Homelessness & America's "Growing Tide" of Violence

Often, we take for granted the things that we have and the place which we call our home. What about those people who are less fortunate and don’t have a place that they can call home? According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, homelessness has been on the rise for the past 25 years. The National Coalition for the Homeless is an organization dedicated to promoting social justice. Their promotion for economic, healthcare, and housing justice recognizes the never-ending struggle that homeless people face everyday. Because homeless is referred to as a “temporary circumstance—not a permanent condition,” it is difficult to exactly know how many people are actually homeless. This steady increase of homelessness has resulted due to factors such as foreclosure, poverty, job opportunities, and decline in public assistance.

Quick Facts:
-Approximately 3.5 million Americans experience homelessness each year
-Approximately 777,000 homeless children are currently enrolled in the public school system
-Children under 18 comprise 39% of the homeless population
- National Housing Coalition estimates that 40% of families are facing eviction due to foreclosure; 7 million households (of low income) are at risk of foreclosure
-In 2007 homeless children ‘over-represented’ 35% of the poverty population
-16% of homeless single adults suffer from a type of mental illness

(*statistics provided by www.nationalhomeless.org*)

Americans have been suffering due to foreclosures, loss of jobs, and loss of health/medical care benefits. No one chooses to be homeless, but people often have no choice. Many people are left homeless due to their previous held jobs that offered low wages and benefits that were insufficient to support their families. Why hasn’t the government taken immediate action since homelessness has been on the rise for the past 25 years? The National Coalition for the Homeless acknowledges that even the federal governments’ support for low-income housing has declined 49% from 1980 to 2003. As a result of this decrease, nearly 200,000 federally supported homeless rental units have been destroyed annually due to insufficient funds.

Many people could argue that since homeless is only considered a “temporary circumstance” why can’t the homeless make ends meet? In a 2007 survey conducted by the National Coalition, rough economic times has not offered many job opportunities. Without a job, a mother/father can’t receive adequate healthcare benefits or funds to be able to afford a home or support their children.

Hate crimes against the homeless have been occurring more frequently within the past decade. Many of these crimes across the United States result in the beating and deaths of the homeless by "housed individuals." Within the past decade, there have been over 1,000 acts of violence committed by “housed individuals” against the homeless and approximately 300 of these violent acts had resulted in death. Although states such as California and Florida have the highest rate of hate crimes within the past decade, many hate crimes go unreported each year. National Coalition researchers can only comment that places with warmer weather year-round such as California and Florida may contribute to the higher rate of homeless people who seek shelter outdoors.

The National Coalition for the Homeless has created a legislative proposal called the “Bring America Home Act.” This legislative proposal has been would be the first to officially address the causes and effects of homelessness. The passing of the “Bring America Home Act” as well as the "Federal Strategic Plan" would "permanently" end homelessness in the United States. These legislative plans are in the early works, but the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness' goal is to end all homelessness by 2020. What about until then? What does the future hold?

1. With great strides being made by the government to pass legislative laws to end homelessness, do you think these newly implemented laws would solve America’s problem of homelessness across the United States?
2. What do you think could be done to prevent these hate crimes against the homeless?
3. If you were homeless, what would you do?

Public service announcement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hrAbctwA3g

For more information about homelessness and hate crimes:
http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/hatecrimes/hatecrimes2009.pdf
http://www.usich.gov/