Homeless Situation Treatment - Essay Example

HOMELESS SITUATION Homelessness is situations where by people don’t have a regular dwelling place. The homeless are most often not able to acquire and maintain safe, regular, adequate, and a secure housing or they don’t have a ‘fixed’ regular and adequate residence at night-time. Legally, the definition varies from country to country, or within different jurisdictions in the same region or even country. The term ‘homeless’ may also comprise individuals whose night-time residence is primarily in a warming center, a homeless shelter, a vehicle, a domestic violence shelter, a tent, squatting, tarpaulins, cardboard boxes, or other ad hoc housing situations. Other countries also include people who sleep in a private or public place that is not tailored to be utilized as a regular sleeping accommodation for people (Burt, et al. 2007). Homeless is a issue because people who are homeless experience a wide range of human rights violations. Access to secure and safe housing is among the basic human rights. Basically, homeless is not just about housing. Fundamentally, it is about lack of connection with family, friends, community, and lack of control over the environment. The homeless may face human right violation to a standard of living that is adequate, the right to liberty and security of the individual, right to education, right to social security, right to privacy, the right to freedom from discrimination, voting right, and many more. Homelessness impacts an individual’s ability to enjoy his/her basic rights and freedoms. Homeless is more than just an issue of housing. It is about human rights. These are also people and merely objects of charity, who are seeking for help and compassion. They are also entitled to enjoy their human rights. Because these rights are entitled to everyone, it is important that human rights of the homeless individuals are also respected and protected (Csiernik, et al. 2011). International human rights laws acknowledge that each and every person has the right to standards of living that is adequate. These rights also include rights to adequate housing. This is more than just shelter. It is the right to have an adequate place to live. Every individual, including the homeless have the right to the highest standard of health that is possible. However, being homeless may result in serious and persistent violations of this principle human right. Everyone has the right the right to liberty and security of the person. A homeless person’s physical security is usually under constant threat. Because they lack a safe environment for living, they are more vulnerable to personal attacks and crime. The youth and children are specifically vulnerable to their safety and the laws of human rights recognize the right to protection against sexual and other abuses. Homeless women are also at a bigger risk of sexual abuse and violence and are normally forced in to relationships out of need and situations that are harmful. Each and every person has the right to protection against unlawful or arbitrary interference with their privacy. The state of being homeless tends to take this right from the affected. They end up urinating, sleeping, eating and washing in the public; activities that many people perform in the privacy of their homes (Hopper, K. 2003). Education is also a basic human right. For the homeless, monetary difficulty and housing conditions that are insecure has made it difficult to get education and training facilities on a basis that is sustainable. Additionally, the associated costs of education, like books, clothes, activities fees have proved to be a very tall order to the homeless. They also move around a lot something that doest facilitate schooling and it makes it difficult for them to make friends and connections. The right to be equally treated by law and to be free from discrimination is a principle human right. People who are homeless experience persistent discrimination and stigmatization in a range of different contexts. This human right violation against them takes place in places like health care center, schools and work places. It is a fact that there are various ways that someone can be affected by homelessness, and there are many of causes of homelessness. Poverty and being unable to afford adequate housing are the many causes of homeless. Other causes may be domestic violence, mental health, substance and other addictions. In some situations, there is no way the affected can enjoy their basic human rights even if they had the resources to live a life like every other individual. In the case where homelessness is caused by mental health problem, the person who is affected may a variety of health conditions – disorder that affect their mood, behavior and thinking. This may include anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders, schizophrenia and addictive behaviors. In such a case, as much as education is a human right for each and every individual. It is very hard for such an individual to enjoy such a right given that his/her mental state cannot allow for their education as there are not at the correct state of mind. Homeless can also be brought by substance abuse and addiction that causes many teenagers to run away from their home to live in the streets. In many occasions such individuals refuses to go to school as they don’t see any importance in it. As much as substance abuse and addiction can be treated, we cannot blame homelessness for such individual’s failure to enjoy one of the human rights which is education (Kennett, et al. 1999). Homelessness among the youth and strongly linked to family and relationships breakdowns and substance abuse. Some children usually run away from their parents whenever they are involved in an argument with them and they resort to the street life where they favor in times of difficulty. Out there, by default, all the right human rights that they were enjoying their parent’s house varnishes in an instant. And this is a situation that they have chosen for themselves and there is no way we can blame homelessness for such individual’s lack of the basic human rights. However, my position about this issue is that homelessness clearly impacts an individual’s ability to enjoy his/her basis human rights and freedoms. Based on this research, I conclude that indeed homelessness forces an individual’s rights as human to be violated to a very great extent. Having a safe and secure housing is the most basic human right. Adequate housing is crucial for the survival of human with dignity. In the absence of housing, many other