Homeless in the United States
Kyosuke Yoshida
June, 2, 1995
Introduction
This paper explores homelessness which is a serious
problem in the United States of America. According to The
National Coalition For The Homeless, "there are between 30,000
and 7,000,000 homeless people in America." (Lunde, 1995) This
paper will analyze the causes of homelessness, including
unemployment, alcoholism, drug abuse, mental illness, and so on.
The argument is that the homeless people are responsible for their
own condition, for example, all alcoholics and drug addicts do not become homeless, so
This means alcoholism or other reasons, cannot be the only
cause of homelessness.
Unemployment
Homelessness is a complex
problem, so not all homelessness is caused by one particular reason.
First, the most serious cause of homelessness is
unemployment. According to a 1993 report by the U.S. conference of
Mayors, " About 60% of homeless population works and is still
homeless." (Ropers, R. H. 1988,) "Their average income is less than $176 per
month."(ICH, 1991) It is far lower than the poverty level; therefore,
some homeless people receive the following government assistance
payments.
Employment Status of Homeless People in the United States by Sex
(Ropers, R. H. 1988)
According to the table and the chart above, approximately 25% of
homeless people does not have a job and 60% has a job; moreover, 54%
of homeless people gets some money which, however, is not enough. Not
all people who are unemployed are looking for jobs and although the
precise figure is not available, some homeless people, who do not want
to work, think that getting money without working is the best way of
living.
Alcoholism and drug abuse (chemical dependency)
Alcoholism is also a major cause of homelessness.
According to The National Coalition for
the Homeless (NCH), "50% of all homeless is a 'single' adult who has a
drug or alcohol problem," but it is not the only cause of
homelessness. Alcoholism also contributes to unemployment. For
example, more than 85% of alcoholic homeless men had not been employed
for at least 6 months, and neither had 79% of nonalcoholic homeless
men. (Bennet, G. , 1992) This means that, regardless of sex, to get
a job is more difficult for alcoholic homeless people than
nonalcoholic homeless people; therefore, alcoholic homeless people get
money from illegal activities. According to NCH, "many drug and alcohol
abusers never become
homeless, but people who are poor and addicted are clearly more tend
to become homeless." (NCH, 1995)
Mental Illness
About one-third of the single adult homeless
population suffers from some kind of severe and persistent mental
illness. (Federal Task Force on Homelessness and Severe Mental Illness,
1992) According to the National Resource Center on Homelessness and
Mental Illness, "at least a half of mentally ill homeless people are
dually diagnosed with an alcohol or drug problem." (NCH, 1992), but
according to the Federal Task Force on Homelessness and Severe Mental
Illness, "Only 5-7% of homeless persons with mental illness needs to
be institutionalized", so mental illness is not the major cause of
homelessness.
Conclusion
Each one of the above causes of homelessness cannot
be the only cause of homelessness by itself because most of homeless
people get some money whether they are employed or not employed
([ICH], 1991), and some people are not willing to work because of the
government assistance payment. In terms of alcoholism and drug
abuse(chemical dependency), only homeless people who are addicted have
a high risk of becoming homeless. ([NCH], 1995) Only 5% to 7% of
homeless people with mental illness need to be
institutionalized.([NCH], 1995) It can be said that homeless people
escape from working. Even though social factors should not be
overlooked, I strongly insist that the homeless people are responsible
for their own conditions.
Reference list
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Ropers, R. H. (1988) The invisible homeless: a new urban ecology. New York:
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(1995) Homelessness and Joblessness (on line) available:
http://nch.ari.net/jobs.html
The National Coalition for the Homeless
(1995) How Many Homeless People Are There ? (on line) available:
http://nch.ari.net/numbers.html
The National Coalition for the Homeless (1995) Why Are People Homeless?
(on line) available: http://nch.ari.net/causes.html
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