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Massey-Jimenez ENC1101 6 October 2013 Homelessness: A Global Issue, Close to Home Since the Great Depression, and far beyond, homelessness has been a great issue in many parts of the world. People tend to associate homelessness, as a foreign concept, something being advocated for in third world countries, such as parts of Africa. But this is a misconception that has been disregarding a global issue that is in the backyards the average suburban community. Homelessness, as defined by the VCU Center on Society and Health, as one of two types. Either an individual is literal homeless, which refers to The status of people who are either sheltered homeless or unsheltered homeless, ("What is Homelessness?"). Or it is chronic homelessness, which is the on and off living in shelters and refuges. Most homeless individuals seek shelter, explaining why it is so hidden, however, when popular communities with high incomes run out of space to provide shelter their overwhelming homeless population, they kick them to the curb. Sadly, there is not enough budget in the U.S. government to help the homeless, and little to anything is rarely done after this. Government income is spent of many other things such as oil and the military. Moreover, the budget is basically spent on any matter that deals with any nation outside the U.S. But the attention to their own country is at a standstill. Ever since the second economic collapse in 2000, the economy has been struggling, and inverse of assisting the people more and more, just as they should be, the government was ready to go head over heels into Syria, over an accusation of chemical warfare. Funding is not sufficient, and budgeting needs to be done in order to set the priorities of this nation. If the funding and budgeting for homeless

Guardia 2 individuals is not fixed, economic turmoil may occur, worsening the countries overall standpoint, reputation, and value. Funding for homeless individuals is inadequate and improper due to various reasons and examinations. In countries such as Canada, the homeless population is not receiving sufficient funding in order to care and house for many of the individuals. In fact, according to, Thousands without Homes in Need of More Government Aid, the Canadian government has decreased its funding for the homeless over the years since the great economic depression, assistance went down, and when the economy collapsed in 2000, many were left homeless. However, the Canadian government did not provide as much support as they should have; as they did last during the 1920s. Furthermore, it is clear that support for the homeless is neither as adequate, and obviously not as efficient. Many individuals do not wish to be homeless, and actually do wish to try and attempt to remove themselves from that terrible predicament in their lives. However, with increasing greed and low economic standards, many individuals are finding it hard to catch a break, especially when half of the community cannot be housed because of lack of space, caused by a lack of funding. It is well known that individuals who are homeless are there for a numerous of reasons, the most infamous is for drugs. However, there are those who lost their homes to storms such as Katrina, and their jobs to the economy. But they are not the to blame for this, as a series of coincidental events is what happened, and a bit of misfortune ended it. Along with homelessness, comes a lack of literacy and education. Individuals who are homeless cannot afford to attend school, or do not have access to it. Education is said to be the key to success, if so, then why is it not being promoted for children born into such extreme poverty/ homelessness. Education would be the freedom from the crisis they are in. One of the

Guardia 3 main causes of the Great Depression was the surplus of illiterate farmers who owned barely a penny to their name. Following historical trends, the same happened in modern day, the minimum wage worker earned such little money that when the economic boom hit, they collapsed with no roof to protect them. A solid education would have prevented this and surely have promoted a better life and career for these individuals. If not for the unsteady, unfortunate situation they were in, they could have led successful and joyous lives. However, they could not, and even if they attempted to do so, it is impossible without assistance, more specifically, governmental assistance. The government assists children to manage to go to school and learn something but past a certain age all of that ends and the children are left with a high school degree that leads to nowhere. At the moment, most jobs require at least an A.A. to accept. A basic high school education does nearly nothing other than award a small few a chance towards a better life. But this is a small few, and most of the individuals go back to being homeless, continuing the cycle once again. It is, of course, in the governments best interest to help the homeless as well. Economically, the homeless downgrade cities, as they are not a pleasant site nor pleasant to be around. This also ruptures the tourism of said city and makes it unpopular, leading to an even greater economic turmoil. If there was a great amount of homelessness in Disney land, it would suffer significantly, with a massive decrease in overall attendance, which is less money earned by the corporation, then less money paid to the employees, and finally, another economic collapse, leaving a couple more hundred people homeless. It is a cycle that the government is the only one with sufficient power to break. Culturally, the homeless are seen as rats and filth, they are the animosity of the people around. There is no set reason for this, it is just because of prejudice set forth by others. The hatred inspired and revolted is so intense, that many hate crimes have been seen lately, proving