rights that are basic are automatically compromised which includes the right to privacy and family life, the right to assembly and association, freedom of movement right, development right, and the right to health. This topic was chosen because homelessness is one of the major social issues in the United States, and the youth are the age group that is at a major risk of becoming homeless. The number of teenagers and youths who have experienced homelessness depends on the time frame, age range, and definition used, but it is estimated by sources that between 500,000 and 2.8 million youth do not have a home within the United States every year. The youth in this country are homeless due to many reasons, but involvement in child welfare and juvenile justice system, neglect, abuse, abandonment, and family conflicts that are severe have been identified to be linked with youth becoming homeless. This topic is crucial given that their basic human rights are violated and they are also vulnerable to a variety of negative experiences that includes victimization and exploitation. This topic came to my interest when I heard that homeless youth face a lot of difficulties in the streets. Very few of them are housed in the emergency shelters due to the fact that shelter beds for youth are not sufficient, preferences for greater autonomy, and shelter admission policies. Due to their age, the homeless you have limited legal means which can enable them to earn sufficient funds to meet basic needs. A lot of homeless adolescents end up exchanging sex for clothing, food, and shelter since it is their only chance for surviving out there in the streets. Consequently, they are a very big risk of contracting AIDS or HIV related illness. Estimates of the homeless youth in percentage who are affected with HIV are reported to be in the region of 5%, but a study in San Francisco discovered that 17% of the youth who are homeless have been affected (Health Resources and Services Administration 2001). There are suggestions that the rate of HIV prevalence for youth who are homeless may be as much as two to ten times greater than the rates that are reported for other samples of adolescents in the country. In addition, it is also reported that homeless youth face challenges attending school because of requirements of legal guardianship, improper records, residency requirements, and lack of transportation. Hence they face adverse challenges in obtaining an education which is a human right so as to be able to support themselves emotionally and financially (Robinson, P. 2008). The main thing that this paper is basically trying to drive at is that there are a lot of homeless youth out there that are really suffering and are exposed to a lot of risks than we actually think. Youth homelessness issue doesn’t just perfectly fit in a box. It is difficult to tell how many youth are experiencing homeless; in the national data, they are undercounted. As much as they don’t have safe stable home, many wind up ‘cough surfing’ with relatives, friends, or acquaintances. It is very hard to establish the identity of the youth on the streets using typical counts of people who are unsheltered experiencing homelessness. Youth who are homeless are less likely to spend time in one place as homeless people who are in the older age range. Normally, they are not willing to disclose what they are actually going through or may not want to be identified as homeless. They also try hard so as to blend with peers who are not homeless. The social and cultural influences that have influenced my opinion regarding this topic are the social and cultural influences that lead to the state of being homeless. Socially, women are viewed as weak and it is through domestic violence, family breakdown and sexual assaults. This experience force them out of the society to together with their children as expected with their culture in such for a better place to live. And these are things that women suffer quit often in marriages adding to the fact that there are many people who are homeless out there. This also applies to the youth, as the causes that lead to them being homeless as already has been discussed, happens quit a lot. This means that the number of the homeless is very big (Todd, E. P. 2005). I believe that if we all come together and hold and support each other at their times of need, the issue of homelessness will be a thing of the past. This conclusion was reached at after viewing the human right approach in dealing with this issue. In this approach, it is crucial for us to realize that each and every human being is entitled under the international law to promotion and protection of their human rights. The approach indicates the to meaningfully and directly associating the individuals experiencing homelessness in coming up with solutions to homelessness. Informed and active participation of the homeless people is more likely to end up to services which are relevant and effective to their needs. This should involve all levels of government committing and to taking targeted and concrete policy, legislative and budgetary measures towards the full and immediate achievement of human rights of the people who are homeless. The lifestyle of the homeless influenced my opinion to this topic. I don’t have any connection to this topic but due to the fact that the homeless are also human beings, I am also affected and I fell it’s my duty to advocate for their right. The homeless can be assisted by building secure and safer houses for them. Giving them education so that they can also be financially and stable in the to take future. And the most important thing is listening to them so that we can figure out what actually made them to be homeless for us to be able to tackle the issue from its root cause. This can only be possible with a lot of government initiatives in place. References Burt, M. R., Pearson, C. L., & Montgomery, A. E. (2007). Homelessness: Prevention, strategies and effectiveness. New York: Nova Science Publishers. Csiernik, R., Forchuk, C., & Jensen, E. (2011). Homelessness, housing, and mental health: Finding truths--creating change. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press. Hopper, K. (2003). Reckoning with homelessness. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Kennett, P., & Marsh, A. (1999). Homelessness: Exploring the new terrain. Bristol: Policy. Robinson, P. (2008). Working with young homeless people. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Todd, E. P. (2005). Homelessness: Is society looking the other way?. New York: Nova Science Publishers. Read More