Homelessness In America Research Paper

Homelessness in the United States
(Social programs that impact homelessness)
Nyria Madison
Liberty University

Abstract

Homeless refers to the people who do not have an adequate and permanent residence. They live and sleep in the streets or in impoverished shelters, under bridges, or on street curbs. Although homelessness, which is a construct of poverty, is an important issue in all countries, it is particularly if interest within the United States because it is wealthier that many other nations; yet, a much higher share of its population has income near or below the poverty line, resulting in millions homeless citizens. The social phenomenon has increased since the 1980s and many state officials and social aid organizations and institutions are addressing the issue head on. This policy analysis will use empirical research to reveal how poverty has a negative effect on communities and inevitably, the thriving of poor oppressed people, leaving millions homeless, when systems fail them. Also, this paper will discuss the current issues that America has with homelessness and also the history of this social woe. Additionally, you will read the social structural sources that are responsible for this social problem such as lack of employment, under education, institutional racism, which are just a few of the factors
constructing and perpetuating poverty, resulting homelessness. Moreover, it will include policies and programs that were implemented to aid the issue, and TANF, that perpetuates the phenomenon. This paper will also address who is held primary responsible for resolving the issue and will provide practitioners with insight, evidence based skills and approaches to assist in combating the phenomenon. Lastly, my personal thoughts and interest will be discussed.

