Homeless People Need example essay topic

The morning rush hour, a homeless man stands on the curb of a busy street, hands stretched out, holding a cardboard sign with washed out words saying "no home and hungry, please help". His clothes are torn, his hair oily and uncombed. This is his spot. For over a month, that same man on that same curb can be seen. People walk by; some look away, some who ignored or even acknowledged the woman who too had been holding a similar sign from the preceding block. Many turn away thinking that this man is a failure, a bum who wants money for a pack of cigarettes to fill one of the many addictions that most likely got him there in the first place.

The more sympathetic throw down a couple quarters; they " ve done their good deed for the week. Above all, many cannot help but wonder: isn't there something profoundly wrong with a society that has so much poverty amidst so much wealth? A 1990 New York Times poll reported that 68 percent of urban Americans see the homeless in the course of their daily routines; nationally, the figure was 54 percent, an 18 percent increase in just four years (Blau, 1992, p. 3). Living so close to New York City and growing up in Jersey City, NJ, seeing a homeless person on the street turned out to be an every day occurrence, one I always hoped to avoid. Shopping carts filled with garbage bags and raggedy clothed people were of no surprise and became of no importance in my life. My father however, always had an extreme compassion for the homeless, mainly because he was once homeless.

He constantly inspired me to reach out to them, not by words but by his actions. Blinded by ignorance, my mother and I never understood why my dad chose to keep his business in the heart of Jersey City; it's hard being a hairdresser, let alone being one in the middle of poverty and economic depression, yet, he persisted and still to this day his business exists there. My father always talks about how one day he is going to open a large apartment building, bring all the homeless of Jersey City together and allow them to reside there. He knows most of the homeless around his work by name, their stories and has seen so many come and go, live and die.

My father is well known in the Jersey City community for all his efforts over the 20+ years and is acknowledged by many as a man with a large heart. Being older and more enlightened to our society's problem, I see now why my father does what he does. Ignorance is no solution to any problem! The famous English essayist and novelist Aldous Huxley once said, "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored". This simple statement expresses the very essence of the attitudes towards homelessness in America. Homelessness is one of the most devastatingly overlooked crises of our time, it is nothing new but it is also nothing less than a major tragedy.

The stereotypical view of Americans is that the homeless are mainly alcoholics, "druggies", mentally disabled, bums, criminals, etc. ; however, they hardly constitute the majority of those with no roof over their heads. Before this paper, my views on the homeless were of the majority; I believed that most of the homeless were in fact compromised of these groups. Although those are partly reasons why one might go homeless, they also join those of the unemployed and even those who are fully employed. Homelessness affects millions of people in our nation and the number isn't getting any smaller. It is not to anyone's surprise that many hold these views since we live in a society that emphasizes individual achievement through personal initiation; lack of success is then commonly recognized as personal failure.

Roper calls this the "blame the victim" attitude, in which, people believe that the homeless by choice, are so because they are lazy and unwilling to control their addictions of drugs and / or alcohol. Roper then asks questions to these thought provoked people: "If homeless people are indeed responsible for their plight, how does one explain the rapid increase in homelessness, particularly among women with dependent children? Has the number of irresponsible or psychologically disturbed people really increased in recent years - especially among female-headed families?" (20). The answer to these questions is obvious, therefore, there has to be something deeper, something larger than just personal failures, another reason for the growing incidences of homelessness in the United States. Homelessness has been occurring from the beginning of civilization. We hear and read about the homeless in many stories and verses from the Bible.

The story about the rich man and Lazarus; Lazarus was a beggar in front of the rich man's house. More so, America's first European settlers included the homeless. The homeless problem had long existed in England, at least since the fourteenth century when the Picts, the Attacotti and the Scots revolted against their Roman lords because of high rents and slave conditions. With colonies starting to form in America, the English developed a method for dealing with the homeless: to ship the homeless and beggars to these colonies; "out of sight, out of mind".

In Dublin, the homeless were sent to prison till they were shipped to plantations in America for up to seven years (Erickson, 1986, p. xx). And even when they arrived here, they were definitely unwelcome. The Elizabethan Poor Law Act of 1601 provided the model for poor relief in the American colonies. It formalized the practice of placing the support of dependent persons in the hands of the local communities. And still, many communities avoided supporting the poor by making it difficult for them to live. The financial statuses of strangers were closely checked before they were allowed to settle.

There was a lasting period of three to twelve months before one was declared a legal resident of the community. If the poor and homeless were "warned out" of the town's borders and came back, the person would then be flogged and beat before being driven out a second time. As a result, an abundant amount of homeless wanderers emerged in the American Colonies (Caton, 1990, p. 5). New York City became the only political subdivision to offer assistance to the homeless when they opened the first almshouse (Erickson, 1986, p. xx). Institutions for the homeless began to appear in the larger towns from 1725 to 1750.

Workhouses were opening in which, criminals, mentally unstable, and homeless people were put to work. Some labors included picking oakum, spinning wool and flax, knitting and sewing. For those who lived in rural districts and were completely mentally unstable, they were bid at an auction block. For the able-minded, they were put to work on farms for food, clothing and shelter.

This practice progressed toward the end of the Colonial Era (Deutsch, 1937, Ch. 5). Although institutionalization of the needy became widespread during the nineteenth century, the problem continued to grow. As the century progressed, services and programs for the homeless lacked and forced many into police stations. "Station house" lodging were last resort shelters for the homeless in the absence of more adequate facilities. The station houses were always crowded and dirty, which urged the cities to end this practice and set up more permanent lodging houses for the "worthy poor", those who were willing to work and not be charged for vagrancy.

