Solving Homelessness, Essay Example

The research paper has the objective of increasing the comprehension of the nexus that is present between poverty and homelessness with a directed attention towardfamilies that have children. The research is founded on the analysis of correlational poverty that reviews the structures processes and social relations that are the causal attribute of the creation and the substanceof poverty. This research is based on the perspectives of Anniston Star Editorial Board (2013), Burt el al. (1999), Sharam and Hulse (2014), NPR Staff (2014), Shinn et al. (1990), and U.S. Congress (1990).The perspective of homeless will be explored. The thesis question of the research is how to solve homelessness.

Historical context

A substantial amount of the literature that has been published internationally on the subject of homelessness is directed at poverty in one form or another. More conventionally, poverty has been depicted as a form of structural factor with regards to the causal attributes of homelessness in wide economic and social frameworks that include disasters, housing market failure, negativelaborermarket circumstances andabsence of the opportunity of income maintenance from the government. This is often compared with the individual causal attributes of homelessness that include mental health problems and substance abuse. There is a new orthodoxy that considers that certain populations are more susceptible to the structural modifications that take place in a society than others (Sharam& Hulse 294).

Categories of Homelessness

Homelessness can be perceived as having three categories. The category of primary homelessness is experienced by people who lack conventional lodging. Secondary homelessnessis experienced by individuals who are transitive. Tertiaryhomelessness iswhat is experienced by individuals who reside in accommodations that are below human standards of living (Sharam& Hulse 294). The characteristic of primary homelessness may occur due to natural or man-madedisasters (NPR Staff 1). Individuals who experience homelessness usually lose their self – esteem in addition to being isolated and depressed. The homeless experience cold, loneliness and hunger. Homeless people are usually in need of friendship, clothing, and medication, bedding and medical attention. In the State of Alabama, there should be no individuals or families “forced to live in vacant buildings or the back seat of a car. Humans deserve better than that” (Anniston Star Editorial Board 1). The wind event disasters of 2011 and 2012 that struck Alabama aggravated a problem that has been growing exponentially since 1989 (Rankin 1).

Natural Disasters

After the disaster of the two F- 5 tornado events of 2011 and 2012, the State of Alabama has demonstrated signs of progress. The data that has been derived from the Department of Housing and Urban Development show the state with five thousand two hundred and nine homeless people at the end of 2012. This statistic is three hundred and forty nine residents less than 2011. The statistics represents a drop of 6.3%. In the United States there were more than 633,000 documented homeless individuals in the United States for 2012 (as qtd. Anniston Star Editorial Board 1).

Australian Homeless Population

In the nation of Australia there are 105, 237 people who are living in primary secondary or tertiary homelessness. In Australia, forty nine residents for every ten thousand residents are homeless. The population of people who are homeless in Australia are fifty six percent male and forty four percent female.Australia’s population of people who reside in boarding house is composed of seventy five percent male and twenty five percent female. The statistics demonstrate that one quarter of all of the homeless residents in Australia are either Torres Strait Islanders or Aboriginal. The majority of the homeless in Australia are under eighteen years of age (Homelessness Australia 1).

Causes of Homelessness

There are many causal attributes to homelessness. Many of these attributes are incarceration, withdrawal of income maintenance by the state, mental illness, poverty, deficiency in affordable rental accommodations and long term unemployment. In Australia one of the largest causes of homelessness is domestic violence. The homeless situations are also caused by deterioration of the family unit, alcohol and drug addiction, sexual violence gambling and social isolation. There are many, especially adolescents who find themselves homeless due to abandonment by family and friends. Homeless has the outcome of being separated from family and the community. As a result, many of the homeless Australian adolescents find that it is difficult in maintaining permanent employment. In addition, many of the adolescent Australians are susceptible to chronic illnesses (Sharam& Hulse 296).

Christian Charitable Organizations  

In the United States and Australia, part of the solution of the homeless programs can be found with Christian charitableorganizations. This can be attributed to the premise that the United States, the State of Alabama and the nation of Australia are Christian jurisdictions. In the Bible, there is a passage that is applicable to the remedy of the condition of the homelesswhen they are destitute. This passage is Isaiah 58: 7. The writer details: “is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the wanderer with shelter- when you see the naked, to clothe them and not turn them away from your own flesh and blood? The challenge of the social injustice of homelessness is reviewed in the Biblical passage. This details that being a Christian implies sharing with the destitute and not to rebuke them for their condition of being homeless. In the Book of Matthew in the New Testament, “Jesusreplied, ‘Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to play his head’” (Matthew: 20) In the New Testament, Matthew details how Jesus commented that the animals have dens and nests and how some of the people have no place to rest (Matthew 8:20).The passages from the Bible claim this as being unequitable (NET Bible 1).

