Natasha Olivera
Exploratory Essay
Homelessness in America: Disparity Amid Prosperity
Homelessness has been affecting societies despite of economic stability and the overall wealth of the nation. It is seen as a stigma and directly associated with the concept of marginalization. There are the conventional notions of people sleeping in a cardboard box or addicts concealed between the alleyways of streets. Yet the homeless include those who live in their cars, in temporary shelters, abandoned buildings, and cheap motels. They are individuals who lack sufficient resources and who can not afford adequate housing. But what defines a home? Homelessness is about more than rooflessness. A home is not just a physical …show more content…
In a section titled “Causes of Youth Homelessness,” it first stated that the “same factors that contribute to adult homelessness such as poverty, lack of affordable housing, low education levels, unemployment, mental health, and substance abuse issues, can also play a role in the occurrence and duration of a youth's homelessness.” These were good points that brought up questions in regards to parent-youth relationships and some of the long-term effects, which I decided to come back to later. Furthermore, it said that beyond these factors, “the phenomenon of youth homelessness is largely a reflection of family dysfunction and breakdown, specifically familial conflict, abuse, and disruption,” which I agreed with. Though the article did not specify further, some types of conflicts that came to mind were disputes over risky behavior such as promiscuity, opposing views on discipline, and sexual orientation. When it comes to domestic abuse there are many layers including physical, emotional, sexual, and mental that, along with the conflicts, leads to the deterioration of families. The brief continued to say that youth usually enter a state of homelessness as a result of running away from home- which the desire and reaction of escaping from these predicaments is understandable- or from being abandoned by their guardians. Additionally, it stated that family conflict is “more critical for youth than adults since they are, by virtue of their developmental stage in life, still largely financially, emotionally, and, depending on their age, legally dependent upon their