IS LOW COST HOUSING THE SOLUTION FOR HOMELESSNESS AND ITS NEGATIVE

IMPACTS?

INTRODUCTION

Housing is the most important and basic necessity required by a person, it is universally known that
housing helps in managing your stress levels and being more mentally stable. Homelessness is the state
when a person doesn’t have a primary residence. They often stay on streets, occupy emergency rental
houses, sleep in vehicles and live in unstable locations that aren’t permanent.The last time a global survey
was attempted- by the United Nations in 2005- an estimated 100 million people were homeless around the
world. The population of the homeless people is soaring high in developing countries, however it is still
an issue in developed nations. The core cause for homelessness is poverty, improving the housing
stability could also decrease the poverty levels across the globe. Statistically, often the homeless adults
are high on drug usage, build up on negative influences and experience mental disorders. The homeless
children and street kids will face child abuse, frequent school shifts, high rates of absenteeism and low
test scores. Homelessness or housing insecurity is an rising global issue that needs to be addressed.

CAUSES

More than half of the population of the homeless people use drugs and alcohol in comparison with the
privileged world. Rise indicates in statistics conducted in Boston city that 91% of the homeless people use
alcohol and 88% of the people use drugs, these statistics result in high risks for the well-being of the
people. It is often like they choose to be homeless rather than not having any another option. Addicted
people are oblivious and wouldn’t hesitate to sell their property, car, house and other valuable items that
belong to them to get money and purchase drugs and alcohol. This eventually leads to poverty and tends
to get hard for the people to manage their finances and meet their basic necessities like food and clothing.
The people who are addicted are usually not aware of what is happening around them, which results in
rejection by society be it family, friends or work colleagues.

CONSEQUENCES

India is a home to 78 million homeless adults and 11 million street kids, these large number of persons
are often involved in violence and most dangerous of all crime. There are many that are recognised as
violators in the societies. The homeless execute crimes like theft, human trafficking and murder. Some of
the homeless are negatively influenced when they were children, from other homeless or violators.
Majority of the homeless people live without their families, they feel they have nothing to lose in life.
This thought leads to carelessness about their future and sometimes extends to self condemnation leading
to suicide or abusing someone. The homeless are deviated from the right choices usually because of high
illiteracy rates amongst the homeless and therefore they might develop behavioural or mental disorders.
Sometimes people look down at homeless and are impolite, disdainful and scornful towards them. This
creates a sense of great encouragement amongst the homeless to impact negatively towards the society.

Health issues and diseases that are common in the homeless.The homeless are regularly spotted collecting
waste or leftovers of food, this food would not contain the right amount of nutrients required for a human
body. When humans don’t have a balance of all nutrients in their bodies, eventually health issues are
prone to develop in their bodies. Negligence towards their personal hygiene also impacts the health. They
don’t take showers for a long period of time due to no amenities and lack of awareness spread by agencies
and the government.

Children in homeless families are prone to face difficulty in advancement in academics. These families
are burdened with high rental pays and are evicted from their temporary housing. This leads to starting
over and over again and dropping them in the same vicious pit of poverty. Frequent ejections also result
in frequent school changes, with almost no mental stability for the family.

SOLUTION

Social housing is affordable rental housing, specially for the families with low-income and suffering from
poverty. It is provided by the local government or the private housing sectors. Social housing is run by
authorities that play the role of a landlord in the private rental housings. High drugs and alcohol
consumption being one of the key causes of homelessness, social housing can reduce this by developing
the housing in locations where there are local communities present. Using traditional and local materials
along with the help of the local producer groups and local sectors, the cost of the housing program
reduces and meets the governments or the private sectors budget. However, in developing countries like
India funding and financing for these schemes are of serious concern. In the recent years, under the
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Gramin (PMAY-G), is the world’s largest housing programming for the
rural poor, India aims to build 30 million houses for the poor by 2022. It is named the Governance And
Accelerated Livelihoods (GOALS) project. However, the source doesn’t claim if these are rental
housings. Another scheme in Andhra Pradesh, PMAY- NTR Urban And Rural Housing, covering nearly
300 villages. The government of AP aims an amount of ₹1.5 to ₹2 lakh for each unit. Since April 1, 2014,
there are 13, 28, 965 houses sanctioned. Lately, in Canada, there is a step taken towards the social
housing initiatives with market housing. Canada is encouraging the low-income and poor to communicate
with the better communities and avail cultural amenities. Social housing is being implemented globally,
in the recent years.

EVALUATION OF SOURCES

Source 1- this source is a non-government organization, has relevant data and uses formal language.
Source 5- this source contains a case study supported with facts and statistics and the data is not bias. This
source also shows the trends and the changes in the case study after implementing a solution.
Source 7- this source has a range of types of information.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, social housing is gradually being implemented globally for homelessness and its negative
impacts on the society. Hoping that eventually the scrounge of homelessness and poverty can be
eliminated to create a better society for all.

I have noticed that homelessness is not just the absence of a roof over one’s head, there are numerous
consequences that are faced by the people. I think small steps of awareness could change the perspectives
of the people towards being homeless and towards the homeless.

REFERENCES

S1- https://buildabroad.org/2017/03/14/social-housing/
S2- https://www.in.undp.org/content/india/en/home/operations/projects/poverty_reduction/rural-
housing.html

S3- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI8xQQ2gPPM

S4- https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/government-to-constructive-five-lakh-
more-houses/article24754688.ece
S5- https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/reduce-poverty-improving-housing-stability

S6- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5737920/

S7- https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/causes-effects-and-issues-of-homeless-people-2167-
0358-1000223-104694.html