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Alexandra Kaimis
Gotham NYC; Saturday
October 28
th
, 2014
Homelessness in New York City
New York city is one of the most popular, culturally diverse cities in the world;
inside of this huge city there are many different types of people from all cultures, all
backgrounds and ethnic groups. One unfortunate factor is that many people are faced
upon is homelessness. As you walk around the streets of New York City, just about every
block has a man or women sitting or laying down on boxes, bundled up to stay warm and
are often asking for money so they can get something warm to eat. The tale of two cities
exists in this city as well as other urban areas, in New York extreme wealth and extreme
poverty has always coexisted (Nunez, 2001). Family always has a major part in the
homelessness of an individual and having a family history of poverty usually ends in
someone remaining homeless for the rest of their life. There are many housing
arrangements for homeless people, but due to the high demand, the housing units have
reached their max limits. Being in the city every week for the past two months, I have
seen many homeless people and wondered about their story and how they got to where
they are.
When the average New Yorker thinks of a homeless person they think of someone
who is on the floor in front of their favorite deli or on the floor in Penn Station where
they are trying to catch their train back to their houses on Long Island. These average
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working class people, do not often think about what it took for this person to resort to
sleeping on the cold grounds. The process of being homeless typically starts with an
unstable household. Something terrible usually happens that destabilizes the situation life
eviction, illness, compromised building conditions and physical abuse. These factors can
result in homelessness due to the fact that they do not have any alternatives to replace it
(Knickman, Shinn, & Weitzman, 1990). Not surprisingly eight percent of homeless
parents were homeless as children and thirteen percent were in foster care. Eleven percent
of these parents are still linked to the foster care that they were in, and have at least one
of their own children living in that foster care or with friends or family. It is unfortunate
for these children because they did nothing to deserve this and many of them are denied
access to high quality education that would help them prepare for a successful adulthood.
Being that half of all homeless children are under the age of five, it is hard for them to
learn the proper cognitive and social skills being that they are put into unstable school
systems, if they are even put into one. Being that their guardians raised them homeless,
leaves them at a loss of being educated and well taken care of which is extremely
unfortunate. Not only are homeless children neglected of education but they are also
neglected of having the proper healthcare. These children suffer with being more
susceptible to getting sick often and have higher rates of general illness. The childrens
appetite also changes due to malnourishment, causing them not to want to eat as much
and not getting the proper nourishment that their body requires (Nunez, 2001).
Even though family has a very large factor in homelessness, another obvious
factor is the role of substance abuse and mental illness. Deinstitutionalization is seen as
an immediate cause for individuals to become homeless. The patients that are released
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from mental hospitals often find themselves on the streets due to the fact that their family
members generally are not around and they simply do not have anywhere to go. Mental
illness and substance abuse is often seen as leaving your family without any resources to
cope effectively and unable to find a proper place to live, a shelter or the streets become
the easiest option for these individuals (Knickman, Shinn, & Weitzman, 1990).
One of the first resources that New York City residents who are homeless go to
after they have been bouncing around with their children from living with friends and
relatives, sleeping on floors and cousins are homeless shelters. Generally those whom
live in shelters, forty-two percent of the families lived in their own apartment or house
before coming homeless. Due to the high demand for housing of homeless people in New
York City, it is hard to find a stable shelter that will house you for a long period of time.
The average homeless person relocates three or more times in a year (Nunez, 2001).
There are many organizations like the New York City Department of Homeless
Services, who try to make homeless individuals lives a little better. Their goal is to
maintain safety within the shelter, reduce the amount of individuals living on the street,
reduce the number of households from becoming homeless and to help them maybe find
a permanent home. The agency has 2,000 employees with an operating budget of
approximately one billion dollars. This organization is one of the largest organizations of
its kind committed to preventing and addressing homelessness, in our own city of New
York (NYC Department of Homeless Services, 2014).
Being in New York City every week for the past few months has really opened
my eyes to homelessness. To the public eye, you only see the men and women sitting on
the side of the street or in Penn Station begging for money with a red solo cup. What the
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public eye does not realize is that those are not the only homeless people in the city.
There are so many homeless people that the shelters are overflowing with individuals and
are filled to their max capacity. You can see an average little kid in the street that looks
put together, and little do you know they are homeless, wearing all donated clothes and is
relying off organizations to survive. It is a worldwide issue especially in the city that we
live in. It really opens your eyes on how important it is to donate to these organizations
that are helping all these helpless individuals and not only the beggars on the street. What
I had realized in New York City is that the average man or woman that walks past a
homeless person on the street are desensitized by the fact of a homeless person. Many are
so quick to think that they are automatically drunk addicts, drunks, deinstitutionalized
patients etc. and just continue walking. Of course, it is possible that it is true that many of
those people are, but it can also be a person that comes from a bad family and they had to
resort to the street because they do not have anywhere else to go. New Yorkers have
become so used to seeing them, that many do not even think that much into it anymore. It
is sad, but common among the average working class person that lives in New York
priorities are getting to work on time and still making time to get a latte, not about the
homeless person in the street.
It is heart warming to know that in our very own city that these positive
movements are being made to hopefully end homelessness completely and for every
person to have a warm place to sleep at night and a hot plate of food to eat. It is so
important to donate your clothes, volunteer at a shelter, because it makes such a
difference in homeless peoples lives, because they do not have anything. Housing
arrangements are not an easy thing to find in New York City with gentrification and all
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the prices rising sky high. Millions of people are thankful for the shelters and
organizations that make their homeless life a little brighter.





















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References

Nunez, R. (2001). Family Homelessness in New York City: A Case Study. Political
Science Quarterly (Academy Of Political Science), 116(3), 367.
NYC Department of Homeless Services. (2014, January 1). Retrieved November 2, 2014,
from http://www.nyc.gov/html/dhs/html/home/home.shtml

Weitzman, B. C., Knickman, J. R., & Shinn, M. (1990). Pathways to homelessness
among New York City families. Journal Of Social Issues, 46(4), 125-140.