Overview of social problems
Over 7 % of persons living in the United States have been homeless at some point in their lives. (Donohoe, 2004) A majority of homeless people counted were in emergency shelters or transitional housing programs, but nearly 4 in 10 were unsheltered, living on the streets, or in cars, abandoned buildings, or other places not intended for human habitation. (The State of Homelessness, 2012) The nation’s homeless population decreased 1 percent, or by about 7,000 people, it went from 643,067 in 2009 to 636,017 in 2011. The only increase was among those unsheltered. The largest decrease was among homeless veterans, whose population declined 11 percent. (The State of Homelessness, 2012)
The majority of homeless adults is not eligible for Medicaid in most states, and is also not eligible for Medicare. Besides the lack of health insurance, other barriers to care include denial of mental health problems and health problems; the pressure to fulfill competing nonfinancial needs, such as those for food, clothing, and temporary shelter; and misconceptions, prejudices, and frustrations on the part of health professionals. (Donohoe, 2004)
Homelessness has a history in America, as poverty has existed in some form of American society since founding of the Nation.
Poverty is directly related to homelessness. At the end of the American Civil War many people were left without homes and this started a new counterculture in the country that was given the name hobohemia. (NCPAH, 2011) During the Great Depression of the 1930s many families were no longer able to afford their homes and traveled along a migrant work trail to where they could find work. Over two million people were homeless at this time and suffered severely from hunger and extreme poverty. (NCPAH,
2011)
Also, de-institutionalization of the mentally ill unaccompanied by promised outpatient psychiatric and social services led to a large increase in the homeless, mentally ill population in the late 1970s. The number of homelessness grew in the 1980s, as housing and social service
Cuts increased. This was in part a consequence of the transfer of federal dollars to huge military buildup and consequent large budget deficits. (Pintcoff, W. 2000)
Causes of the social problem
There are numerous identifiable causes of homeless in the United States. The first issue to be discussed is economical causes which began during the foundation and development of the United States. This early predicament, however, was largely the result of two interrelated problems at the root of early capitalist development in America. That is, an “economy insufficiently abundant to provide subsistence for all the able bodied, and a social order that inequatiably distributed what wealth there was”. (Nieto G., Gittelman, Abad A., 2008) Moreover, “there was no unemployment insurance, little public welfare, and virtually no old-age pensions.” (Wallace, 2013) A healthy economy provides jobs involving the production, exchanging and distributing products in demand. Unfortunately, economic activities are unable to provide employment to everyone. (Wallace, 2012) This is one of the main causes of homelessness in the U.S. the lack of affordable housing. Many people have lost their jobs and houses because of this economic crisis. Also, many people who do have jobs are paid very little so they cannot really afford to pay rent. (NPACH, 2011)
According to The State of Homelessness 2012, the number of unemployed people increased by 4 percent from 14.3 million in 2009 to 14.8 million in 2010. The unemployed population increased in 32 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Unemployment rose by 10 percent or more in 11 states. The average real income of working poor people increased by less than one percent, from about $9,300 in 2009 to about $9,400 in 2010. There was not a single county in the nation where a family with an average annual income of $9,400 could afford fair market rent for a one-bedroom unit. (State of Homelessness, 2012)
Psychological issues can be another cause of homelessness. The 2008 Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation addressed psychological causes of homelessness involving substance abuse resulting in an unwillingness to work, or “doomed-to-failure” interpretations of their social and work environment leading to a kind of self-imposed poverty. (Wallace, 2012) People with
Substance abuse disorder can also drain financial resources, cause there job or house lost, and erode supportive social relationships. (Nieto G., Gittelman, Abad A., 2008)
On March 1, 2006 data gathered from the University of Maryland, addressed some environmental causes of homelessness resulting from natural disasters such as earthquakes or hurricanes destroying homes and displacing large groups of people instantly. Furthermore, environmental causes may also include manmade disasters involving war. (Vanneman, 2006)
