Cortez 1

Garinger High School

Helping The Homeless

Stephen Portillo Cortez

Ms. S. Smith
English III Honors
8 February 2019
 Homelessness has always been a problem in our society, though little has been done to

address it. From walking around bare-footed, to going days without eating these people have

either no one to reach or no one they wish to reach, some even think they are better off without

the help of others. While the general public lives their cushy, internet controlled lives, most

people fail to think of the ones out in the street struggling for their own survival. I​t is believed

that the origin of homelessness is traced back to the late fourteenth century. Following the

Peasants' Revolt in 1383, English constables were authorised to collar vagrants and force them to

show their support; if they could not they would serve time in jail. Vagrants could be sentenced

to the stocks for three days and in 1530, whipping was added. The general consensus was that

vagrants were nothing more than unlicensed beggars. In 1547, a bill was passed that subjected

vagrants to more extreme aspects of the criminal law, including two years of prison time and

branding with a large "V" as the penalty for the first offense and death for the second. During the

16th century in England, the state first tried to give housing to vagrants instead of punishing

them to no avail. Large numbers of vagrants were among the convicts transported to the

American colonies in the 18th century. Since then homelessness has grown at an exponential

rate. Homelessness is a problem that has slid into obscurity, though not through the forgetfulness

of others, people would rather ignore the problem at hand rather than addressing it. Not all

homeless people choose to live in the streets or shelter. ​There are approximately 554,000

homeless residents in need of help in our nation though the amount of effort being put into

helping these people is not enough. ​The United States of America needs to provide more

support for its homeless population by proving better situational housing, providing better
medical assistance to the disadvantaged, and create better preventative measures for those

in need​.

Housing speaks to the key solution for the issue of homelessness. The absence of

reasonable pricing for housing and the restricted size of housing assistance programs adds to the

present housing crisis and to homelessness. This shortage of moderate housing has prompted

high lease troubles, overcrowding, and below-standard housing, which has constrained numerous

individuals to end up homeless as well as put a developing number of individuals in danger of

ending up in homelessness. While this is an issue that has an extensive history, the United States

did not always have such a desperate absence of reasonable housing. The 1970's into the 1980's

saw exceptional cuts into government affordable housing programs. Today, there is much

spotlight on making lasting strong housing for individuals who constantly experience

homelessness because of inability or medical problems. However, building reasonable housing

takes excessively long in many urban communities in view of political laziness, city organization
delays, and the careful procedure of fund-raising from various sources. Therefore, reasonable

pricing for affordable housing isn't being worked at a pace quick enough to end homelessness.

The major reason for homelessness is the widening housing affordability gap. In New York City,

this gap has extended drastically over the previous decades, which have seen the loss of

countless units of affordable rental housing. The weakening of lease guideline laws, which help

keep around half of every rental condo in New York City reasonable, has quickened the loss of

low-cost housing.“ New York City’s wide housing affordability gap, the Federal, State and City

governments must significantly increase investments in affordable rental housing, with a

significant portion targeted to homeless families and individuals. Similarly, strengthening rent

regulation laws would preserve affordable housing and protect tenants, allowing them to keep

their homes.” - Coalition for the Homeless

Poor health is both a cause and a result of homelessness. Numerous vagrants who are sick

and need treatment never get therapeutic consideration. Boundaries to social insurance

incorporate absence of information about where to get treated, absence of access to

transportation, and absence of recognizable proof. Mental obstructions additionally exist, for

example, humiliation, apprehension about rounding out the structures and responding to

questions appropriately, and hesitance about appearance and cleanliness when living in the city.

