Reference
- HOMELESSNESSHomelessness is an endemic social problem in the United States, with approximately 643,000 people now living without a place to call home on any given night. Over the course of a year, the number of people residing in emergency shelter and transitional housing exceeds 1.5 million. More than one third live on the streets or in places not fit for human habitation. Of these, a disproportionate number are single men. During times of economic recession and high unemployment, the numbers of people experiencing homelessness, especially those in families, tend to climb. Driven by extreme poverty and the lack of decent affordable housing, homelessness occurs in every state in the nation, but it tends to concentrate in urban areas and in large coastal states (e.g., California, New York, Florida).
Homelessness is more than the lack of housing. It can be seen as a metaphor for disconnection from family, friends, caretakers, reassuring routines, belongings, and community. Once people become homeless, the road back to stable housing is tortuous and fraught with peril. Because of the relative lack of affordable housing and difficulties obtaining housing vouchers in most communities, many individuals and families languish in emergency shelters, in transitional programs, and on the streets for long periods. The experience of homelessness is invariably traumatic and may lead to adverse long-term outcomes related to health and well-being. - HOMELESS FAMILIESHomeless families are those that either lack shelter or have shelter that is so inadequate, temporary, or insecure that the situation threatens the social, psychological, or physical health of the family. Homeless families are a departure from the classic homeless image of the single male, detached from society and disaffiliated from kin, friends, and work.
Homeless families receive attention in large part because the presence of children among the homeless confronts society directly with its failure to guarantee a minimum standard of protection. The questions of who these families are, how they became homeless, and how their homelessness can be prevented and ameliorated carry an urgency that contrasts with more blaming attitudes towards the single homeless individual. - Homeless Children and YouthSocial exclusion of marginalized and vulnerable groups makes them a nonproductive part of society in today's globalized world. They can, however, be productive if given a chance. As noted in the literature, marginalized groups such as homeless youth, and young people working on the streets, are often stigmatized as vagrants engaging in deviant behavior. Moreover, the current scenario worldwide does not portray an optimistic view for homeless children and youth. Working children on the streets and homeless youth are neither the priority of the government in many countries—for example, in Pakistan, the focus of this entry—nor do many local governments show concern for them.
The phenomenon of homelessness among young people across the globe has given rise to many conceptual difficulties. First of all, there is no exact figure for the number of homeless children and youth, although it is a phenomenon that has been studied for years. Relatedly, research by Asma Khalid found that there are no official data available on homeless children and youth in Pakistan, making it difficult to formulate policies and take appropriate measures.
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Credo Reference is an easy-to-use tool for starting research. Gather background information on your topic from hundreds of full-text encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, quotations, and subject-specific titles, as well as 500,000+ images and audio files and over 1,000 videos.
Perspectives
Poverty and Homelessness
The National Alliance to End Homelessness states that there are 564,708 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the U.S. The primary source writings in this anthology have been selected to provide your readers with a broad range of viewpoints on poverty and homelessness, including whether government assistance is working or making things worse. The essays in each chapter of this book represent contrasting viewpoints on government social assistance programs and income inequality. Students are encouraged to see the validity of divergent opinions, crucial to the development of critical thinking skills. An important question about the topic is presented in each chapter, and the viewpoints that follow are organized based on their response to the question. Fact boxes summarize important information for researchers, and an extensive bibliography is included.
The Open Door
The Open Door: Homelessness and Severe Mental Illness in the Era of Community Treatment explains how and why homelessness among the mentally ill has persisted over the past 35 years, despite policy and program initiatives to end it. This ten-chapter book chronicles the unintended rise of homelessness in the wake of far-reaching post-World War II mental health care reforms, and highlights the key role of advocacy in spurring a governmental response to homelessness. The author provides a comprehensive, carefully documented "state of the science" on homelessness, reviews critical issues in managing severe mental illness in the community setting, and presents evidence of the effectiveness of service and housing interventions that have brought stability to the lives of many. Finally, the book reviews the role of homelessness prevention, a recovery orientation, and the promise of early treatment of psychotic disorders to facilitate greater social inclusion and community participation. In addition to providers of housing and services to the homeless mentally ill, this text will appeal to policymakers, mental health professionals, and students of public health and social sciences.
Encyclopedia of Homelessness
Homelessness is one of the major social problems and personal and family tragedies of the contemporary world. No community, city, or nation is immune and the lack of affordable housing and a decline in secure, well-paying jobs means that the problem will only get worse. The Encyclopedia of Homelessness is the first systematic effort to organize and summarize what we know about thus complex topic which impacts not only the homeless but all of society. The Encyclopedia whilst focussing on the current situation in the United States, ensures an international perspective by including a comparative sampling of homelessness from around the world. Articles cover: · Causes · Lifestyle Issues · Health Issues and Services · History · Legal Issues and Advocacy · Government Policies and Programs · Organizations · Research Approaches · Service Systems and Settings · Size and Characteristics of the Homeless Population · Public Perceptions of Homelessness · World Issues and Perspectives Additional descriptive articles cover homelessness today in a sample of American cities and a sample of cities and nations of the world, allowing for quick and easy comparisons. The Encyclopedia contains entries on Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, France, Guatemala, Japan, Nigeria, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, Tokyo, Calcutta, London and others from around the world. The Encyclopedia of Homelessness meets the needs of a broad audience, offering a rich history and the data, views, and perspectives of experts from different disciplines and perspectives, including: · Sociologists; · Anthropologists; · Economists; · Historians; · Social Policy Analysts and Planners; · Program Administrators; · Physicians; · Social Workers; · Lawyers who provide advocacy and services; · Journalists; · Students of history, social studies, and the social sciences in high school through graduate school.