Moreover, medical causes of homelessness involve an actual physical condition, inhibiting or disabling someone from providing adequate shelter for themselves. Lack of health care, for any reason, may cause a delayed diagnosis of severe health problems leading to loss wages, poverty and eventually homelessness. (De-Navas-Walt, C., & Proctor, B., Hill Lee, C., 2005)
Lastly and of extreme importance, Social welfare programs are designed to protect citizens from the economic risks and insecurities of life, such as poverty which inevitably can lead to homelessness; however, programs such as TANF, have been reformed, causing recipients to regress, falling at or below the poverty line. Due to many stereotypes, stigma and belief that welfare Reform Act was passed, which contributes to and perpetuates poverty, causing homelessness; despite the fact that Social Welfare is defined as “ principals, guidelines, or procedures that serve the purpose of maximizing uniformity in decision making regarding the problems if dependence in our society.” (Popple & Leighninger, 2001) Further, this supports that Social Welfare Policies such as TANF, serve “to validate the cultural values and norms of dominant societal groups and to invalidate the cultural values and norms of vilified and stigmatized people” (schiele, J. H. 2002). Under the Welfare Reform law, states are prohibited from using federal TANF funds to provide assistance to families with an adult recipient for more than 60 cumulative months. The first concern is that “Congress imposed a five-year lifetime limit on the receipt of benefits regardless of need” (Abramowitz, M. 2002). Advocates of welfare reform argued that “time limits were needed to send a firm message that welfare receipt is intended to be temporary and that, when presented with a deadline; recipients would find jobs or other sources of support”( Brush L. 2001.). This left former recipients with no choice but “to take any job regardless of wages, working conditions, or family needs” (Abramowitz, M. 2002). On the other hand, the five-year time limit is “needlessly short, and those who exceeded the limit through no fault of their own might turn to Depending on alms for a living or crime, for survival” (Moffitt, R. A., & Ver. Ploeg, M. (Eds.). 2001). Moreover, the second concern within the TANF Welfare reform is that changes made in the 1996 welfare reform, the family cap is the principal revision aimed at severing the link between money and babies. In the early 1990s, a number of states began implementing a “Family cap” or “child exclusion” policies in their welfare Reform programs to discourage welfare recipients from giving birth to children while receiving cash assistance(Biolosi T, Cordier R, Douville M, Eagle T, Weil M. 2002). With this program active, if a child was born into a family receiving welfare, the family’s Grant would be increased modestly, however, the family cap meant that each family’s grant would be capped at a certain level and no additional funds would be given if another child were born. Eventually, these policies reversed the long-standing welfare practice of determining the size of a cash grant based on a family’s size. “The family cap policy, which was designed for the sole purpose of reducing additional Births, had no significant association with subsequent no marital childbearing.”(Ryan, S., Man love, J., & Hofferth, S. 2003, November). Lastly, detractors of the reform point out that many welfare recipients have “low levels of education and skills” and other personal and family challenges that make steady work difficult, and they predicted that time limits would “cause harm to many vulnerable families”( Abramowitz, M. 2002). Research has proven that “too little money was devoted to vocational training” (Abramowitz, M., 2002). Without adequate vocational training, families fall directly at or below the poverty line, followed by homelessness or threat of.
The block grants system, overall contains many concerns that social scientist must be aware of, as they directly affect our constituents. Although the Welfare reform act is designed to do away with welfare by winging recipients off, the reform to this program propose additional problems that contribute to invalidating an entire population, further oppressing them. Many of the former recipients have become housed by homeless shelters due to their inability to provide permanent shelter for themselves and their families. This is directly related to being cut off of TANF without obtaining vocational skills to enable them to seek and decent employment. This adds to the continued growth of homelessness.