The most widely recognized hindrance to human services is the expense. Without human

services, numerous vagrants basically can't pay. Thus, numerous vagrants use medical clinic

crisis rooms as their essential wellspring of human services. Not exclusively is this not the best

type of consideration for them, since it gives little progression, it is likewise pricey for medical
clinics and the government. According to NationalHomeless.org “homeless people are three to

four times more likely to die than the general population” (O’Connell, 2005). This expanded

hazard is particularly noteworthy in people between the ages of 18 and 54. In spite of the fact

that ladies ordinarily have higher futures than men, even in ruined territories, homeless men and

women have comparable dangers of untimely mortality. Truth be told, youthful vagrants are four

to thirty-one times as liable to have an untimely death as housed young women. The normal

future in the hom populace is assessed somewhere in the range of 42 and 52 years, contrasted

with 78 years in the all inclusive community. Most of vagrants don't have medical coverage or

the capacity to pay for required consideration. In extraordinary circumstances, many swing to

crisis rooms regardless of being expensive and unseemly to progressing care. Governmentally

subsidized Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) ventures give essential consideration without

respect to one's capacity to pay, yet these wellbeing focuses achieve not exactly a million out of

the three to four million homeless people every year who urgently need care.

Homelessness prevention is a fundamental component of any push to end homelessness

either locally or across the nation. To close the front door of entry into homelessness, the central

challenge of prevention is targeting our efforts toward those people that will become homeless

without the intervention. Providing prevention assistance to people who would not otherwise

become homeless is an inefficient use of limited homelessness dollars (Strategies for Preventing

Homelessness). Homelessness prevention alludes to strategies, practices, and intercessions that

lessen the probability that somebody will encounter homelessness. It likewise implies furnishing

the individuals who have been homeless with the essential assets and backings to settle their
lodging, upgrade reconciliation and social consideration, and at last lessen the danger of the

repeat of homelessness. The reasons for homelessness incorporate individual and social

elements, more extensive populace based auxiliary variables, and the disappointment of

numerous open organizations to shield individuals from homelessness. This recommends

homelessness prevention must incorporate tactics focused at people, yet more extensive basic

changes coordinated at tending to the drivers of homelessness. That people group as well as all

requests of government, and most divisions inside have an obligation to add to the counteractive

action of homelessness is with regards to a human rights viewpoint. Secondary intervention

strategies are strategies aimed at those who are at imminent risk of homelessness (for example

receiving an eviction notice) just as the individuals who have as of late turned out to be

homeless, with the point of staying away from homelessness or moving out of homelessness as

fast as could be expected under the circumstances. Auxiliary counteractive action incorporates a

scope of alternatives from crisis monetary help, family intercession, and aggressive behavior at

home unfortunate casualty support, to give some examples.

The United States of America needs to provide more support for its homeless population

by proving better situational housing, providing better medical assistance to the disadvantaged,

and create better preventative measures for those in need. The absence of reasonable pricing for

housing and the restricted size of housing assistance programs adds to the present housing crisis

and to homelessness in America. Poor health is both a cause and a result of homelessness, by

providing better medical care for homeless, some of the ever so present problems at hand could

be averted in their entirety. To prevent something from happening, ideally one would know
what causes it. The next best thing is to be able to predict when, or to whom, it will happen.

Homelessness prevention is a fundamental component of any push to end homelessness either

locally or across the nation. If we were to prevent it before it could happen, the crisis would

disappear in its entirety, save the ones already in a position of destitution.

Works Cited

● “Proven Solutions.” ​Coalition For The Homeless​,

www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/ending-homelessness/proven-solutions/​.

● Burt, Martha R., et al.​ Strategies for Preventing Homelessness.​ U.S. Dept. of

Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and

Research, 2005.

● Michaelgainer@projecthome.org. “Facts on Homelessness.” Project HOME,

5 Sept. 2018, projecthome.org/about/facts-homelessness

● “Housing.” National Coalition for the Homeless,

nationalhomeless.org/issues/housing/.

● “Proven Solutions.” Coalition For The Homeless,

www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/ending-homelessness/proven-solutions/​.

● “Prevention.” Poverty | The Homeless Hub,

www.homelesshub.ca/solutions/prevention.