism      The social problem that I chose was homelessness. Homelessness has increased by 8% since 2011-2012 to more than 225,000 people in 2014-15 and in 2011 censers 105,237 people where homeless. As also the unemployment rate and the domestic violence rate which both are increasing as well as these are some of the big factors . The biggest reason homelessness is  domestic violence. We look are homelessness and functionalism and  how on a macro leave how it affects homeless.

Winkleby, in the article, “Physical, addictive, and psychiatric disorders among homeless veterans and non veterans” suggests that out of a survey taken in three shelters in California, 423 out of 1,431 homeless were veterans. In her article, Winkleby says that that combat and non combat veterans were at a higher chance of excessive alcohol consumption. However, combat veterans were at risk twice as higher of psychiatric hospitalization and physical injuries. Marilyn A. Winkleby states that these disorders could have been delayed before complications became major. This relates to my topic because a lot of veterans are exposed to serious mental issues and aren’t receiving any help from the government instead many are going homeless along with mental

Homelessness in America has become a traumatic way of life for so many over the past decade and has changed tremendously since the Great Depression. During those times, many of the homeless were either elderly or white and now you will find homelessness doesn’t discriminate and that it can consist of any race, age or gender. What is homelessness? According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “a homeless person is defined as an individual who lacks housing (without regard to whether the individual is a member of a family). Including an individual whose primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private facility (e.g., shelters).

Many of the incarceration rates for African Americans are about six and a half times greater than that of Caucasians. African Americans make up close to thirteen percent of the U.S. population, yet they happen to represent thirty-eight percent of violent crime arrests. The prison population accounts for forty percent of the African Americans incarcerated. Racial disparity exists mainly due to the mass media and the emergence of crack cocaine. Poverty also goes hand and hand with racial disparity in the United States.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s “Million- Dollar Murray” he takes on the plight of chronic homelessness. He uses Murry Barr as an example of how much money is spent on those living in chronic homelessness. Murry Barr had the larges medical bill in the entire state of Nevada; “It cost us one million dollars not to do something about Murry.” Reported officer O’Bryan. The reason for this claimed is that it might be more cost affective to take the homeless off the street and give them a home. The author theorizes something called power law theory or distribution which means that not all homeless end up in chronic homelessness or that they will run up a million dollar medical bills.

Area of Conflict Homelessness can be understood in the perspective of conflict theory, which holds that capitalism is one the main reason for homelessness. “Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned”, (Ayn Rand). There are many reasons why a person becomes homeless, an increasing number become homeless each year, with up to 5,000 people becoming homeless every year. Generally the experiences that lead to homelessness are determined by poverty and structural inequality. Causes can be divided into the following.

It is disheartening when the homeless is being treated poorly by other people. Some people think of the homeless as someone who is inferior or dirty. But , in spite of the all those negative stereotypes you will be quite surprised by how some of the homeless have a positive outlook maybe because they go through a lot more in life, they learned how to live life and not just simply surviving it. There are about 3.5 million Americans who are homeless each year. Homelessness will always be present.

According to Homeaid America, as many as 3.5 Americans are homeless. Of these, more than 1 million children and on any given night, more 300,000 children are homeless. Theres many causes of homelessness: lost of family member, domestic violence, splits between spouses. “Other impairments, such as depression, untreated mental illness, post traumatic stress disorder, and physical disabilities are responsible for a large portion of the homeless” (HomeAid).

Although homeless is becoming more prominent in America, it is not something to be taken lightly. Around 10 percent about us citizens are homeless in America. Around 30 percent of those remain homeless for years. As much as 25-45 percent of homeless people are a victim of substance abuse. Around 15-25 percent of the homeless community have some sort of mental illness.

Homeless in America has been growing over the past 20-25 years. over a million people are homeless all over the world. 643,067 people experiencing homelessness of any given second. Most people are spending the night either in homeless shelters or in some sort of short-term transitional housing. Slightly more than a third are living in cars or under bridges or are in some other way living unsheltered.

In areas of the country in where this model has indeed shown promise through results, it is yet to be determined if this approached has and can worked in the county of Los Angeles. As of today Los Angeles county holds the highest population of homeless individuals in North America. At a mere glance many can argue, that it does not do enough to solve this problem. Simply by taking a drive by the city’s largest concentration homeless individuals, Skid Row can convince any detractor or disbelievers that this model has fallen short. Under served and under valued, on any given night thousands of homeless people attempt to find solace in the downtown areas between 7th and 3rd street.

When homelessness occurs, it takes a toll on both the homeless individuals and the community in which they reside in. According to the City of Colorado Springs (2013), it costs $57,760 to serve a single chronically homeless individual within our community. This cost includes medical treatment, incarceration, police intervention, and emergency response. Further research by the city suggests that price can drop as much as $30,000 annually when a homeless individual is placed in a permanent supportive housing unit (City of Colorado Springs, 2013). Looking away from the monetary value this problem brings, those who live within the homeless community are in need of support.