Moving to Nowhere
The number of homeless families in the United States continues to increase at an alarming rate. There is little doubt that becoming homeless and living in shelters has had significant effects on the lives of the children in these families. While many empirical studies have documented the effects of homelessness on one or another aspect of children's lives, Moving To Nowhere looks at the experience of losing one's home and living in a shelter from the perspective of the child. Children who are homeless tell their own story. They speak of life in a shelter as they have known it. It is through these stories that human service professionals can come to see homelessness as the children themselves see it and can learn what living in a shelter is like. Children who are homeless tell their own story. They describe how they became homeless, why they think it happened to their family, what their expectations and concerns were as they realized they would be moving to a shelter, and what the shelter was like when they arrived. They speak often of missing their old neighborhoods, their friends, and their extended family. They report their fears, their worries about their family's future, the absence of money and resources, and, for some, the presence of violence or substance abuse in their families. They repeatedly tell of their embarrassment about being homeless; this profoundly colors their relationships to friends, schoolmates, and teachers. And, in each of their stories, these children provide clear and moving examples of how they manage to survive on a day to day basis while they wait for permanent housing. Health care professionals, psychologists, and teachers, as well as students and the general public, will find this work poignant and instructive.
The Politics of Ending Homelessness
This book highlights the political nature of homelessness in particular, the political nature of ending the problem and suggests that a movement of homeless and poor people is the best, and perhaps the only, hope for significantly alleviating the homelessness problem. There are signs that the potential for such a movement is growing. Unions of the Homeless and other national protest organizations comprised of homeless and low-income people have arisen in the past decade. These groups constitute the beginnings of what could become a widespread Homeless and Poor People's Movement. Contents: Preface; INTRODUCTION; UNDERSTANDING HOMELESSNESS; Prevalence of Homelessness; Characteristics of the Population; Structural Causes of Homelessness; Governments Response to Homelessness; THE HOMELESS AND POOR PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT; The Potential for an Emerging Movement; Potential Forms of the Movement; Potential Successes of the Movement; Limitations of the Movement's Successes; Notes; PROTEST AS THE MEANS TO END HOMELESSNESS; The Role of Outsiders in the Movement; Conclusion; Appendix; Biography; Index.
Exposing Homelessness
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EXPOSING HOMELESSNESS is a film that documents the experience of three formerly homeless women who participated in a three-month photography workshop. They were given 35mm cameras and instructed in the art of black and white photography. Drawing from their personal experiences they were asked to use photography to express their insight into the issue of homelessness so that viewers could be exposed to a more intimate and profound analysis of the problem. Diverse in age, race, class and citizenship status, the women succeed in challenging the homeless stereotype and empowering themselves in the process.
A Road to Home
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowImagine yourself 18 years old wandering city streets without a place to go to sleep or eat or shelter from the cold. Imagine you're homeless because your parents kicked you out when they discovered you are gay or transgender.
The Homestretch: Three Homeless Teenagers Fighting for Their Future
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowThis Emmy-winning documentary follows three homeless teens as they fight to stay in school, graduate, and build a future. Each of these smart, ambitious teenagers will surprise, inspire, and challenge audiences to rethink stereotypes of homelessness as they work to complete their education while facing the trauma of being alone and abandoned at an early age.
Online Resources
- HHS.gov U.S. Department of Health & Human Services: HomelessnessHHS is the United States government's principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and supporting the delivery of essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves. As such, the delivery of treatment and services to persons experiencing homelessness is included in the activities of the Department
- U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs: HomelessnessBeing homeless, or being at risk of homelessness, is one of the most difficult problems any Veteran can face.
In its 2017 Annual Homeless Assessment report to Congress, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported that just over 40,000 Veterans were experiencing homelessness (including those living on the street or in a shelter, temporary safe haven, or any place unfit to reside in) on a given night in January 2017. - United States Interagency Council on HomelessnessUSICH is the only federal agency with the sole mission of preventing and ending homelessness in America. We coordinate with our 19 federal member agencies, state and local governments, and the private sector to create partnerships, use resources in the most efficient and effective ways, and implement evidence-based best practices.
The Street: A Film with the Homeless
- Kanopy This link opens in a new windowMade over 6 years, THE STREET is the result of the filmmakers' total immersion into the world of the homeless. It is a gutsy, raw, moving and intimate study of 3 homeless Montrealers. The unique approach is neither voyeuristic nor judgmental. Characters experience cycles of addiction and recovery, hope and despair - but rise above the street with a sense of dignity, humanity and community. Set in a context which sees our civil society disintegrating and the safety-net collapsing, THE STREET gets deep inside a very complex social issue, beyond mediated stereotypes. The film works to transcend the statistical and emotional haze which surrounds most public commentary on the homeless. THE STREET bridges the gap between compassion and action - between 'us' and 'them'. By concentrating on three individuals the film makes the 'homeless problem' a personal one, allowing audiences to experience the human side of homelessness. Are we all just only one step away from being claimed by the street?