There should not be homeless people anywhere in the twenty-first century. However, the scenario is different across the world. Countries suffer different magnitudes of homelessness depending on their economic development levels. The worst-hit is the so-called third world. This may be more complicated by political upheavals. The problem still persists in the developed world.
The United States of America has a fair share of the homeless. Surveys that have been conducted government agencies such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, over a period of 30 years indicate that a good number of Americans are homeless. Although there is an improvement in percentages compared to the entire population, the statistics remain high (Quigley, Raphael, and Smolensky 1). Taking a comparison between Sweden and America based on the homeless numbers, the latter leads. Sweden has come up with strategies for tackling homelessness. There is strong welfare that caters to the needy and the less privileged. These are the people that are affected by homelessness and helping them could only mean fewer problems. Sweden has made the cost of owning homes affordable. The government has also been subsidizing housing for the poor who would otherwise remain on the streets. If Sweden being a small country could do it, then America ought to do better.
In America, homelessness is caused by many factors but the main ones are unavailability of affordable housing, poverty, and unemployment. The cost of owning a home in America is quite high (Quigley, Raphael, and Smolensky 1). This also has far reaching implications on the cost of renting houses. The poor cannot own homes or afford to rent hence they remain on the streets. Housing and poverty are inseparable. In the absence of poverty, the population would afford decent housing and avoid residing on the streets. The levels of unemployment have been sky rocketing for some time now. This was worsened by the slackened economic growth which was witnessed across America recently. The depression did not spare even the employed and many people were retrenched. This further compounded the problem of the homeless population.
The homeless in America could be categorized into three groups. The first one comprises of the veterans. The veterans are the people who for generations have not known any decent shelter. The majority of the veterans have become used to this kind of life and very few make efforts to change their situation (Rollinson and Pardeck 2). Of the total number of homeless, this group comprises a small percentage.
The second group is made up of youth who are normally unaccompanied. The majority of those in this group come from conventional homes. They are sent to the streets by a wide range of factors. The crucial one is rebellion to their parents which is partly attributed to adolescence crisis. They are therefore seen as the group which has come up due to effects of hardships in their homes and families. Drugs may also be blamed for making this group homeless (Garner and Ratschen 7). Drug abuse that is rampant in America causes the youth to leave their homes under influence or to seek the drugs altogether.
Children have always been the undisputable victims of circumstances and homelessness has not spared them either. They form a majority of the people living in the streets and other informal settlements. They are children of the street families where they were born and bred. Projections from the surveys indicate that the number of children becoming homeless increases every year. As a result, they form a majority of the imminent homeless. These are the people predicted to be homeless in the near future. Some of the children come from troubled homes that they opt to stay away from. Others are forced out by poverty and in pursuit of basic needs, they find themselves homeless. This makes them to miss important opportunities in life such as education. This can only mean that the future is dark for them.
The homeless people also affect the rest of the society. The government through the police force finds itself on the receiving end due to the prevalence of crime. Not all the homeless commit crime but a majority finds it to be the only means of making a living. Since these people cannot be ignored by policy makers, plans have to be made outside the national budget to accommodate them. The hopelessness associated with this population makes it vulnerable to committing crime.
To eradicate the above mentioned problems, I would recommend measures to be carried out in the form of an action plan. The most important step is for the government to tackle the issue of housing seriously. This could come in the form of subsidies to the poor to encourage them to buy houses. It is a high time that the government considered introducing mortgage for the poor. Low cost houses should be established across the country (Quigley, Raphael and Smolensky 4). The government should also come up with cheap convertible houses which could be assembled within a short time. These would come in handy when the homeless are identified across the country. By reducing or eliminating taxes on building materials, the construction industry would get a huge boost.
The second measure should target reduction of unemployment. As earlier noted, the unemployed cannot afford any form of housing. They are not capable of purchasing homes or renting decent houses. The responsibility of the government should be to create employment. This could be done through partnership with the private sector where investors are given incentives while starting businesses that are labor oriented. The government should also reduce the allocation of funds to foreign programs and create a reserve to cater for the unemployed. For those people who cannot work, the government should take the responsibility of housing them. Settlement schemes should be established in areas where the homeless are many. Through such schemes, this category of people would get housing unconditionally.
To deal with poverty, I recommend that the government creates programs aimed at raising the standards of living for the homeless (Rollinson and Pardeck 1). This could come in the form of free medical care and education. It should also create a fund for paying monthly assistance to the street parents. They could also be made to access soft loans for starting small businesses. Organizing these people into economic groups where they could pull resources together and further be boosted by the government to do business should be a priority.
Educating the street children should be done earnestly. Follow up mechanisms should be put in place to ensure that dropout rates for these children are lowered completely. Ensuring education for these people would be one way of ensuring that their future is secured.
Implementing the above detailed recommendations will be beneficial for the American government and people. The first reason for taking the action plan would be to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. As has already been observed, poverty takes a centre stage in rendering people homeless. By improving the economic conditions of the poor, they are elevated upwards. In the final analysis, the country will gear towards a classless society.
America being a super power should be at the front line in taking care of its citizens. It is a disturbing scenario whereby people are homeless and yet they are citizens of a country seen by other people as the heaven on earth. If Sweden has succeeded, then there is a lot that could be borrowed from there. Implementing the recommendations would make the country to regain its international recognition.
Security is very crucial for the smooth running of any country and it is greatly undermined by homelessness. As observed before in this paper, crime has some connection to lack of shelter. The streets become unsafe at night due to mugging and other criminal activities. Terrorism networks could also take advantage of these people by offering them rewards once they agree to aid in terror attacks. Violence that is rampant in America is accelerated by hopelessness among the homeless. This further affects issues pertaining to security.
If the action plan is fully implemented, the American society will experience a real change. Decent housing will replace the ghettos or informal settlements. Such areas will change from being security threats to become conventional residential estates. The dangers posed by the homeless will be eliminated totally. The streets will be secure and the police will be left free to tackle other issues. The society will be educated and the wastage in education due to dropping out will be reduced to minimum levels. An educated population will steer the country to greater heights of prosperity. The gap between the rich and the poor will reduce drastically while violence related to inequalities will be a thing of the past. All in all, the American society will assume its rightful position as an advocate of human rights.
Works Cited
Garner, Laura, and Elena Ratschen. “Tobacco Smoking, Associated Risk Behaviours, and Experience with Quitting: A Qualitative Study with Homeless Smokers Addicted to Drugs and Alcohol.” BMC Public Health 13.1 (2013): 31-46. Academic Search Premier. Web.
Quigley, John M., Steven Raphael, and Eugene Smolensky. “Homeless in America, Homeless In California.” Review of Economics & Statistics 83.1 (2001): 37-51. Business Source Complete. 2014. Web.
Rollinson, Paul A., and John T. Pardeck. Homelessness in Rural America: Policy and Practice / Paul A. Rollinson, John T. Pardeck. n.p.: New York : Haworth Press, c2006., 2006. Harvard Library Bibliographic Dataset. Web.