It should be stated that the problem of homeless people is an acute social issue that should be addressed by continuous efforts and initiatives coming from both governmental institutions and society. It is important to obtain essential data from reliable sources while assessing a community’s challenges (Edelman et al., 2013). This assessment will focus on this issue within the scope of Los Angeles, California. A reliable organization that provides statistics on the problem and aims to overcome it is the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, or LAHSA. The findings of the latter will serve as a foundation for a comprehensive analysis.
The crucial facts regarding the theme might be formulated as follows. According to LAHSA (2020), about 66 000 people in the city are experiencing homelessness. Then, “This year’s Count revealed that two-thirds of the unsheltered adults experiencing homelessness were homeless for the first time last year, and 59% of them cited economic hardship as the cause” (LAHSA, 2020, para. 11). What is more, LAHSA (2020) states that about 12% of homeless people are under 18, and about 30% are women. It should also be emphasized that there has been an increase in homelessness for LA if to compare with the previous year.
The community of homeless people has a number of significant strengths. First, it is well-organized and managed due to the authorities’ concern and assistance. For instance, “in 2019, the rehousing system helped 22,769 people move into permanent housing” (LAHSA, 2020, para. 5). Second, the essential indicators of this community are constantly monitored and assessed – it allows coherent and consistent planning on how to address vital issues related to homelessness in LA. The given strengths might imply that the community can be provided with the necessary help appropriately.
Nevertheless, there are some concerns within the scope of the issue. First, the community is susceptible to various diseases as its representatives do not possess permanent and reliable housing that might protect them from diverse illnesses. For example, Covid-19 put considerable pressure on homeless people as it turned out that it is critical to stay self-isolated (LAHSA, 2020). Second, the community cannot afford a sufficient level of education; hence, there are high rates of illiteracy. The latter makes it difficult to find a well-paid job and get rid of the homeless status. Although the listed concerns are critical, the above strengths might compensate and address them to an exact extent.
However, there is also a number of barriers that hinder health plan implementation for homeless people. Some of them exist in conditions that put some particular obstacles in providing these plans (Cowan, 2020). Above all, it is hard for them to keep a supply of medication while there is life on the street. This street gives many opportunities to harm health with alcohol and drugs. It leads to drug and alcohol abuse, which is added to numerous physical and mental diseases. Moreover, plenty of homeless people does not tend to trust healthcare institutions due to insignificant experiences in the past.
In order to overcome the above barriers, it might be rational to launch several healthcare programs aimed at charitable provision of related services to homeless people in LA. The critical point here is that these programs should be promoted and delivered in such a way that the recipients could have no doubts regarding participating in them. Then, society may better tolerate the community if it gets rid of the thoughts about the personal guilt of each homeless person in his or her current situation. It might be appropriate to provide some societal advertising campaigns via central television and social media.
References
Edelman, C. L., Kudzma, E. C., & Mandle, C., L. (2013). Health promotion throughout the life span (8th ed.). Mosby.
Cowan, J. (2020). What Los Angeles’s homeless count results tell us. The New York Times. Web.
LAHSA. (2020). 2020 greater Los Angeles homeless count results. Web.