In the United States and Australia, many of the charitable organizations have come to the aid of the homeless in their times of need. In Australia one of the organizations that is endeavoring with the homeless is the St. Vincent de Pauland the Matthew Talbot HomelessServices. The objectives of this organization are to provide housing services for homeless families. The St. Vincent de Paul Society also has outreach programs to the homeless adolescents and those who are substance abusers in Australia (Matthew Talbot Homeless Services 3). In the United States over 8.4 million people were the recipients of shelter and food from the Catholic charities. Over 12.3 million people received food and shelter assistance from Catholic charities in 1989 (U.S. Congress 71).

Homeless Assistance Programs

In addition to the secular programs, there are 40,000 non secular homeless assistance programs in the United States. The most abundant number of homeless assistance programs are food pantries, assessed at 8,000. There are approximately 5,700 homelessshelters in the United States, 4,000 transitional accommodation programs, 3,500 prepared meal kitchens,3,100 voucher distribution initiatives and 3,500 outreach initiatives directed at the homeless ( Burt et al. 59). The number of homeless assistance programs have been increasing over the past twenty years. The initial year of increase was 1990. In 1990, the request for income mainatence from the local governments were rejected over fourteen percent of the time. The municipalities were unable to supply shelter to the homeless due to insufficient resources (Shinn et al. 10). The non-secularhomeless assistance programs in Australia include:

1. Council to Homeless Persons, Victoria.
2. Homelessness NSW/ACT.
3. Homelessness SA.
4. National Youth Coalition for Housing (Youth Homelessness).
5. NT Shelter.
6. QLD Shelter.
7. Shelter TAS (Homelessness Australia 1).
8. Shelter WA
9. YFoundations (Youth Homelessness- NSW)

In the United States, 25% of the housing programs that are delegated to homeless clients receive complete support from the federal government. Another 50% of the organizations receive their funding from private sources. There are many of the housing programs that are applied in order to address the problem of homelessness in the United States and Australia that are encouraged by the receipt of government funding and private funding. Many of the programs in the United States receive assistance from the private sector that includes volunteers, equipment rent free buildings and food (Burt et al. 66).

Conclusion

The problem of homelessness is a persistent problem that can be attributed to natural and man- made disasters, chronic unemployment, domestic problems and poverty. The most effective interventions are to provide the necessary services to the homeless. The United States, the State of Alabama and Australia have one thing in common: They are Christian jurisdictions. In the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, the teachings are to help the destitute and the needy.The answers to homelessness can be found in the Bible.

Works Cited

Anniston Star Editorial Board. ”Roof over their head: Reducing homelessness remains a significant issue in Alabama. Anniston Star, 29 January 2013. Web 20 October 2014. http://www.annistonstar.com/opinion/article_46e56d1f-21af-5de9-8acb-4b285651 58c.html.

Burt, Martha, Laudan Aron, Toby Douglas, Jesse Valente, Edgar Lee, Britta Iwen.“Homelessness: Programs and the people they serve.” National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients, 1999. Web. 20 October 2014.

Homelessness Australia.”On any given night in Australia 1 in 200 people are homeless.” Homeless Australia, 20 October 2014 Web 20 October 2014.http://www.homelessnessaustralia.org.au/index.php/about-homelessness.

Matthew Talbot Homeless Service. “2009 annual report.” St. Vincent De Paul Society, 2009. Web 20 October 2014. http://www.vinnies.org.au/icms_docs/169658_Matthew_Talbot_Services

NET Bible. “Isaiah 58:7.” NET Bible, 2014. Web 20 October 2014. http://classicnet.bible.org/verse.php?book=isa&chapter58&verse=7

NET Bible. “Matthew 8:20.” NET Bible, 2014. Web 20 October 2014. http://classicnet.bible.org/verse.php?book=mat&chapter8&verse=20

NPR Staff. ”Post tornadoes, Southerners cope with homelessness .NPR, 18 may 2011. Web. 20 October 2014. http://www.npr.org/2011/05/2011/05/18/136428616/post-tornadoes-southerners-cope-with-homelessness

Sharam, Andrea and Kath Hulse. “Understanding the nexus between poverty and homelessness: relational poverty analysis of families experiencing poverty in Australia.” Housing, Theory and Society 31.3(2014): 294-309.

Shinn, Marybeth, Patricia Burke and Susan Bedford. Homelessness: Abstracts of the psychological and behavioral literature, 1967- 1990. USA: American Psychological Association.