Homelessness

By: Solomon Sweet

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Causes of Homelessness

Chapter 2: Effects of Homelessness
Chapter 3: Kinds of Homeless people
Chapter 4: Ways to Make a Difference

Introduction
I walked down a street in New York City and saw a girl fall, a homeless
person tried to help her up, and the parents grabbed the child and took her away
from him as if he was a monster. These parents may have thought this man in the
ripped, black hat was a criminal, drug addict monster. This is a very common
misconception. Not only are homeless people and people in
poverty
unlucky, they
get treated like they are not people. So what we need to think is "instead of being
a monster, this person was just like me, how did it get like this for them?"

Chapter 1: Causes of Homelessness

Two important causes of homelessness are discrimination (the separation of
white people and black people) and mental illness. In the second half of the 1900's,
much discrimination took place. Many people who were black were separated from
the white peopleseparate drinking fountains, separate restrooms, separate
schools. But over the years it got worse.
The government took money away from black people. The government also
made laws for them, like having to sit at the back of the busif they did not
comply, they went to jail. A woman named Rosa Parks sat in the front of the bus,
and then refused to go to the back of the bus when a white man tried to tell her to
move. She was sent to jail for refusal to abide by the laws. Children born into
these families often did not get the education required to be successful. Also, they
were not taught the proper way to take care of themselves, which can cause bad
interactions with their bosses or coworkers.
People who are homeless commonly lose their job from mental illnesses,
which leads to foreclosure of their houses because they cannot afford to make
anymore payments. People who are ill or mentally ill sometimes have trouble
communicating in a good way or thinking of the needs of others. For example, a
mentally ill employee could talk badly to his boss and and get fired. Usually, people
can not get their job back after they go through this process. Unless people who
are mentally ill get the support they need, they can not function well and could
easily become homeless.

Chapter

2: Effects of Homelessness

There are many effects of homelessness and

poverty
. Many homeless people
do not take good enough care of themselves, but that is not the only concern. In
the past year, there were over 600 attacks on homeless people. I do not
understand why people did that when they are helpless and 1 in 2 children are
homeless or live in
poverty
and 10.6 million of them die from
poverty
before age 5.
Since there are so many, it is hard to help all of them.
While living on the street, the average homeless person goes through a lot
of trauma. This can and does cause mental
illness
for many of them. Some homeless
people start on the street but do not have a job and they are able to bounce
back-
recover
. As time goes by, they can get an
illness
and not even notice. By the
time it takes its effects, it is too late. They are not able to get a job anymore,
they are not able to function like a normal human being. They can not bounce back
anymore. Because of this problem and others very similar, now more than 50% of
people are falling into
poverty
, while 3.5 billion people live on $2.50 a day.
Some people in
poverty
or who are homeless have a job. Minimum wage is
$15,080 a year for 40 hours a week! That is $7.50 an hour! Even though they have
it, it is maintaining the job that always challenges them.

Chapter 3: Kinds of Homeless People

There are three different types of homeless people. Short-term, long-term,
and
chronic
. Short-term is categorized into children with their parents or children
on their own. Homeless families with children are most commonly not on the street
for too long. But, there are other cases where people called "couch surfers"
(people who move from house to house) are in the short-term group. These people
are usually always on the verge of homelessness because they are always moving
from house to house.
The next group is long-term. These people are on the street for an extended
period of time, unlike the short-term group. Veterans and single adults are in this
group in most cases. While veterans being homeless is not hard to believe, I bet
you are wondering "why are single adults in the long-term group?" As vile as it is,
people do not feel as much sympathy for a single adult as they do for an adult and
child. Most adults became homeless in the ways I shared previously, but they are
usually out there for much longer than kids.
The
chronic
group is only made up of seniors which is very heartbreaking.
They can not help themselves because they have restricted movement because
their age range is between 64-95 years old. They will be on the street, probably
for the rest of their lives, and there is nothing they can do about it.

Chapter 4: Ways to Make a Difference

Homelessness is not impossible to stop. If you are falling into
poverty
, or on
the verge of losing your house, you can do something about it. There are companies
like job skills training, food for work, emergency shelters. But how do you stop that
from going too far? The hardest part of being poor or homeless is getting back on
your feet. Most people who are homeless start in a
stable
residence, but all of a
sudden they are on the streets. Alcohol and drugs account for 2/3 of the homeless
people you see on the street everyday.
There are many organizations around the world that can help. Some include
Feed my Starving Children, National Coalition of Homeless people, and more. You
can easily make a difference. If you see a homeless person on the sidewalk, maybe
stop for a minute and give them a few dollars. Most people who are homeless only
want love, not a big house, not one million dollars, just a loving family. About 21,000
people die from hunger every day. That is just about one person every four
seconds.
Homelessness is more common in urban areas. A few examples are Chicago,
Kansas City, New York, and Miami. This is because homeless people know these
places as a place to be successful. and know it as a big city where no one can keep
them out of. There are so many people and it is very hard to make a
stable
supply
of money in big cities like that.
Acknowledging the homeless shows just about all of your support and
understanding that the title homeless is really just a title. I saw a video of a man
who was given $100 because he was homeless, the filmers followed him to see what
he would do. He went into a liquor store and came out with sandwiches, drinks, and
chips. he went and shared it with other people who were homeless and then was
given another $100 by his filmers for his kindness.

Conclusion
In conclusion, homelessness is a
global
problem. It affects over 90% of the
worldwide population. We are able to stop it. It would not take too much time and
effort if everyone in the world contributed. There are organizations where you can
donate money, take 45 minutes of your time to volunteer at a soup kitchen. You can
help, a little bit at a time. Homelessness is a terrible thing. It is fatal, it can also
cause mental
illness
. There is a way we can stop it. We just have to figure out how.

Glossary

Chronic: A sickness lasting for a long time or permanently

Global: Relating to the whole world
Illness: A sickness or disease affecting your body
Poverty: The state of being extremely poor
Recover: To return to a state of health
Stable: Unlikely to change or become worse

Sources
www.borgenproject.org/what-causes-global-poverty
www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/03/7-things-homeless-people-not-true_n_5206475.html
www.globalissues.org/issue/2/causes-of-poverty
www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/why.html
www.endhomeless.org/pages/snapshot_of_homelessness
www.poverty.com
http://money.howstuffworks.com/homeless.htm
www.homeaid.org/homeaid-stories/69/top-causes-of-homelessness