Rinella1

Kathryn Rinella
Rogers 3
Government
2 November 2015
Homelessness
Have you ever walked down the crowded streets of San Francisco and seen the people
on the corner with a shopping cart of dirty clothes and camping supplies? These people are
homeless for many different reasons. ...Impairments such as depression, untreated mental
illness, post traumatic stress disorder, and physical disabilities are responsible for a large
portion of the homeless (HomeAid). By providing safe houses, the United States could greatly
reduce the rate of homeless, whichare:
TABLE 2 HOMELESS SINGLE PERSON, COUPLE AND FAMILY HOUSEHOLDS
(number of homeless in different situations)
2001

2006

no.

no.

Single person

58,116

78

57,182

76

Couple only

942,013

(a)10

160

14

Family with children 6,745

7,483

10

Total

100

74,825

100

74,281

(a) Includes 384 adults accompanying the couple household. Source: Census of Population and
Housing, 2001 and 2006; SAAP Client Collection, 2001 and 2006; National Census of Homeless
School Students, 2001 and 2006(Fennim)

Rinella2

Safe houses are a

house
where someone can
hide
or
shelter
(Safe House). Safe houses would
provide homeless with a refuge from stigmas, a safe and supportive environment to become
working members of society, and make our country more safe economically and physically.
Many homeless people are faced with the stigma that they are not safe to be around

and that the reason they are on the street is because they are mentally ill or drug addicts; safe
houses could prevent experiencing that stigma and eventually eradicate it.
Homelessness has been documented in American since 1640. In the 1640s
homelessness was seen as a moral deficiency, a character flaw. In America
many still hold to this tenant, that one only needs to pick themselves off by their
bootstraps and into the pursuit of the American Dream and for those who
cannot, they deserve to be destitute for they bring no added value to
society(Fischer).
When going into the city, I have heard some opinions that if only they would get a job
homeless people could easily become working members of the population.
Using a vignette experiment designed to directly compare the effects of being
homeless and a domiciled poor man and to compare the effects of being labeled
homeless with those of being labeled mentally ill, we find that(2) the strength
of the stigma attached to the homelessness label equals that to the mental
hospitalization.Thus, in addition to the hardships of the homeless condition
itself, homeless people suffer stigmatization by their fellow citizens (Phelan,
Link, Moore, Stueve).
While some homeless are mentally ill, the stigma that all homeless are mentally ill leads most
people to feel unsafe around them causing more stigmatisms. Safe houses would help alleviate
the stigmas around homelessness by the creation for places for every homeless person to go
and become better members of society.
The current programs, such as : Continuum of Care Program (CoC),
Emergency
Solutions Grants Program (ESG)
,
Rural Housing Stability Assistance Program (RHSP)
,
Defense

Rinella3
Base Closure and Realignment Program (BRAC)
,
HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing
Program (HUD-VASH)
, Title V Program - Federal Surplus Property for Use to Assist the
Homeless (Homeless Assistance Programs). ,do not provide enough safe and supportive
environments for homeless to become working members of society. Not only does the United
States not have enough homeless shelters in certain areas but many shelters only accept men
rejecting women, children, and families. 754,000 people were homeless in the U.S. on a given
night in January 2005. Among these persons, 415,000 were sheltered in emergency or
transitional housing and 339,000 were unsheltered(HUD). We need either more shelters or we
need to make safe houses that can house everyone that needs to be housed.
According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Developments June
2010 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (2010 AHAR)1, on a given
night in January 2010:...109,812 individuals were chronically homeless, a 1%
decrease from the previous year(Current Statistics).
Homeless people have a hard time adjusting to not being homeless and as such often become
chronically homeless. Providing places where homeless can have a stable and supportive places
that can help them readjust to not being homeless.
Safe houses can economically and physically change the terrain of the United States.By
providing places for homeless to go we can concentrate the money that we use to support
small shelters to providing larger more centralized places that would provide a place for
homeless to go other than our streets making them physically safer and cleaner.
People who are homeless spend more time in jail or prison, which is
tremendously costly to the state and locality. Often, time served is a result of
laws specifically targeting the homeless population, including regulations against
loitering, sleeping in cars, and begging. According to a University of Texas
two-year survey of homeless individuals, each person cost the taxpayers $14,480
per year, primarily for overnight jail. A typical cost of a prison bed in a state or
federal prison is $20,000 per year(Cost of Homelessness).

