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Epidemiology of Homelessness in the United States, Research Paper Example

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Words: 5646

Homelessness is increasingly becoming one of the major disasters in the current world. Robertson & Greenblatt (2013) defines homelessness individual as one that lack housing; the definition covers a wide scope including persons whose residence are transitional housing or persons whose major residence in the night is a supervised private or public facility. Such homeless persons may live on the streets, abandoned vehicles or buildings, mission facilities, or single room occupancy.

People become homeless for a number of reasons. Some of the major causes of homelessness include tragic life occurrences. These may include job loss, the loss of a loved one, divorce and domestic disputes, and accidents. Other cited causes include cognitive impairments such as untreated mental disorders, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other physical disabilities, which affect the individuals.

The number of homeless people in the US is increasingly becoming high. Kilgore (2013) noted that approximately 3.5 million people become homeless each year. He further estimates that in any given night approximately 300 children become homeless. A number of researchers have revealed that the number of people becoming homeless is gradually increasing. It is, therefore, important for most governments and major institutions to ensure that homelessness disaster is suppressed. The impacts of homeless are severe and most people tend to suffer due to this. Moreover, children are often the most affected since they are often unable to defend themselves from the harsh environment. Considering such deplorable statistics, it is apparent that homelessness is a problem that needs to be solved within the quickest time possible. The number of deaths due to homelessness in both adults and children is increasingly becoming high. It is, therefore, it is a must that governments take stern measures to curb such menace.

It goes without saying that the question of whether privileged individuals should provide shelter for homeless people should have an immediate response. Despite the fact that is has been proven in the past that individuals, for the most part, act in their self-interest, individuals should also keep in mind that they have a responsibility towards society to love and care for one another. While this does not necessarily mean that one should be another’s keeper, it does mean that if and when an individual notices that another individual is struggling throughout the course of his or her life, that individual should feel a need to help the other person. Not only does this hold true for an individual’s morals and ethics, but the responsibility of taking care and providing shelter for homeless individuals should also lie on the government’s role. This is because of the manner in which the government is given the task to provide for its people. Another reason as to why this should hold true at all times is because of the fact that a big majority of individuals who are homeless today in the United States of America are only homeless because of the service that they were more than willing to provide for their nation in their live’s previous years. With these being said, it is without a doubt that it should be humanity’s responsibility to provide shelter for all homeless people, regardless of how they ended up in the position and place that they ended up in.

A prime reason as to why individuals should be compelled to help one another is because of the manner in which a society should collaborate in order to achieve a common purpose. Despite the fact that it is true that individuals might act in their self-interest, this cannot always hold true in third-world countries where homeless individuals rely on their fellow privileged men to provide for them. If such was the case in which the elite class only cared about themselves and was never willing to give a single penny to the underprivileged, the world would become a society in which only the elite prevail. This kind of society would ultimately become a dystopia, for everyone would be trying to attain the perfect image. Not only that but if such was the case in which the elite clearly did not show any interest towards helping individuals in need, it goes without saying that a huge inequality gap would be created between the rich and the poor. What would make matters worse is that in the long run, the rich would only become richer while the poor would eventually die off.

Other incentive individuals should have as to why they should be more than willing to help other individuals who might need a helping hand sometime throughout their lives is because not all individuals are fully capable of providing for themselves. Individuals such as these usually involve soldiers who are coming back from war and do not have the necessary funds to be able to buy their own shelter. It should go without saying that the government should assume the responsibility to providing shelter for these individuals even when their service to their country has ended. The reason as to why the government should be willing to do this is because if an individual was willing to put his or her life on the line for his or her country, then it would only be fair for his or her country to sacrifice just as much for the individual to play on a fair ground.

Individuals who are not physically able to provide for themselves often rely on the mercy of other individuals each and every day. Because of this, people should find it within their hearts to always be willing to give of themselves to others. With this topic, however, the issue of taxes must be brought up. This is because of the manner in which there has to be a solid source of income from which the government can provide for these individuals. More often than not, this source of income will invariably end up being other people’s taxes. Often times, what this means for the elite rich individuals is that they might get the short end of the stick and end up paying hundreds of thousands of dollars every year in order to pay their taxes. A certain portion of these taxes would go to the individuals who cannot provide for themselves. If and when individuals would start to be taxed for something that they do not have much interest in, then riots would potentially instigate themselves and a prevailing nation could become a disaster. Of course, taxes do not only apply to the wealthy individuals of a country, they would also apply to anyone who is able to pay them. However, many would argue that it is not fair that some individuals are able to get by not doing anything while others sacrifice their everyday time and energy in order to be able to put food on the table for their families.

