The ethnography that caught my eye was “With No Direction Home: Homeless Youth On the Road and in the Streets” by: Marni Finkelstein, is an interesting and in depth look into the world of homeless youth, showing the reader the progression of the homeless youth and the tactics they use everyday to make this a lifestyle they chose. The Ethnography primarily takes place during the summer months and the homeless youth that Finkelstein interviewed and took information from were mostly based in the East village neighbourhood in New York, concentrating in and around Tompkins square park (Finkelsteing,8). The author wanting to give the reader a more understanding look into the lives of these homeless youth learning about their experiences, priorities…
A problem that persists through every part of the world is a lack of compassion for the homeless. No matter how many charities are available for people to donate to, they are often careless and forgetful. This problem stems from laziness and a lack of motivation to be involved. This carelessness can account for the lack of resources or the lack of knowledge about resources for the homeless.…
Homelessness is a social problem in Australia. Youth homelessness in Australia has been on the increase due to several factors, and it is assumed that these factors may assist in the intervention and prevention of youth homelessness. The only way to decrease youth homelessness is to address the structural factors that cause it. This paper will begin by defining homelessness according to the Supported Accommodation Assistance Act 1994 and by other prominent authors of youth homelessness. Structural factors will be then discussed, including unemployment and lack of affordable housing, as prominent causes for the increase in youth homelessness. It will be argued that the Australian 'nuclear' family has changed since the 1970's and…
This youth has abandoned the only life they have ever known in hopes for in finding a more deserving one they see fit. Outcasting themselves from their life from abusive relationships, economic troubles, and a government record induces a desperate desire for them to flee. The homeless youth are compelling themselves to believe there is no other option than running away from home. This drastic decision has led some of them to take unhealthy measures to survive by depending on sex for food, shelter, and other basic human needs, while others are battling an addiction with drugs or alcohol, and in the end dependency on both of these lead most homeless youth to decrease in mental health.…
Homeless people have the tendency to treat the streets of cities like their personal homes. It’s only natural that they do this because hey, the streets are their homes. But this becomes a problem when you are strolling the streets of your beautiful city and are overwhelmed and distressed by the horrific stench of urine and waste consume the side walk. Like I said before, the sidewalks are homeless people’s homes but when you have to hold your breath, it becomes a problem.…
“Nearly 6.5 million young Americans between the ages of 16 and 24 are not in school or the work force.” (Emmons) Sadly every year there are millions of children experiencing homelessness, these children are living in cars, shelters, and abandoned buildings. (Doorways for Women…) Being homeless causes these children to relocate constantly, which results in being pulled out of school and away from their peers. Children are more than likely to become homeless after being physically abused, sexually assaulted, or by family circumstances of financial troubles. In order to survive on the streets young teens are more likely to turn to drug dealing or exchanging sex for food, clothing and shelter. Today’s society has become oblivious to what has been occurring on the streets with these teens. They see no use in helping homeless youth due to the knowledge of homeless people taking money or help for granted. American society today does not understand the hardships homeless youth go through to survive living on the streets: like not having the work experience to get a job, not having the education needed to move further in life, learning and growing up with the influences of the streets and health issues. Parts of society have ignored and mocked the uprising issues of homelessness in youth. They choose not to offer help based on the stereotyping of homeless people. Homeless people are see as very sly, only using the money they are given for drugs and other usages not benefiting them. Society views teens crashing at a peers house as a temporary thing until it becomes a financial consequence.…
Parents can help to modify their child’s lifestyle and offset the effects of homelessness by actively and consistently looking for employment, finding support programs that assist homeless families with children, and seeking help such as rehab or counseling if substance abuse is a factor in their homelessness. The community can help by volunteering their personal time, donating money to shelters as well as toiletries, educational supplies, and clothing. Another way to modify factors associated with homelessness is to support public policy and legislation that supports more funding and resources to shelters and/or programs that aid the…
Youth are homeless not necessarily because they choose to be, but because of the factors in their lives that lead up to homelessness. Few factors could…
Unfortunately, many homeless youth are “befriended” by drug addicts or encouraged into prostitution. For many of the runaways due to abuse, many wonder how bad their situations must be if they would face addiction and sexually…
The operational definition concretises the four housing situations of the working definition. In order to define homelessness in an operational way, we identified three domains which constitute a home, the absence of which can be taken to delineate homelessness. Having a home can be understood as: having an adequate dwelling (or space) over which a person and his/her family can exercise exclusive possession (physical domain); being able to maintain privacy and enjoy relations (social domain) and having legal title to occupation (legal domain).…
One of the major problems that my community suffers from is homelessness, which is a condition of people who lack regular access to housing. According to the institute for the study of Homelessness and Poverty at Weingart Center, an estimated 254,000 men, women and children experience homelessness in Los Angeles County during some part of the year and approximately 82,000 people are homeless on any given night, and is caused by several factors such as mental illness, drug abuse, physical or sexual abuse, and simply not having enough money…
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…
In our modern society child homelessness and racial issues can be widespread, like parasites afflicting a mass population. For homeless students, getting through college can be a feat, three of four never graduates high school. Racial issues have also been an impediment to students' success. However, there were some who succeeded. Overall, Two factors affecting the success of many students today is racial segregation and poverty.…
As a society, we need to find solutions to the ever-growing homeless situation in our country. The homeless rate in the United States is increasing; homeless shelters are rapidly filling up causing them to turn people away. By creating lower income housing while at the same time, creating a work program to help the homeless get back on their feet will help to decrease the rate. Although some of the homeless do not want help, they are happy with the lifestyle they live. I heard someone say once that the homeless that do not want any help are what he calls home free instead of homeless. Whether it is drugs or alcohol, these people do not normally go to the homeless shelters.…
A big complication in Topeka, Kansas is homelessness. Anne Frank states in her diary, “No one has ever become poor by giving.” People drive down the streets in Topeka and see others holding signs on the streets begging for help with their animals. It’s sad when people in the community hear of the homeless dying from starvation. Government officials and the citizens of Topeka can help influence others to help the homeless by providing the statistics on homelessness, the reasons why people go homeless, and how the people can help the homeless.…