Homelessness Melissa St
Homelessness
Melissa St George SOC 203: Social Problems Instructor: Risa Garelick August 28, 2011 I intend to show the meaning of homelessness and the different ways that people become homeless. I will also show how we can go about preventing homelessness. Homelessness means that one has no place to live. “The most prominent sociodemographic characteristics identified with high risk of homelessness have been male gender, Black race, being unmarried, and being middle aged” (Greenberg & Rosenheck, 2010, p1234-1235). Most of the homeless live in cities but there are those who live in the rural areas. Most of them are hidden because they are homeless for shorter periods of time. There are several causes or reasons why people are homeless, some of them are by choice and others are forced, contrary to most people’s beliefs that they “are drug addicts, alcoholics or are mentally challenged” (syzygyastro). The different types of homeless people are “push-outs”, victims of environmental catastrophe, mentally ill, the new poor, the technologically unqualified, the elderly, runaways, the demoralized, alcoholics, ease addicts, travel addicts, and excitement addicts (Henslin, 2008, p 228). The “push-outs” are people or families that have been forced out. They can be teenagers who are thrown out by their parents. The parents may have thrown them out due to They can be adults or families who have been evicted by landlords. Due to the high costs of rents, they may have had to choose between paying the rent or other necessities such as food, clothing, or gas. Or they could have lost their home due to the “sub-prime mortgage catastrophe that has made more than families homeless in 2008 and now threatens a further 48 percent of the rest sub-prime mortgage holders who are late in payments or in default” (Syzygyastro). Victims of environmental catastrophe have been forced out due to hurricanes, floods, fires, tornadoes, tsunamis, or other
Melissa St George SOC 203: Social Problems Instructor: Risa Garelick August 28, 2011 I intend to show the meaning of homelessness and the different ways that people become homeless. I will also show how we can go about preventing homelessness. Homelessness means that one has no place to live. “The most prominent sociodemographic characteristics identified with high risk of homelessness have been male gender, Black race, being unmarried, and being middle aged” (Greenberg & Rosenheck, 2010, p1234-1235). Most of the homeless live in cities but there are those who live in the rural areas. Most of them are hidden because they are homeless for shorter periods of time. There are several causes or reasons why people are homeless, some of them are by choice and others are forced, contrary to most people’s beliefs that they “are drug addicts, alcoholics or are mentally challenged” (syzygyastro). The different types of homeless people are “push-outs”, victims of environmental catastrophe, mentally ill, the new poor, the technologically unqualified, the elderly, runaways, the demoralized, alcoholics, ease addicts, travel addicts, and excitement addicts (Henslin, 2008, p 228). The “push-outs” are people or families that have been forced out. They can be teenagers who are thrown out by their parents. The parents may have thrown them out due to They can be adults or families who have been evicted by landlords. Due to the high costs of rents, they may have had to choose between paying the rent or other necessities such as food, clothing, or gas. Or they could have lost their home due to the “sub-prime mortgage catastrophe that has made more than families homeless in 2008 and now threatens a further 48 percent of the rest sub-prime mortgage holders who are late in payments or in default” (Syzygyastro). Victims of environmental catastrophe have been forced out due to hurricanes, floods, fires, tornadoes, tsunamis, or other
Bibliography: Why Are People Homeless?. (July 2009). Retrieved August 12, 2011, from National Coalition for the Homeless website, http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/why.html. The article talks about what homelessness is and the many causes of it. Gaddis, Roger. (2007, August 22). The Homeless in the United States. Retrieved August 12, 2011, from website http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/351165/the_homeless_in_the_united_states.html?cat=4, The article talks about the number of homeless people in the United States and reasons why they are homeless. Youth Homelessness: Facts and Solutions. (n.d.) Retrieved August 12, 2011, from Youth Noise website http://www.youthnoise.com/page.php?page_id=6145. This article talks about the causes for teen homelessness and how we can prevent it. Preventing Homelessness in America. (n.d.) Retrieved August 12, 2011, from Solutions for America website http://www.solutionsforamerica.org/thrivingneigh/homelessness.html. The article talks about the many causes of homelessness and how we can prevent it. Addiction Blog. (2011, January 7). Drug and alcohol abuse and the homeless. It talks about the statistics for drug and alcohol abuse among the homeless and ways to help them. Retrieved from addiction blog.org, http://alcohol.addictionblog.org/drug-and-alcohol-abuse-and-the-homeless/ Folsom, D.P., Hawthorne, W., Lindamer, L., Gilmer, T., Bailey, A., Golshan, S., Garcia, P., Unutzer, U., Hough, R., Jeste, D. (2005). Prevalence and Risk Factors for Homelessness and Utilization of Mental Health Services Among 10,340 Patients With Serious Mental Illness in a Large Public Mental Health System. American Journal Psychiatry 162:370-376, February 2005 Retrieved from http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/162/2/370 Henslin, James M. (2008). Social Problems A Down-To-Earth Approach. Boston. Pearson Syzygyastro. Homeless shelters and answers to homelessness. Retrieved on August 26, 2011 from http://syzygyastro.hubpages.com/hub/Homeless-shelters-and-answers-to-hemelessness