These same individuals argue that the government should not fund activities that promote shelter for homeless people, because if homeless people truly wanted to change something about their lives, they would simply do it themselves. The reason as to why these individuals are intrinsically wrong is because not everyone has the capabilities or the knowledge to provide for themselves in today’s society. In the world where everything has become a constant competition, it is not easy for a variety of individuals to stay on top of their game every day and continue to live long and healthy lives. When talking about whether shelter should be provided for homeless people, the fact that they do not have money to buy food for themselves should also be considered. Because of the way in which there are varieties of homeless families in various countries throughout the world, it is fair to say that it should lie on the government responsibility to provide both shelter and food for these families. While some might go ahead and argue that if a government were to go ahead and simply give money to all of the families so that they are able to live on their own, that a variety of families would simply not put their best efforts each and every day in order to be employed by themselves. The reason as to why this would not necessarily be true, however, is because all families want the best for their own respective families. What this means in terms of money is that the head of families are always looking for different things to try and experiment that contain the possibility of the family being better off in the near future.

The question of whether governments and individuals should help those who do not have a house and are living on the streets every day is one that has no simple solution. This is why a variety of things should be taken into account when considering if families should indeed be helped. Therefore, there should be certain laws that ordain that a government should be more than willing to help its people in a time of need. The reason as to why this should hold true within a country is because a government should never allow its people to go hungry or to live below their means. Sure, there is a variety of countries who do not have the monetary means to be able to provide for all the individuals in that society, but they should most certainly always put in their best efforts into trying to solve a variety of conflicts, specifically attempting to help homeless individuals.

If and when there should be a point in which a country is not able to provide for its own citizens, it is without a doubt that a foreign country should put in its best efforts into attempting to solve a variety of problems for the other country. The reason as to why this should hold to be true in a variety of scenarios is because the underlying question of whether it is ethically and morally correct for one nation to provide for the other has an easy fix. A country should always be willing to help another country in terms of providing for its citizens because of the fact that we are all human being residing in one planet. Despite the premise that individuals might live in different locations on the other side of the world, if an individual has been trusted enough by society to attain a lot of wealth, it is now that individual’s responsibility to ensure that he or she is able to provide for a variety of individuals throughout the course of his or her life. What is meant by this is that those who have the monetary means to provide for themselves and then some should always be looking for opportunities to help other individuals in whatever way they can.

Ultimately, the question of whether underprivileged individuals should be aided lies in the question of what kind of society we want to live by. Individuals can choose to not help other low-income homeless individuals out, but this would lead to an unsatisfactory society in which everyone would be acting in their own self-interest. Not to say that there is anything wrong with the mere idea of an individual wanting to improve his or her social status, but all men and women should come to understand that once they are successful in their own lives, the responsibility of helping other individuals is bestowed upon them.

If the incentives provided so far have not been enough to prompt individuals to help homeless people, then it should be duly noted that research has indicated time and again that individuals are most happy when they give of themselves to others. What is meant by this is that is has been proven that when individuals share the gifts that they have with other individuals, they are known to live happier and healthier lives. So, since so many individuals act in their own self-interest, it would certainly not be a bad idea to help other people because one’s own satisfaction and health would be improved.

It has been said time and again that homeless people should not be helped because of the manner in which they would simply spend their money if they were provided with an allowance from the government. Although it might seem unlikely that the government would be willing to give individuals allowances, for the sake of learning, this case should be considered theoretically. Now, if a government were to hand out an allowance to homeless individuals on a monthly basis, there would likely be a number of rich people who would say that the homeless would only spend their money on drugs, alcohol, and/or cigarettes. While this might hold true for a variety of homeless people who ended up being homeless due to these addictions, there is currently a variety of people trying to get better from their current addiction. However, it is believed that these individuals might never get any better because they use the drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes to escape the harsh reality that they face every day by not having a place to call home.

Despite the fact that there are a number of countries already, that currently provide shelter for homeless individuals, these shelters are, for the most part, not well run. There have been multiple accounts of illegal activities taking place in homeless shelters. So much so that there have been a number of individuals who state that they would rather spend the night on the streets than visit a homeless shelter where these individuals would be taken care of entirely. The fact that these shelters are so bad that homeless people prefer to sleep on the streets where anything can happen to them is ridiculous. Clearly, countries have not put in their best efforts into creating a better tomorrow for society as a whole. In order to illustrate the amount of individuals who are homeless in the United States at the moment, the following graph may be analyzed:

What this graph is able to show is a number of individuals that the United States expected to be homeless from the years 2010-2013. It is a clear indicator that the United States knew even back then, that a number of homeless people would increase. However, what is sad about this is that they are not willing to put more money into preventing the amount of homeless individuals that are prevailing in that society at any given amount of time.

