Nwana,
Florence
Amanda
Reyes
English
105
September
19, 2015
Homeless in California (Rough Draft)
The homeless have been a problem in our
society for as long as the nation's existence. When one thinks of a homeless
person, they see a middle-aged male figure, Worn clothes, scruffy beard, lazy,
and alcohol on breath all spark the characteristics of the average homeless
person in the mind of people. There are many stereotypes attached to
homelessness, but are they really true? Can a homeless person be put into a
single stereotype? Some of these negative
impressions are so ingrained into our society that even some people who are
trying to help may believe some of them. Like the story of John Roger was I
typical example. Losing his parent at the tender age and was raised by his only
brother, who was later killed in the war. John later joined armed, after the
death of his brother. However, John could not forgive himself of all he did,
during the time he was served as a military and also end up as psychiatric
patient. But when people passes by they ignore him, whenever he talk to them,
they just walk out without looking at him. The irony of veteran who fight for
their country, in order for them to live a better life, but instead they are
out on the street. I think something need to be done. While almost half of all
adult homeless people in America are unemployed, it doesn't indicate laziness.
Many of them lost their jobs through no fault of their own, or through
corporate downsizing or due to injury, illness, old age or disability.
Those well
enough and young enough to work have many high barriers in gaining employment.
They may be putting in dozens of applications a day but never get a bite due to
the prejudice created by the strong and commonly held negative beliefs about
homeless people.
Those with jobs are
often don't earn enough to afford rent or qualify to rent. Another issue is
even if the person
works full time, he or she may not earn enough to afford an apartment but find
themselves unable to rent one.
This is a
harmful stereotype because it closes many doors for about a quarter of all
homeless in Americans. Those who are mentally ill, are mainly ill in ways
completely harmless to anyone but themselves. There's also some question as to
whether or not those people who are mentally ill or emotionally disturbed
became mentally ill as a consequence of trauma, violence, and other stresses
experienced while living without adequate shelter.
This belief about
homeless people is dangerous because it again, creates fear and leads to
suggestions that they should all be rounded up and institutionalized instead of
helped.
I think our legislation need to act fast on
these issue, because many people have lose their live as result of this issue
called homeless. They need to build many homes for veteran especially and for
many who equally need the help. Create jobs for them, and also create a center
where they can learn to do something.
To
further gain an insight into the predicament and reality of the homeless. I
interviewed a homeless man named Mark. Mark is a forty years old man, who
has been homeless for 3 years. We met Mark at a Starbucks. My own experience with a homeless man, that
approach me for some money, which I do gave some money , because of what he told
he has no eating for the past two days. I sympathized with him by emptied all
my remaining change on him.
While
circumstances can vary, the main reason people experience homelessness is
because they cannot find housing they can afford. It is the scarcity of
affordable housing in the United States, particularly in more urban areas where
homelessness is more prevalent, that is behind their inability to acquire or
maintain housing.
According
to the National Alliance to end homelessness online, “By the numbers:
- In January 2014, there were 578,424 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the United States.
- Of that number, 216,197 are people in families, and
- 362,163 are individuals.
- About 15 percent of the homeless population – 84,291 - are considered "chronically homeless” individuals, and
These numbers come
from point-in-time counts, which are conducted,
community by community, on a single night in January every other year. The Department
of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires
communities to submit this data every other year in order to qualify for federal homeless assistance funds. Many communities
conduct counts more regularly.
Work Cited
Soul Pancake, prod. “John-Stories From the Street." You Tube. Toutube, 12 November 2013.Web.
19 September. 2015.
"Snapshot of Homelessness." 1 January 2014. National
Alliance to End Homelessness. 19 September 2015.
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