Policies and Programs In July 1987 the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act was published. It provides federal money for homeless shelter programs. Since then this act has been re-authorized numerous of times. The law was passed and signed by President Ronald Reagan. In the beginning this program had fifteen programs that provided services to the homeless. Some examples would be the Continuum of Care programs such as the Supportive Housing Program, and the Single Room Occupancy Program, the Shelter Care program, as well as the Emergency Shelter Grant one. (NPACH, 2011) The HEARTH-Act (Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act) was signed by President Obama on May 20, 2009 to fight the increasing homelessness. The act focuses on homelessness prevention, re-housing, housing consolidation, and the definition of
The new homeless categories. It reauthorizes the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance programs of 1987. (NPACH, 2011)
Another program is the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP) which provides homelessness prevention assistance to households that would otherwise become homeless, and provides rapid re-housing assistance to persons who are homeless as defined by section 103 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. This program is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and includes a one-time allocation of $1.5 billion for homelessness prevention activities. (Homelessness Resource Exchange, 2012)
HPRP provides assistance to households at or below 50 percent of Area Median Income that are in need of temporary assistance to end or prevent homelessness, but whom have the capacity to maintain stable housing upon the conclusion of assistance. Grantees may allocate funds to four different eligible activities: (1) financial assistance; (2) Housing Relocation and Stabilization Services; (3) Data collection and evaluation; and (4) Administrative costs. (Homelessness Resource Exchange, 2012)
The next program is the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) which provides grants for projects that benefit low-income persons medically diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. Grantees and project sponsors may use HOPWA funds for housing assistance, including acquisition, rehabilitation, or new construction of housing units. Funds may also be used for supportive services, such as mental health services, substance abuse treatment and counseling, transportation, nutritional services, and case management. (Donovan, S. 2012)
The Title V of the McKinney Vento Act enables eligible organizations to use unutilized, underutilized, excess, or surplus Federal properties as facilities that assist homeless persons. Individuals and families who are homeless benefit from the Title V program. (Donovan, S. 2012)
The Base Realignment and Closure Program (BRAC) is a community based process that balances the need for economic and offer redevelopment while addressing the needs of the homeless at base closure and realignment sites. Homeless assistance providers may use buildings and other resources on former military bases for a wide range of activities, from emergency shelter to permanent housing to support services. (Donovan, S. 2012)
Lastly, the HUD-VASH program combines the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) rental assistance for homeless veterans and their families with case management and clinical services provided by the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) at its medical centers in the community. In 2008, Congress made available $75 million to fund 10,000 HUD-VASH vouchers and funded an additional 10,000 vouchers in 2009. (Donovan, S. 2012)
Responsible for changes According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness the administration, Congress, and our local, state, and national government is responsible for resolving the homeless problem. Some strategies that could be used to help with this issue is provide $2.231 billion for the Homeless Assistance Grants program within HUD in FY 2013 to continue investments in the cost efficient interventions of homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing through the Emergency Solutions Grant program. (National Alliance, 2012) Another way to help is to increase the capacity of runaway and homeless youth act (RHYA) programs through reauthorization and appropriations to build on existing investments in programs serving runaway and homeless youth. Prevent further cuts to non-defense discretionary spending, reversing or lessening the cuts mandated under the Budget Control Act of 2011. (National Alliance, 2012) Increasing the capacity of HUD and VA to prevent and end homelessness among veterans by providing $75 million for new HUD-VA supportive housing vouchers in FY 2013 to house estimated 11,538 additional homeless veterans. (National Alliance, 2012) Also, increasing the availability of services linked to housing for people experiencing would be a great benefit. (National Alliance, 2012) To bring about change with this population those that are responsible for creating programs will include clients as partners in program development and decision-making. This builds on the belief that when clients are able to advocate for themselves, clients and communities benefit. Principles should be established that individuals and families receiving prevention services must participate and take responsible action to the extent they are capable. (DHS Administrative Data) All social work values and ethics comply with the identified strategies. Service is a value that has a goal to help people in need and to address the social problem. (NASW, 2008) By implementing different programs to help with homelessness prevention is a major service. Social injustice is another value that is helpful with this population. The homeless is a much oppressed population and by advocating we are challenging social injustice. (NASW, 2008)
Relation to Theory and perspective:
Holistic thinking can provide a paradigm for understanding how systems and their interactions can maintain an individual 's behavior. The Ecological Systems Theory holds that development reflects the influence of several environmental systems. Micro system: The setting in which the individual lives which contexts includes the person 's culture. In the case of Welfare Reform, The clients’ must be taught job and vocational skills in order to be able to compete economically in society. If one lacks the necessary tools, then positive production becomes obsolete to whatever crime will pay the bills. Secondly, Ecosystem, Refers to relations between micro systems Involving links between a social setting in which the individual does not have an active role and the individual 's immediate context. Cultural contexts of Welfare recipients include socioeconomic status, poverty, ethnicity, and homelessness. In America, we have a capitalistic economy which social status, and wealth provides power which is pertinent to economic success. This continues to widen the gap between the upper class elite and the poverty stricken oppressed people. According to (Johnson, A. G. 2001) “Such patterns of inequality result from and perpetuate a class system based on widening gaps in income, wealth and power between those on top and everyone below them”. Lastly, Chrono-system is the patterning of environmental events and transitions over the life course, as well as socio-historical circumstances. Welfare recipients, act on basic human nature, “Constantly creating, restructuring, and adapting to the environment as the environment is affecting them" (Ungar, 2002). Psychological and psychosocial issues can and do occur in the oppressed population due to unequal policies and their affects, over a time period or lifetime. The ecological perspective focuses on interrelation transactions between systems. This theory stresses that all existing elements within an ecosystem play an equal role in maintaining balance of the whole. When applied to social work practice, social scientist can best understood the dynamics of situations such as why families are oppressed by policies such as TANF, by looking at persons, families, cultures, communities, and policies and to identify and intervene upon strengths and weaknesses in the transactional processes between these systems. Clearly, there is a relationship between the ecological systems of TANF recipients and the need for welfare all together. Instead of finding ways to rush to wing people off of Welfare, which is leading to poverty and homelessness, critics of welfare should employ ways to change micro, mezzo and macro systems surrounding the recipients and maybe then effective change can and will occur, such as reducing the likelihood of poverty and homelessness occurring. Moreover, the Strengths perspective holds that everyone has innate strengths. If practitioners can work on a micro level to assist homeless people to utilize their strengths, maybe they can become empowered and determined to help combat their situations, in turn, also empowering others.

