Should Society Help The Homeless - Essay Example

Should Society Help The Homeless? Introduction Homeless is a term used to refer to those individual who do not have a regular place to live. The people who are regarded as homeless are said to be suffering from a condition called homelessness. The number of homeless people is increasing day by day throughout the world and there are various reasons associated with increase in this number. One of the main reasons that have caused an upsurge in this number is recession. United States of America which was once considered as the wealthiest and the safest place to live on the entire earth was even negatively impacted due to the recent rescission that was experienced globally. Due to recession and other factors there has been an increase in the number of homeless people throughout United States. According to Fargo there were a total of more than 0.13 million homeless veterans in seven different jurisdictions of United States and several more were at a risk of being homeless (According 9). This means that only amongst the veteran population such a huge number of people are homeless and this even means that the probability of homeless people in other populations and jurisdictions of US is quite high. The society members are making efforts to help the homeless people in United States. Due to the moves made by the government and the society to help the homeless people there has been a debate on whether the society should continue to help the homeless people or not. I believe that the society should continue to take measures to help the homeless and more effective and efficient measures need to be taken by the society to tackle and completely wipeout homelessness from United States. The society and the citizens of United States should help the homeless people in order to deter crime, share government’s burden and to achieve a better (prosperous) future for the society. Body In Favor Of Society Helping The Homeless One of the main reasons due to which the society needs to increase and continue its efforts to help the homeless people of US is that these measures can help in decreasing rate of crime and deter homeless people from committing criminal activity. All human beings are rational choice makers and if they believe that a particular decision can yield higher advantages than disadvantages, they are more likely to take that decision. Homeless people always feel a desire to satisfy one of their basic needs which is to obtain shelter and individuals are motivated by this basic necessity to take different actions to earn money and satisfy this needs. If homeless people perceive that by indulging in criminal activity they can obtain the funds to finance their need for a shelter, they are most likely going to indulge in criminal activities such as robbing banks or other individuals. In order to ensure that homeless people do not indulge in criminal activity, the society should help them by provide them shelter. According to Zapf, when individual are able to satisfy their primary needs they feel happy as well as satisfied and do not indulge in crime (Zapf 291). Another reason due to which society and its members should take initiative to help the homeless people is that the government does not have enough funds to help this population. The government is already bearing the burden of huge number of expenses such as medical assistance, education assistance as well as old age assistance. It is believed that the government is running out of money to provide help to different populations for different purposes. If governments continue to help the homeless, funds for other facilities provided by the government will keep on decreasing. By helping the homeless people, the citizens can take this burden off the shoulders of the government and government would be able to spend more funds on other areas. Sullivan states that during the period of 2006 a total of $28.5 billion was allocated by the government to assist the homeless people (Sullivan 1). If the society helps the homeless people, this amount can be saved and can be used to help homeless people in other areas of life such as education and employment and this will in turn help the homeless people in generating funds to obtain proper shelter for themselves. Another reason due to which the society should help the homeless people is that those who are homeless mostly belong to the age bracket that is recognized as the youth of the nation. According to NCLS, on any particular night there are more than 1.3 million homeless people who belong to the population of youth (ncsl.org 1). This section of the society is considered as quite essential for the positive future of the society. If this sector fails to fulfill their basic necessities of food and shelter, their psychological and physical development will be hampered and this in turn will hamper the future of the entire society. This section of the society requires education to develop knowledge, skills and abilities to find jobs and start businesses and they lack the resources to obtain a regular place to live. If the society helps the homeless people it can ensure that the future of the society is prosperous. Oppositions View There are several who do not agree that the citizens of the nation should be responsible for helping the homeless people and they have various reasons to defend their stance. One of the main reason due to which opposition opposes the view of society helping the homeless people is that homeless people are not a responsibility of the members of the society. They are a responsibility for the government and the government should ensure that the issue of homelessness is taken care off. Another reason due to which they argue against the society helping the homeless people is that homeless people are experiencing homelessness because of their own personal reasons and if they would have made proper choices they would not be experiencing homelessness. They state that the youth is mainly experiencing homelessness because they have run away from their homes and they have chosen not to educate themselves. A third reason for not helping the homeless provided by the opposition is that homeless people are not the only ones who are experiencing financial hardships, the entire society of United States was financially hampered by the recession and do not have sufficient resources to provide for themselves and for the homeless as the same time. Solutions I believe that the opposition’s view of it being the sole responsibility of the government to help the homeless is correct because the government is already suffering from immense budget issues and the members of the society has to help them in curbing homelessness. The government can even take initiatives in helping the homeless alongside the society be making policies in which the government does not need to invest heavily. They need to make homes affordable so that the homeless people can purchase homes at manageable prices. The government can help increase the education of the homeless so they can find favorable employment and fund their housing needs. But while the impact of such measures takes place, it is the duty of the citizens to continue assisting the homeless people. Conclusion Homelessness is a condition experienced by homeless people who do not have the required permanent and regular place to live and satisfy their need for shelter. The society should help the homeless people because people this will help in deterring homeless people from committing criminal activity, it will even help in sharing the government’s burden of helping the people of United States and it will even ensure that the future of the society is safe since a huge number of the homeless people belong to the younger generation. The government can take non monetary initiatives such as ensuring that housing is available to homeless people at affordable prices and education is being provided to the homeless so they can attain favorable employment and earn a regular shelter. Works Cited Fargo, J, S Metraux, T Byrne, E Munley, AE Montgomery, H Jones, G Sheldon, V Kane, and D Culhane. "Prevalence and Risk of Homelessness Among Us Veterans." Preventing Chronic Disease. 9 (2012). Print. Sullivan, Brian. "HUD Archives: BUSH ADMINISTRATION PROPOSES $28.5 BILLION HUD BUDGET - SPENDING PLAN CONTINUES COMMITMENT TO HOMEOWNERSHIP AND HOMELESS ASSISTANCE." Archives.hud.gov, 2014. Web. 21 Mar 2014. . Unknown. "Homeless and Runaway Youth." Ncsl.org, 2013. Web. 21 Mar 2014. . Zapf, Patricia A, Stephen D. Hart, and Ronald Roesch. Forensic Psychology and Law. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley, 2013. Internet resource. Read More