Guardia 4 to be a great threat to all those individuals living the nights out on the street. Government agencies such as the police, who are supposed to help the homeless, rarely help, and normally turn a blind eye, and in some cases, have even participated in the beating themselves. Concurrently, however, municipal bodies adopted quality of life ordinances that prohibit sleeping and begging in certain public spaces. Some prominent examples of officially sanctioned intolerance of begging are now well known by politicians and advocates alike, (Fang 3). Corruption in the government has led to the mistreatment of the individuals to avoid funding and economic setbacks proposed by assisting the homeless. However, this is short run progress, as in the long run, the number of homeless individuals will increase, and the economic debt will sky rocket due to the lack of employed individuals, and the benefits of being unemployed. If an education and assistance in general is provided to remove the individual from debt, then the certain future crisis can be easily avoided. Aside from homelessness, extreme poverty has nearly the same effect. Besides owning some form of property, whether in debt or not, extreme poverty has virtually no difference from homeless individuals. Poverty, as defined by PovertyUSA, is when Americans families were having a difficult time making ends meet before the recession. With continuing unemployment and increasing costs of living, more and more families have to choose between necessities like health care, child care, and even food. Even though poverty is almost as bad as homelessness, those in poverty receive more benefits overall than those in homelessness. Things such as food

Guardia 5 stamps, and government paid school lunches; all assist the poor. Another major difference, is that those in poverty are not trying to be eradicated. The government is making efforts to remove homeless individuals from certain areas and communities, in a plot to increase the retail and economic value of said area. Poor individuals who own a household, are not being moved. They are able to maintain themselves in said location for much longer, and live off of government benefits. The ability to live off of government benefits is completely contrary to those homeless individuals who were moved. Homeless individuals receive little benefits from the government, and the qualifications are much more elaborate, in versus of the check of income for those in poverty. Every day, those living on the street seek a meal, and many are relying on nonprofit organizations and churches to live. The government grants tax deductions to many of these institutions, making it profitable to help those in need. In a way, it seems like a giant conspiracy, the upper social classes get a break, while the lower ones are being removed. The sandal is to improve the economy of the country. Moreover, if the homeless population is lessened, less are seeking government assistance, more of it can be granted, and it is easier to remove such a large amount of individuals. However, there are too many homeless individuals, and the government is instead moving them around, to improve the value of certain areas, increasing the economy. Homeless turmoil is not just within the government and regular civilians, but within the homeless community as well. Many people who are homeless, are homeless due to several reasons, mainly economic. Economically, many individuals went homeless because of debt, and one of the leading causes was drugs. Earlier this year, a survey of 250 homeless people living in South Florida conducted by the Task Force For Ending Homelessness found that more than 4 in 10 women (44 percent) and 3 in 10 men (34 percent) have been victims of violent attacks since living on the streets, (Keyes). Violence is strong within the homeless community, and many of

Guardia 6 the individuals often beat one another for money, drugs, and even for women. Many rape cases have been filed by these women, but little to nothing is done. There is normally never a witness, the women are normally alone, and if anyone ever witnessed such a crime, they rarely speak up, due to the prejudice set to these individuals. Homeless on homeless violence is not rare, and is also due to many intertwined reasons. Lack of food, money, clothes, and shelters, causes many conflicts and fights within members of the community. Many of these things are fought over because of the lack of it. Individuals who seek assistance get little due to a lack of assistance. The population is too large, and in comparison, there are too few of organizations, meaning that some individuals are going to get left out, causing much turmoil. All in all, homelessness is a global issue that is very close to home. The United States has had various economic setbacks, destroying much of the economy. Within a few years, the economy has grown back, and many individuals who were once homeless, have moved up to extreme poverty. This however, has taken too long in comparison to how rapidly the economy can and has dropped. Lack of government assistance can be accredited to the new arising of global issues that have posed serious threats the United States. Nevertheless, the homeless population is a very large community that severely affect the economy of the United States. Funding for the homeless needs to be increased to fix the economy, and allow for the interest of many other pressing issues. The United States does not seem to care as much though. They are ready to jump to other countries in search of resources, but does not want to maintain its own

Guardia 7 internal strength. Many children in Africa do not have a very good education, and see where the economy of many of its countries are. The United States funds children education until the end of High School, and then provides grants to a few of the children. But when there is no money to pay for school, and children are losing a valuable education, a cycle is on loop. The key to success, and the key too much growth, is education, funding, and organization. Social distinctions also pose a great boundary, and social prejudice reinforces it. If legal enforcement and assistance is supported or provided, then the cycle has failed. Homelessness is an ongoing issue that needs resolution, which begins with an increase assistance from the government and its people, to better the country as a whole.

Guardia 8 Works Cited Falvo, Nick. Thousands without Homes in Need of More Government Aid. CCPA Monitor Nov. 2010: 23-23. Print. Fang, Anyu. "Hiding Homelessness: 'Quality Of Life' Laws And The Politics Of Development In American Cities." International Journal Of Law In Context 5.1 (2009): 1-24. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. N.A. Homeless Beating. 2011. New York Post, New York. New York Post. Web. 14 November 2013. PovertyUSA. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013 "What is Homelessness?." VCU Center on Society and Health. Virginia Commonwealth University, 8 Jun 2010. Web. 6 Nov 2013. Keyes, Scott. "Violence Against Homeless People Is On The Rise." Think Progress 10 9 2013, n. p. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. Thomas, Kelly. Barbarians with Badges. 2011. Moral Low Ground, n.c. Moral Low Ground. Web. 14 November 14, 2013.