Homeless Housing Act example essay topic

Homelessness President Reagan believed that "the homeless are on the streets by choice and prefer this to the available shelters... and that the jobless are simply not motivated". (Ronald W, 1) In our great nation of awesome power and abundant resources the number of homeless population is increasing every year. Our government is not doing all that it can to put in effect the necessary tools to combat or more importantly to prevent our nation's homelessness. Instead our government is focusing on individual necessities of those who become homeless, and continuously provides them with material and monetary assistance. It is this belief that has helped to increase the homelessness of our nation, and it is this belief that will continue to do so if our government does not take a closer and more realistic look at the grounds behind homeless population in our country.

During the Reagan Administration, homelessness was viewed as a problem that did not require federal intervention. In 1983, the first federal task force on homelessness was created to provide information to local communities on how to obtain surplus federal property. However, the task force did not address homelessness through policy actions. (Blau, 109-132) In the following years, advocates around the nation demanded that the federal government acknowledge homelessness as a national problem requiring a national response. As a result, in 1986, the Homeless Persons's urvival Act was introduced in both houses. The act contained emergency relief measures, preventive measures, and long-term solutions to homelessness.

However, only small pieces of this proposal were enacted into law. The first, the Homeless Eligibility Clarification Act of 1986, (Hombs, 67) removed permanent address requirements and other barriers to existing programs such as Supplemental Security Income, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Veterans Benefits, Food Stamps, and Medicaid. Also in 1986, the Homeless Housing Act was adopted. (Hombs, 67) This legislation created the Emergency Shelter Grant program and a transitional housing program, which were administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development or HUD. (Blau, 16) In late 1986, legislation containing Title I of the Homeless Persons's urvival Act, emergency relief provisions for food, shelter, mobilized health care, and transitional housing, was introduced as the Urgent Relief for the Homeless Act. (Hombs, 70-89) After an intensive campaign, large bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress passed the legislation in 1987.

After the death of its sponsor, Stewart B. McKinney, the act was re-named the 1987 Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act. The reluctant President Ronald Reagan signed it into law, on July 22, 1987. The 1987 Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act was the first, and only, major federal legislative response to homelessness. (Blau, 112-114) The McKinney Act originally consisted of fifteen programs that provided a range of services to the homeless.

The services included job training, education, emergency shelter, transitional housing, primary health care, and a limited amount of permanent housing. The McKinney Act has been amended numerous times, with the 1990 amendments including the Shelter Plus Care program, which provided housing assistance to the homeless with disabilities, mental illness, AIDS, and drug / alcohol addictions, and a program within the Health Care for the Homeless to provide primary health care and outreach to at-risk homeless children. (Levy, 360-368) Also in 1990, the Community Mental Health Services program was amended and re-named as: the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) program. The 1990 amendments more clearly outlined the obligations of states and local educational agencies in assuring public education of homeless children and youth. (K ryder-Coe, 81-85) Unfortunately, even with the passage of the McKinney Act, and the amendments to it, the causes of homelessness have not been adequately addressed. The 1994 goal of the Interagency Council on the Homeless was 'to achieve the goal of 'a decent home and a suitable living environment' for every American.

' (Hombs, 131-132) The President called for increasing housing subsidies and repairing the 'damage caused by the misguided and harmful housing budget cuts of the 1980's. ' (Hombs, 132) However, the President's fiscal year 96, 97, and 98 budgets maintained the cuts to housing programs made by Congress. Thus, Congress left in place a number of measures which reduced the unfortunate access to housing, such as tightened eligibility standards for public housing, cuts to federal aid to poor children, (Foscarinis, par. 5-8) and cuts in subsidized low-rent housing. New policies that address the causes of homelessness, by addressing housing, education, income and treatment problems, must align with prevention policies to stop the rise in homelessness. When President Clinton was first elected, it appeared that he had a plan to make homelessness the number one HUD priority and to introduce innovative reforms to make a real change to the nation's homelessness.

Eight years later, no legislation has been passed in this area. So what can our government do? They must make the McKinney Act work for us: provide flexible resources to develop local programs; programs that prove success should be allowed to grow into the mainstream system, receiving support outside of McKinney; programs that provide emergency services should form a core of a local emergency services system and be supported and maintained; affordable housing programs should be revamped in recognition of the current housing crisis; Don't expect McKinney / HUD resources to meet all needs among people not housed. Require other systems to provide support services.

(Homelessness in America) The society has a stereotype view about causation of homelessness which include low income jobs, expensive / bad housing conditions, social service system failures like health and mental health, no committed responsibility for the chronically disabled, domestic violence / prisons /military / foster care system discharges. In rational many of the homeless people have not completed high school, and lack of education has put then in that situation. Some have completed colleges but they have untreatable drug addictions. Homeless people can be helped to return to lives of promise. The physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs of the homeless must be addressed if they are to recover from homelessness. The work of homeless advocates to improve availability of affordable housing, adequate education and increased wages is certainly beneficial to this population.