The question of whether governments and individuals should help those who do not have a house and are living on the streets every day is one that has no simple solution. This is why a variety of things should be taken into account when considering if families should indeed be helped. Therefore, there should be certain laws that ordain that a government should be more than willing to help its people in a time of need. The reason as to why this should hold true within a country is because a government should never allow for its people to go hungry or to live below their means. Sure, there is a variety of countries who do not have the monetary means to be able to provide for all the individuals in that society, but they should most certainly always put in their best efforts into trying to solve a variety of conflicts, specifically attempting to help homeless individuals.

If and when there should be a point in which a country is not able to provide for its own citizens, it is without a doubt that a foreign country should put in its best efforts into attempting to solve a variety of problems for the other country. The reason as to why this should hold to be true in a variety of scenarios is because the underlying question of whether it is ethically and morally correct for one nation to provide for the other has an easy fix: a country should always be willing to help another country in terms of providing for its citizens because of the fact that we are all human being residing in one planet. Despite, the promise that individuals might live in different locations on the other side of the world, if an individual has been trusted enough by society to attain a lot of wealth, it is now that individual’s responsibility to ensure that he or she is able to provide for a variety of individuals throughout the course of his or her life. What is meant by this is that those who have the monetary means to provide for themselves and then some should always be looking for opportunities to help other individuals in whatever way they can.

Another incentive individuals should have as to why they should be more than willing to help other individuals who might need a helping hand sometime throughout their lives is because not all individuals are fully capable of providing for themselves. Individuals such as these usually involve soldiers who are coming back from war and do not have the necessary funds to be able to buy their own shelter. It should go without saying that the government should assume the responsibility to providing shelter for these individuals even when their service to their country has ended. The reason as to why the government should be willing to do this is because if an individual was willing to put his or her life on the line for his or her country, then it would only be fair for his or her country to sacrifice just as much for the individual to play on a fair ground.

Individuals who are not physically able to provide for themselves often rely on the mercy of other individuals each day. Because of this, people should find it within their hearts to always be willing to give of themselves to others. With this topic, however, the issue of taxes must be brought up. This is because of the manner in which there has to be a solid source of income from which the government can provide for these individuals. More often than not, this source of income will invariably end up being other people’s taxes. Often times, what this means for the elite rich individuals is that they might get the short end of the stick and end up paying hundreds of thousands of dollars every year in order to pay their taxes. A certain portion of these taxes would go to the individuals who cannot provide for themselves. If and when individuals would start to be taxed for something that they do not have much interest in, then riots would potentially instigate themselves and a prevailing nation could become a disaster. Of course, taxes do not only apply to the wealthy individuals of a country, they would also apply to anyone who is able to pay them. However, many would argue that it is not fair that some individuals are able to get by not doing anything while others sacrifice their everyday time and energy in order to be able to put food on the table for their families.

While this does not necessarily mean that one should be another’s keeper, it does mean that if and when an individual notices that another individual is struggling throughout the course of his or her life, that individual should feel a need to help the other person. Not only does this hold true for an individual’s morals and ethics, but the responsibility of taking care and providing shelter for homeless individuals should also lie on the government’s role. This is because of the manner in which the government is given the task to provide for its people. Another reason as to why this should hold true at all times is because of the fact that a big majority of individuals who are homeless today in the United States of America are only homeless because of the service that they were more than willing to provide for their nation in their live’s previous years. With these being said, it is without a doubt that it should be humanity’s responsibility to provide shelter for all homeless people, regardless of how they ended up in the position and place that they ended up in.

A prime reason as to why individuals should be compelled to help one another is because of the manner in which a society should collaborate in order to achieve a common purpose. Despite the fact that it is true that individuals might act in their self-interest, this cannot always hold true in third-world countries where homeless individuals rely on their fellow privileged men to provide for them. If such was the case in which the elite class only cared about themselves and was never willing to give a singe penny to the underprivileged, the world would become a society in which only the elite prevail. This kind of society would ultimately become a dystopia, for everyone would be trying to attain the perfect image. Not only that but if such was the case in which the elite clearly did not show any interest towards helping individuals in need, it goes without saying that a huge inequality gap would be created between the rich and the poor. What would make matters worse is that in the long run, the rich would only become richer while the poor would eventually die off.