Homelessness in Urban Areas Around the Globe, Research Paper Example

Introduction

The concept of development has created a great impact on how the world faces the different issues to modern living. Societies have been established to follow particular goals that are dedicated to improving the lives of the people residing especially in highly populated areas such as the urban locations around the globe. Considerably, this fact has been the basis of many governance efforts that have been established to determine the course taken by each city towards establishing the foundation of a good society. However, among the many developments happening in the society today, there are also relatively huge problems that arise especially in consideration to the existence of issues concerning the homeless.

Report from the New York Times which was published in March 2014 specifically focuses on how New York City administrators try to face homelessness issues through improving social policies that protect the rights of the people. Presented by Nikita Stewart, the article entitled As Homeless Shelter Population Rises, Advocates Push Mayor on Policies, points directly on how the current administration in the city hopes to create a new set of policies that would protect the people from succumbing to a homeless state; which is expected to set a great difference on how the past administration has handled the problem. In this discussion, understanding how social conflict could be the primary structure in society that could cause the increase on the number of homeless individuals in urbanized locations like New York City.

The Causes of Homelessness

According to Stewart, the rising number of homeless individuals could be accounted to have started during the Bloomberg administration when the condition of the city went under the influence of the ongoing international economic crisis. It could be realized that during his time, the said crisis has caused him to undergo particularly critical decisions that affected the [then] future of the city. The need to prioritize was very important, and at some point, business owners and other economic pillar-holders in the city won the competition on who gets the most priority attention from the administration. As a result of this, many employees lost their jobs and were not able to support the needs of their family which includes attaining good shelter. With this in consideration, several thousands of individuals have been tossed out into the streets.

When the financial problems finally began to stop, the city of New York was seen to have gradually gained its economic strength. People from other areas of the country and other nations of the world thought that the recovery was already complete thus allowing them to get the opportunity they need so much from the city. However, because of the turn of events, as they arrive in New York, they find it hard enough to get a job as it is to find a good and decent shelter when they are earning meager salaries from their meager jobs [of they have any].

Focusing on this condition, the ideal presentation of social conflict specifically identifies well with the struggle of power between the society and the capitalists during the time of recession. Bloomberg’s administration knew that they should be able to protect the economic bloodline of the city and to do this, there should be some sacrifices that need to be considered and accepted as consequential losses of the case. The determination of the administrators to provide better source of income for the people who were retrenched from their jobs considerably failed and were not able to provide the social support they were expected to give. In a way, the constitution of a good system of governance that was dedicated to the welfare of the poor was quire vague at the time.

As the policies get passed on from one administration to another, the course that the problem on homelessness takes has become even more implicating on how the people of the city lived their lives by the edge of their earnings. Seeing that the policies of the previous administration was not able to support that of the condition of development and assistance the homeless members of the society need, it was made evident in the article of Stewart that the people wanted the new Mayor of the city to formulate new ways of dealing with the problem in a more comprehensive manner that specifically responds to the current needs of the society.

What the Government Does

The current mayor responds accordingly to the issue of homelessness through examining the clauses of the old policies on housing and shelter that the city followed through for many years. Changing and adjusting the goals into serving majority of the people’s needs for safe and decent shelter is the current mayor’s desire and agenda even when he was still campaigning. Considering the establishment that the government have with particular organizations and/or non-government entities that are dedicated to improving the lives of the homeless members of the community, it could be analyzed how the current administration of the city seeks to gain the trust and attention of the smaller agencies in the community that could actually help alleviate problems on homelessness.

The practical conditions of determining the roots of homelessness in the city is one of the goals created by the new governmental housing programs to which New York administrators are strongly attached to. Their consideration on the matter increases their competence in handling he most controversial issues about housing policies and allowances given for the masses and their capacity to pay for a good home that could serve their needs in finding and attaining good and reasonable shelter for their families.

Stewart mentions in his article that the condition of collaboration instead of conflict among the major players in the housing industry would play a great role on how modern developments are supposed to be designed to support the needs of the homeless members of the society. New York City, being a location with supposedly enough supply in relation to the needs of the people residing in the city, should be able to create practically accommodating programs that could give each individual and each family a chance to realize the trueness of the essence of the American dream within the city’s territorial responsibilities.

Conclusion

The practical ways of determining a specific problem occurring in a society is dependent on how one observes the situation among the people living in it. Considerably, their situation and the major problems they are in need of facing account for the larger part that determines the administration’s capacity to pull through with their promises and become more effective in implementing laws that are dedicated for the welfare of the people. In the case of New York, the past administration has already taken the situation under the guidance of social conflict, a matter that has placed the welfare of the poorer members of the society aside. Going against such construct and taking on the structure of functionality among members of the society accounts for the success being desired by the city and that of its people.

Works Cited

Stewart, N. (2014). As homeless population rises, advocates push Mayor on policies. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/12/nyregion/as-a-homeless-number-hits-a-high-advocates-press-de-blasio-on-policies.html?_r=0. (Retrieved on March 24, 2014).

Henslin, James M. Essentials of Sociology: a Down-to-earth Approach, Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2009. Print.