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¶ … Federal Government in Dealing with Homelessness
Over time, the United States of America has experienced what can in some quarters be referred to as surprising levels of homelessness. This is regardless of the fact that the U.S. remains one of the most powerful countries in the world. With that in mind, the need for the government to take a larger role in providing an effective program to address the issue of homelessness cannot be overstated.
Homelessness in America: An Overview
According to a report formulated and prepared for Congress by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, although the federal government has made significant progress in reducing the number of homeless veterans and the chronically homeless, "it probably will not reach its goal of ending homelessness among these two populations by 2015" (Lowrey, 2012). This is a clear indicator that the government needs to double its efforts in an attempt to rein in the menace of homelessness.
The Role of the Federal Government
It should be noted that in the past, a number of...
Some of these initiatives include funding of programs that seek to assist homeless people by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development amongst other relevant agencies. Numerous policies have also been formulated in an attempt to deal with the homelessness menace. Other organizations that have been at the forefront in seeking to address this problem include but they are not limited to Volunteers of America. Such agencies provide those in desperate need of housing with shelter on an emergency or transitional basis. However, regardless of all the efforts, homelessness remains a thorny issue to the entire country.
To conclusively address the homelessness problem, we must first critically analyze the primary causes of homelessness. Although the said causes in this case could vary widely, lack of affordable housing remains one of key causes of homelessness. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2013), "the generally accepted definition of affordability is for…
References
Lowrey, A. (2012, December 10). Homeless Rates in the U.S. Held Level Amid Recession, Study Says, but Big Gains are Elusive. Retrieved February 5, 2013, from The New York Times website: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/us/homeless-rates-steady-despite-recession-hud-says.html?ref=housingandurbandevelopmentdepartment
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2013, Feb 5). Affordable Housing. Retrieved February 5, 2013, from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Department website: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/comm_planning/affordablehousing
But mentally disturbed individuals, being confined to a greater proclivity toward chronic homelessness, are a separate problem, addressed most directly by the Center for Mental Health Services, which is a federally chaired organization. The CMHS is a channel through which policy regarding disbursement of social resources is implemented. It garners all of its data from the National Resource Center of Homelessness and Mental Illness, which is the only agency
Homelessness Intervention Social Work Universally in the developed world, homelessness is something that communities want to end rather than manage. Co-ordinated social services can come together to create and enhance community-based responses that tackle the threat of homelessness rather than attempting to deal with it on the other end -- after the fact, after people are demoralized by the experience. An important part of any community response to homelessness is affordable housing. But
" How many people are homeless? The number of homeless is difficult to ascertain because estimates vary depending on the methodology used. Numbers also vary substantially depending on whether a measurement is taken on a single night or is extrapolated to a given year. One approximation of the annual number of homeless in America is from a study done by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, which estimates between 2.3 and
Homelessness in Orange County California HIV / AIDS, Homelessness, and Race in Orange County, California Descriptive Epidemiology Approach Orange County, California, located south of Los Angeles, is not widely known as a place of cultural diversity. Southern Californians often think of life south of 'the Orange Curtain' as consisting of theme parks (e.g. Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm), high-tech economic growth, master planned communities, suburban affluence, and conservative politics (Anonymous, 2004). But life
Homeless Mental Health Mental health is an issue that is deemed to be very under-treated and very under-diagnosed within the United States. Beyond that, there are populations that are much more at risk than others. A good example would be the prison population where drug use and mental health issues are both rampant. However, there is another group that is highly stricken and very vexing and difficult to treat and that
Homelessness is an issue that has persisted in the United States because of the ever-changing demographic factors and economic circumstances. The composition and size of the homeless population in the country continues to change due to these varying factors. Over the past decade, homelessness has attracted public attention given the dramatic increase in the number and composition of victims. While numerous efforts have been undertaken to address the issue, homelessness