The Problem of Homeless in the American Society - Term Paper Example

Download file to see previous pages A homeless individual does not have a fixed permanent nighttime residence. Anyone who has a temporary nighttime residence such as any public or private place, welfare hotels not designed for nighttime residence for human beings is a homeless person. Homelessness is usually not a person’s natural state.  Political agendas are responsible for such state (Arnaudo, Madrid & Zappasodi 6-7). In addition, low unemployment levels in the nation do not infer that all working people are well-off. Homelessness problem is growing dramatically in America. It is a non-discriminative problem that can strike anyone without any expectation. Therefore, homelessness is a social problem and crisis affecting our society. Addressing the problem of homelessness calls the entire nation for togetherness to create solutions to the growing epidemic of homeless people. Statistics show that people living in poverty are standing the most risk of becoming homeless. The homeless are also at risk of losing the little they already have.
The number of homeless people and children has greatly increased in the past decade. They are about 40 percent of people who are homeless. In rural areas, the largest people who are homeless are single mothers, families, and children. In a 1998 survey done in 30 cities by U.S Conference of Mayors, it was determined that the homeless population consist of 35 percent Caucasian and 53 percent of African-American. Four percent were Native Americans while 12 percent and three percent were Hispanic and Asian respectively. The ethnic make-up of the homeless population varies depending on geographic location (Arnaudo, Madrid & Zappasodi 10-11). There is a relationship between poverty and homelessness. In most cases, poor people are not able to pay for education, food, child care, housing, and health care. These populations have to make difficult choices when small income can only cover some of these necessities. Evidence shows that low, poor employment opportunities for the huge number of the workforce increase poverty.   ...Download file to see next pagesRead More