Recap/ Practice implications
Programs like The Personal Responsibility Act of 1996, that are supposed to aid citizens in surviving by helping to prevent poverty which inevitably leads to homelessness, is flawed in that it’s time cap poses limitations and vulnerabilities for oppressed populations using the system such as minorities. In addition to welfare reform providing financial and service-based aid by the government, to people in need, it also helps to maintain age old stereotypes, place people transitioning off of assistance into more economic downpour and lack in providing adequate and useful vocational and job training. In order to effectively help the oppressed poor populations of people such as the recipients of TANF, social welfare policy advocates must finds ways to fight for oppressed populations, such as fighting against portions of the Welfare reform policy that exhibits loopholes that further sustain oppression. “A more detailed and thorough critique of America’s philosophical foundations needed by these organizations and we believe will strengthen their ability to more efficiently prevent the advent of oppressive social welfare policies.” (Schiele, J. H. 2002) In addition, extensive “research is needed to examine the effectiveness of social welfare advocacy organizations.” (Biolosi T, Cordier R, Douville M, Eagle T, Weil M. 2002) Included in the research should be factors that “seek to facilitate advocacy efforts and the conditions that help maintain them”, research should focus on identifying more strategies to enhance the political participation of African American mothers who are most likely to become TANF recipients”. (Schiele, J. H. 2002)
Given the diverse causes and needs of the homeless population, any significant progress in resolving the problem depends upon a collective response on the part of social workers, collaborating with policy makers. This is how to be effective in providing the type of social activism and national “continuum of care” that is necessary to combat the continuing problem of homelessness in America. To do so, Advocacy attempts should focus more on using the strengths and resources of low-income and oppressed individuals, and communities, along with rely heavily on the social movement and development literature, and then maybe change will occur in forms of eliminating oppressive policies such as the welfare reform act. In order to keep up with the changing society, person-environment fit and to be "To be responsive to oppression, social workers must develop competence in community, organizational, and legislative influence and change as well as in direct practice” in addition, "To effectively respond to people 's varied needs, social workers must practice at whatever level a particular situation begins and wherever it may lead" and lastly, know that "People cope with oppression and scape gloating in many different ways” therefore “ Practitioners must be careful about blaming oppressed people for their troubles. " (Turner, 1996, p. 391) Social workers must be sensitive to people 's diverse backgrounds. Utilizing culturally competent Knowledge Acquisition tools will assist social workers in maintaining a sense of historically, ethnical, and socio-economic aspects affecting clients. Moreover, States need to be able to be flexible in designing the programs or steps, on an individual level, that will help the person or family move to greater independence. If jobs are not available, the government should encourage States to create them. Also, vocational skills should be geared towards making people employable and maybe the transition will not only be smooth, but could also help families to live more fulfilling enriched lives.
On a Macro level, social workers need to work creating more effective and strategies for engaging with congress. Getting resources for your community to prevent and end homelessness requires advocacy targeted toward the policymakers who control those resources. Unique advocacy strategies, including conducting congressional meetings to elevate the issue of ending homelessness as a priority for federal policymakers, is needed, to increase and improve federal advocacy efforts. This could possibly include actual homeless individuals going to Capitol Hill to rally; Homeless shelters across the country joining together to form a Million homeless man/woman march or creating national homeless fund raiser organizations , like those for Cancer. To maximize their effectiveness, organizations must be able to clearly and concisely communicate both the mission of their organization and the importance of that mission to their community.

As social workers, we have committed to providing services to our clients. With homelessness being the massive social phenomenon that it is, social activist must provide social justice for this population through advocacy, micro level approaches such as Behavior Modification Therapy and Crisis Intervention, mezzo interventions such Family Therapy and Macro level practices such as advocating for policy changes. Practitioners must provide these services effectively by being mindful of the importance of human relationships by always giving the clients dignity and respect, as they deserve it, despite socio-economic status. While working with this population, it is important to be competent. Part of being competent is being abreast of the historical, social and environmental factors that affect the population. We have many tools in the field such as Lum’s knowledge Acquisition process, Culture grams, geno grams and engaging interviews.

Conclusion In conclusion doing this research paper I learned a lot about the homeless population. This problem is so widespread and a major concern. Looking at the research you still have numerous of people that are not accounted for that is homeless. This taught me not to take my living situations for granted. I am interested in helping this population by advocating and investigating to see how I can implement some non-profit programs in the near future. This social problem should have an emotion affect everyone not just those who are homeless. I hope that the programs that are already established recruit more people that are homeless and more staff to help.

References

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