However, the real issue is how long the homeless problem would be solved if the person were unable to maintain sobriety. Education would be wasted on the jobs that would be lost if they returned to active addiction. Unless the root problems of addiction are adequately addressed, any other help will not be effective. Despite so many public and private efforts to help, homelessness has not been eliminated or even decreased.

Some homeless people are AIDS victims, some are illegal immigrants, and many of the homeless who just refuse to have full-time jobs. They are found not only in cities, but also in small towns, rural areas, and affluent suburbs. (Kroloff, 1993). Some even make up the "hidden homeless" (Kroloff, 1993), or people who are one crisis away from losing their homes for a variety of reasons, such as a sudden medical emergency or unforeseen health problems. However, thorough analysis has to be conducted by government to identify major system contribution to state of homelessness.

Also, understanding and altering some of the current service systems in place: more people coming in everyday, but insufficient opportunity to access mainstream programs; increased costs and lack of new funding; frustration and perception that the system is failing. Still, today, our nation's government has not enacted any permanent solutions to homelessness, since it continuous to spend federal funds to support their life style. Instead our government needs to concentrate on programs that prevent people from becoming homeless. Alarming statistics show a pattern in people who become homeless, and those are people who receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Food Stamps and Elderly Assistance, single parent families, drug addicts, people with mental health problems, and unemployed. It is also believed that "the distance between the middle and lower classes has begun to shrink dramatically; middle-class households now experience the problem as an inability to afford owning a home, just as homelessness has increased dramatically". (Hoch / Slayton, 253) Their numbers increase year by year, because majority of homeless people like the type of life they are living.

They don't work; they get free housing, free food, clothing and other necessities, plus some money to buy their drugs with. Government should implement programs that encourage them to work for their housing and food, not just give it to them because they are homeless. Our local, state or federal governments have not addressed the so desperately needed solutions for the fundamental cause of homelessness: creating affordable housing through rehabilitation, and where needed, new construction; have access to jobs and job training ensure access to mental health care and substance abuse treatment; (Robertson / Greenblatt, 339-346) Our government must establish a clear understanding of who the homeless are in our nation. They must take a look at what major system failures are contributing to homelessness in America.

They must understand what is causing the problems in our current service systems. They must understand what purpose the McKinney Act is trying to serve. They must take a look at what goals we are trying to achieve through federal legislation, and then they must re-examine how current legislative steps take us to our national goal? As a nation, our goal must be to end homelessness, prevent its recurrence, and decrease its effects on communities. Our approach must be to fold identifying and analyzing the causes of homelessness and developing and implementing long-term solutions that remove these causes. As individuals, we must work with service providers, local communities, public and nonprofit sectors, and homeless people to implement these solutions.

Government funding is set in place to help the resolution of homelessness, but history has shown that is not helping. We need more community involvement such as: community-based prevention and family preservation centers; family-oriented substance abuse treatment programs; housing placement and long-term follow-up case management for families; information and referral for the newly homeless; street outreach to homeless children and youth; permanent low-income housing for families and the physically / mentally ill. (Kroloff) Many local urban communities have already taken the necessary steps and have demonstrated innovative strategies. For example, Washington, D.C. has set up a prevention model, which guarantees rental assistance for families and individuals facing eviction. The D.C. program includes a 90-day case management follow-up to assist these households in overcoming such a crisis and in developing a long-term plan for future housing. (Homelessness in America) A Los Angeles program provides homeless families with long-term case management to achieve permanent stability and independence.

Follow-up lasts for a year after placement in permanent low-income housing to insure maintenance of housing, participation in job training and placement, and access to support services linked to job training, such as childcare. (Homelessness in America) However, it is not realistic to believe that local communities are financially capable of solving the homeless issues on their own. To successfully rid our nation of homelessness requires collaboration between people, local communities, the state, and the federal government. The focus of our government programs must be to: support communities in implementing and maintaining long-term comprehensive responses to homelessness; establish easily accessible community networks of services available to homeless families, adults, and children; channel community and government resources to housing and employment; and ensure that every dollar invested is well spent. To accomplish these goals, we, as a society, must work with our community and federal government representatives to share ideas, information, and resources. We must work together to actively recruit service providers, decision makers, private sector partners, and people who are or formerly were homeless to collaborate on policy and solutions.

We must work together to implement programs that: improve delivery of support services; increase education in low income sectors; provide drug / alcohol education and rehabilitation centers; provide job training, development, and placement; expanding community acceptance of responsibility to the homeless; provide long-term funding for services; set up housing trust funds. Our government has created various programs and funding to help those who are in need. It is unfortunate fact that many have taken the aid they receive for granted, and instead of improving their state of being, they continue to live their lives as homeless. There has to be a limit or a timeline set to the aid that homeless receive, and instead more educational and motivational programs have to be implemented.

It's a cycle that will not end until different approach is taken into consideration. Prevention has to be the main concentration not only for the government but for the community as well. Only by getting to the root of the problem this cycle can be ended. There should be more drug / alcohol awareness, job motivation, and most importantly education. Education is the key to one's success, and with right education no individual will find himself or herself homeless.