Throughout the late 1800's, the homeless could be found in a variety of places. Almshouses became the centers of "indoor" poor relief (lodging in public institutions), which constituted of those who were not eligible of "outdoor" relief (government payment of room and board in a home setting). By 1835, most counties in New York State had almshouses, and by mid-century, the population of people in almshouses was nearly 10,000 (Rothman, 1987, p. 12). One fourth of the almshouse inmates were children, and many suffered from mental illness or retardation, physical disabilities (deafness, blindness, loss of a limb), or were filthy and diseased (Rothman, 1987, p. 198-99). Many acts were put in to play and as the economy improved in the 1880's, the homeless problem started to diminish. The relief didn't last very long when the Panic of 1893 struck.

On Industrial Black Friday, May 5th, 1893, the number of unemployed was estimated between 900,000 and three million (Samuel Gompers; see Ringenbach, 1973, p. 38). Skid rows were formulated to provide lodging houses, saloons and other services used by single, transient workers (Erickson, 1986, p. xxi). However, numbers kept increasing, thus, the problem persisted and continued to be a topic of controversy. In the twentieth century, the problem only persisted.

With World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II, it placed hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people out onto the streets. The problem still presses on almost seventy years later. So, the past is the past, what can a broke college student or a Justice professor do to help the problem now? First off, to solve a problem, one must acknowledge the problem. Previously stated, ignorance is no solution and getting past the majority view of personal failure is the first step.

As we saw in Ehrenreich's book, "Nickel and Died", the hardest part to being poor is finding housing. Many of the people she encountered were full time, hard working, underpaid individuals who just could not afford adequate housing, leaving them bound to their cars and living from paycheck to paycheck. What Ehrenreich saw and encountered is on a small scale compared to the numerous people that are homeless in the United States; each with a different story of how they became homeless and how it wasn't something on their agenda. Not being able to afford a house is the biggest problem, but not the only one. A close friend of mine recently became homeless. She moved in with an abusive guy and when things got out of hand, she had no choice but to leave yet had no where to go.

Her mom, an alcoholic, dad, nowhere to be found, after days of convincing, going back "home" was her only option. Regardless that her homelessness lasted two days, many people don't have a "home" to go back to. Many children who are abandoned by their parents have nowhere to turn, grow up on the streets and go in and out of prison because they steal for food and money. Even those who do become homeless because of drugs and / or alcohol may never have the opportunity to recover and get back on their feet. Once homeless, the ability to obtain a job is very hard. Travel back to the homeless man on the street with his hair oily and uncombed.

How does he apply for a job if he can't look presentable? If something isn't done to help these people, a circle of homelessness between the generations will occur. Social mobility then becomes very unobtainable. "It doesn't matter if you are a city kid or a country kid - when you are homeless, the cards are stacked against academic success". All children are supposed to enter school with an address, phone number, and emergency contact but what does one do if they don't even have an address (Vissing, 1996, p. 95-96)? If parents find someway for their children to enter in a school system, their children are already disadvantaged.

Academic progress is built upon a pyramid, the more you progress, the more advanced the courses, the more you become skilled for the work field. How can one expect a child to do well in school if he / she has no place to sleep, is sick and hungry? Children can't think when they " ve got no place to sleep (Vissing, 1996, p. 91). Older students might have jobs that may interfere with their studies or may be expected to watch younger siblings while the parents work two jobs and can't be home after school.

If a child lives in a shelter, it may be hard for them to concentrate and get the quietness they need to focus. Vissing (1996) observed students in New Hampshire and found that falling behind was the norm for homeless students. He quotes a girl named Jamie that he met during his observations: "I work two jobs and do my homework whenever I can. I am going to college. I am an honor roll student. But it takes everything I've got to keep my grades up.

But maybe I wouldn't have worked so hard if I didn't realize what lay ahead of me if I didn't". There are very few motivated students like Jamie; many just see their fate, to be what their parents are. There is no great mystery on how to eliminate the problem of homelessness in the United States. Homeless people need what everyone else needs: affordable housing, wages and benefits, and accessible social services. With such basic and fundamental needs, why is it that our government cannot attain these needs? The answer is simple: it can only do so much with our taxes, it is up to us to reach out to those who are in need (Blau, 1992, p. 180).

There are shelters, reforms, and policies to help the poor and unhoused, however, it just isn't enough! We, those not in a homeless or poverish state, need to help those who are less fortunate. If everyone in our society moved past his or her selfish desires, maybe just maybe the problem may be helped. A large part of what is keeping the poor poor is the fact that people just don't care and / or because of the view that so many Americans hold; many refuse to help those barely living and begging for money. My father taught me that if I felt uncomfortable giving money to a person who asks, take them to lunch.

This way I know that the money will be used for food and not for drugs or alcohol. Morality is defined as the conception that we each hold within us about what we owe to each other as fellow members of the same society (Ogilvie, 2004, p. 147). Robert Wuth now defines morality similarly as being a set of codes that "define the nature of commitment to a particular course of action". These codes are "the whole set of principles that govern, or should govern, an individual's relations with the other people within a community". Those that acknowledge this morality and this problem see the need to help.

Many organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity, provide housing for the poverished and homeless. Kenneth Cole, a large clothing and shoe corporation, is involved in the homeless awareness and participates in outreaches to these communities. To my fortunate ability, I take part in both Habitat for Humanity and work for Kenneth Cole. Organizations like these cannot exist if it isn't for volunteers. On a smaller basis, soup kitchens couldn't be held without willing volunteers. The list goes on and on for a need of people who are willing to sacrifice their time to help those who can't help themselves.

Yes, there are many organizations and outreaches but the demand is far greater than the supply. The government can only go so far, these organizations need us, if not all of us than a large majority, to go beyond and search within our hearts to find compassion and lend a helping hand.