Rinella4
By creating places for these homeless to go we would significantly reduce the cost to taxpayers,
which would help stabilize our economy even if it is minimal.
I am a female employee and am terrified when a homeless person has set up a
camp outside in front of my office front door and I am the first person that
arrives at the office or if Im the last person to leave in the dark (I dont know if
these homeless people are still asleep, violent, etc. and am not trained in martial
arts or law enforcement nor do I carry pepper spray, etc)(Green).
Many people such as this lady feel unsafe around homeless people; by building places for these
homeless to go so that streets feel safer. Economically and physically making centralized
housing makes sense.
Unfortunately, most of society are content to leave homeless as they are, thinking that
the homeless person wants to be homeless and why should the normal working member of
society have to give money to homeless. Many share the sentiment that all homeless are good
for are making our streets dirty and they are too lazy or mentally unstable to be any good to
society.
Three decades of research and experience show that people become homeless
for a myriad of reasons: loss of a job or lowered wages, health care crisis,
increased rent, a family emergency or even landlord bullying. Surveys at the
central intake center for homeless families in New York City show that more than
a quarter of families seek shelter directly after an eviction, roughly one-fifth seek
shelter fleeing domestic violence, and many others seek shelter after residing in
doubled-up, overcrowded or substandard housing. Many families seeking shelter
recently suffered job losses or a loss of public benefits(FAQs & Myths).
While some people are homeless by choice, most have no inclination to be living on the streets.
Studies have found that people experiencing chronic homelessness cost the public between
$30,000 and $50,000 per person per year.(Council of Homelessness). The normal taxpaying
citizen pays more for people to stay on the streets than they would be paying to make
centralized housing for them. Society should not be content leaving homeless as they are, on
the streets.

Rinella5
Safe houses would be beneficial to all members of society from shielding against
stereotypes, to making more working members of society, to alleviating homeless pressures
economically and physically. Everyone deserves a chance to become the person they can be,
only having to take the chance. Everyone should support the passing of the Homeless Clean-Up
Act, so that we may build these safe houses.

Rinella6

Cited
"Cost of Homelessness."
National Alliance to End Homelessness:
. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Nov.
2015.
<
http://www.endhomelessness.org/pages/cost_of_homelessness
>.
"Current Statistics on the Prevalence and Characteristics of People Experiencing
Homelessness in the United States." (n.d.): n. pag.
Samhsa.gov
. United States
Government. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.
<
http://homeless.samhsa.gov/ResourceFiles/hrc_factsheet.pdf
>.
"FAQs & Myths - Coalition For The Homeless."
Coalition For The Homeless
. N.p., n.d. Web. 01
Nov. 2015.
<
http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/the-catastrophe-of-homelessness/faqs-andmyths/
>

Fischer, Robert. "The History of Homelessness in America 1640s to Present."

Downtown
Congregations to End Homelessness
. N.p., 16 Nov. 2011. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.
<
http://www.dceh.org/the-history-of-homelessness-in-america-1640s-to-present/
>.
Green, Alison. "Im Afraid of the Homeless People Sleeping in Front of My Office."
Ask A
Manager
. N.p., 20 Jan. 2015. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.

Rinella7
<
http://www.askamanager.org/2015/01/im-afraid-of-the-homeless-people-sleeping
-in-front-of-my-office.html
>.
Homeaid. "Top Causes of Homelessness in America."
HomeAid
. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2015.
<
http://www.homeaid.org/homeaid-stories/69/top-causes-of-homelessness
>.

Phelan, JO, Bruce G. Link, Robert E. Moore, and Ann Stueve. "The Stigma of Homelessness:
The Impact of the Label "Homeless" on Attitudes Toward Poor Persons."
Social
Psychology Quarterly
. 4th ed. Vol. 60.: American Sociological Association, 1979-2012.
323-37. Print. Ser. 1997.
"Safe House Definition."
Cambridge Dictionaries Online
. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.
<
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/safe-house
>.
Fennim. "Counting the Homeless."
Australian Census Analytic Program
(n.d.): n. pag. AUSTRALIA
A N BUREAU OF STATISTICS, 4 Sept. 2008. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.
<
http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/57393A13387C425DCA257
4B900162DF0/$File/20500-2008Reissue.pdf
>.
U.s. Department Of Housing And Urban Development. "The 2008 Annual Homeless Assessment
Report."
SSRN Electronic Journal SSRN Journal
(n.d.): n. pag.
U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development
. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.
<
https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2005_AHAR_Profile.pdf
>.
"United States Interagency Council on Homelessness."
People Experiencing Chronic

Rinella8
Homelessness
. United States Interagency Council On Homelessness, n.d. Web. 01 Nov.
2015. <
http://usich.gov/population/chronic
>.
"
Homeless Assistance Programs/U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
.
United States Government, n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2015.
<
http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=%2Fprogram_offices%2Fcomm_planning%2
Fhomeless%2Fprograms
>.