Homelessness in Our Community
Homelessness is a critical issue in our community that requires everyone’s attention and poses a danger to our society and its ability to succeed. In this paper, I'll present ideas about the causes of homelessness, assistance programs for the homeless and organizations in place that have been proposed for the problem, the economic impact on the community, and the solutions to solve the problem. One of the solutions to homelessness in our communities is closing the half-million deficiency of affordable housing.
The lack of affordable housing, inadequate public assistance, and the breakdown of the family are three causes of homelessness. The number one cause of homelessness in my area is due to the lack of affordable housing, and awareness of preventing homelessness. Housing and homelessness awareness is a fundamental starting and strategic point, and with support, we can overcome homelessness in our community. It's enticing to lump the homeless together under a single label but there is a multitude of different causes and stories for each of these individuals. Depending on their circumstances, they may or may not know about, or be interested in, the assistance programs available to them because of their life experiences. With or without those programs considered, there is still an economic impact on the community that must be considered. Individuals without a place to live are high consumers of community resources and generate expense rather than income, for the community. Various studies have unfailingly proved that long-term housing aid would decrease homelessness tremendously, and because of the nature of homelessness and the extremely pressing problem, our community should be willing to assist in fixing the issue.
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I believe, the initial step is changing the way we view the homeless and start discussing individuals experiencing homelessness. We frequently label people as “the homeless or addicts or transients by their present condition and circumstance. Truth be told, we have no clue what occurred in their lives that led to this situation. We need to quit judging and start helping one another. We have to educate our communities and make awareness of homelessness. They're such a great deal of resources available to help prevent homelessness and help the homeless.
We could expand emergency seasonal winter shelters to operate year-round. Expanding winter shelters to year-round, this type of change would provide shelter for a lot of homeless people. Under the current rules, the city can only declare a shelter crisis during the winter months, which are November to March and the shelter can only be open at night. The shelters are limited to operations for no longer than 120 days. These shelters should be open to the public 24 hrs. a day 365 days a year. This sort of progress would have a significant amount of families in shelters verse the streets. We could also converse with our nearby churches about a potential temporary shelter until permanent placement becomes available. I believe, it would be simpler to address the current circumstance in place verse attempting to request our taxpayers for millions to build new affordable housing, which could take years. These steps can be done now, not in years to come.
This has continuously been a topic in our community(s), and homelessness was first documented in Los Angeles in the ’80s. From that point forward, it has only been growing and becoming more normal to us all. As indicated by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, in 2019, approximately 50,000 to 60,000 individuals are affected by homelessness on any given night in Los Angeles County; more than 44,000 of these individuals call the streets their homes (Los Angeles County 2019). Youth, from minors through age 24, makes up 8,915 of the county's homeless population. The homeless are a growing population in Los Angeles and we need to educate our communities on homeless prevention and awareness (Homelessness in Los Angeles County 2019).
Hundreds of colleges, churches, community groups, and service agencies across the nation announced the beginning of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. This event is an annual week of action where people come together to focus attention on poverty and homelessness in their communities. Participating organizations (Churches, Community leaders, etc.) will spend the week holding educational classes, community service, fundraising, clothing giveaways, feeding the less fortunate, and advocacy events to address these critical issues with homelessness in their communities, and this could be the type of awareness we could bring to our community. This event is designated the week prior to Thanksgiving. As we get closer to the winter months, more than ever homelessness needs to be addressed. Another awesome thing about this annual event is that this organization (Hunger and Homelessness Awareness) helps and provides the necessary tools and guidelines for us as a community to host our own event geared towards awareness of homelessness in our community/communities. We could utilize this opportunity to make awareness in our community and start the fight to defeat homelessness.
Expanding winter shelters is a type of solution needed in our communities. Expanding shelters will lower consumers of public resources and generate income rather than an expense for the community. Expanding will also provide homes for the homeless as opposed to living on the streets of L.A. On February 28th of 2017, the Board of Supervisors passed a motion offered by Supervisors Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis to study options to expand and enhance Los Angeles County’s current emergency shelter system and make them 24/7 year-round facilities (Supervisor Janice Hahn). As of now, the shelters of Los Angeles only operate emergency shelters through the Winter Shelter Program from December to March.
Homeless shelters expanding beyond the winter months would assist all ages in the Los Angeles area and the surrounding communities. The demand for homeless services is a continuous need in our communities and across the globe. Homeless shelters provide the population of homeless individuals comfort in knowing they have a place to call home. There are many homeless shelters that provide more than just a roof over their heads for a few hours or even days. They provide meal clothing, counseling, and job training. The overall homeless shelter's goals are to help those that are in need and find permanent housing.
Getting more organizations involved in helping assist our community with the critical issue of homelessness should be a goal of ours as well. An organization like churches or places of worship can assist with anything they have the resources to do as long as the organization abides by the laws of the land. Most churches in our community have already implemented programs to help homeless or low-income families. They provide free meals, food, and clothes on the last Sunday of each month. Other churches take up a collection or start a food drive from the members of the church and some even help with funds to pay low-income families’ utilities, rent, and appliances. There are numerous ways we could help the homeless; we just need to stop and think.
In summary, Homelessness is a critical issue in our community that requires everyone’s attention and poses a danger to our society and its ability to succeed. Homelessness affects society in countless ways and making it a social issue. It causes an economic downturn and has increased poverty, we need to take this time to change the outcome of our community.
Work Cited
- “Proven Solutions.” Coalition For The Homeless, www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/ending-homelessness/proven-solutions/.
- “Homelessness in Los Angeles County 2019.” Homeless in Los Angeles County, California, http://www.laalmanac.com/social/so14.php.
- “https://supervisorhahn.com/supervisor-hahn-leads-effort-to-expand-and-enhance-shelter-system-in-la-county-amid-homeless-crisis-hahn-seeks-247-year-round-shelters/
- “The Problem of Homelessness and What URM Is Doing About It.” Union Rescue Mission, https://urm.org/solution/.
- “Walker, Alissa. “7 Ways to Help the Homeless in Los Angeles.” Curbed LA, Curbed LA, 20 Nov. 2019, la.curbed.com/2018/1/22/16911052/homeless-count-volunteer-donate-housing.
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