It goes without saying that homelessness is one of the greatest problems of the modern society and that it has to be dealt with as soon as possible.
According to the recent researches, life conditions in the world’s major countries has slightly improved since recently, yet the rates of poverty leave much to be desired and show clearly that a considerable amount of the USA population live on the breadline. Therefore, the phenomenon of homelessness has to be considered closer and the possible means to battle it have to be developed.
Before proceeding with the suggestions for improving the current state of affairs concerning the public well-being, one should provide the definition of homelessness as a phenomenon. Although the results of poverty are rather explicit and unequivocal, the issue is rather hard to define, since it has a number of facets, such as the economical, the political and the financial proper.
To pick the most concise and at the same time all-embracing definition, one should take a closer look at what Minnery & Greenhalgh (2007) provide. According to the latter, poverty is “a dynamic process that may include sleeping rough, insecure tenure, and chronic homelessness or, at times, being housed” (Minnery & Greenhalgh, 2007, 646).
Homelessness does not come out of nowhere; it is usually a result of an unreasonable and indiscreet state policy or, in certain cases, of a certain individual’s mistakenly undertaken decisions and unplanned actions. According to the research conducted by Ryndell (2008), there are not only the economical and financial, but also social factors that impact the increase of poverty and homelessness in the state.
As the author explained, such elements of the brutal reality as falling a victim of a fraud, the loss of job, the lack of proper education and a disability are the key factors which make people’s financial condition unstable and cause them lose their homes.
Nevertheless, certain actions are undertaken to fight the increasing rates of poverty in the USA and Europe, with rather unstable success. According to the report recently made by Saul (2012), the USA have improved the existing system of care for the impoverished and the homeless, creating a chain of temporary shelters and increasing the number of days which the homeless are allowed to stay in the shelter for. As a result, considerable improvements can be observed:
For families with children, the average length of stay is 337 days, but for adult families, the average is 414 days—more than a year—an 18.6% jump from the previous fiscal year. For single adults in shelters, the average stay is 270 days, an 8% increase from the previous fiscal year. (Saul, 2012, para. 2)
Hence, it is obvious that poverty is the phenomenon that cannot be vanquished for good and eared from the minds of the entire world population.
Even with the most efficient political system in the world, a certain amount of one’s success depends on the personality and the ability to develop, which means that to eliminate homelessness, one has not only to establish a completely different way of governing the state, but also a new manner of upbringing and education which will push people to succeed (Minnery & Greenhalgh, 2007).
However, given that the aim is to make the rates of the homelessness lower, the above-mentioned method is likely to drive to a certain result.
Reference List
Minnery, J. & Greenhalgh, E. (2007). Approaches to homelessness policy in Europe, the United States and Australia. Journal of Social Issues, 63(3), 641-655.
Rynelll, A. (2008). Causes of poverty: Findings from recent research. Chicago, IL: Heartland Alliance.
Saul, M. H. (2012). New York City’s homeless shelter system feels strains. The Wall Street Journal. Web.