Homelessness In The United States

Homelessness is a global challenge that continues to increase at an alarming rate. Although numerous programs are focused on helping to alleviate this major issue affecting society, governments struggle to find and provide the necessary resources to assist homeless individuals. These people are misunderstood as poor, helpless, vagrant wanderers to society. If the problem of homelessness is to be understood, one must recognize that it stems from various factors including, but not limited to, poverty, unemployment, and high housing costs. As a result of these findings, homelessness in the United States is at an all-time high. Systemic failures also play a role in homelessness. When society does not identify those at the greatest risk of becoming …show more content…
Therefore, without financial stability, they are more likely to become homeless and struggle to survive. Unemployment can be addressed through many avenues such as Job Corp, which provides services including skills training, career counseling, resume writing programs, career fairs and connections to job listings. The Salvation Army offers programs for individuals to pursue educational requirements, job skill training programs, certifications, and job interview training. Also offered are job placement programs that assist job seekers in providing their families with better living wages. High housing rates are another crucial factor in homelessness. The rising cost of rent prices in urban areas strongly correlates with homelessness. When rents rise, homelessness rises. Research shows that homelessness is driven by housing costs. For example, Sacramento, California is recognized as one of the nation’s worst homeless populations. Affordable housing is almost non-existent. The rising rent costs, lack of rent to income ratio has caused people to find living arrangements on the streets. While local shelters are in place, additional low-income housing must be made available. To accomplish this, cities need to look into zoning regulations and reform their zoning codes to allow low-income housing to be built. However, this takes time and planning on many levels with city governments, licensing agencies, and funding. The Pew Charitable Trusts did a study and compared homelessness to rent. It found that when rents rise, homelessness rises. When rents slow down, homelessness decreases. This research suggests that there is a strong correlation between homelessness and

Show More