Stereotypes and misconceptions about homelessness in American society
In America, for every 10.000 people having a home, twenty other are experiencing homelessness, as indicated by a report from the Homelessness Research Institute (HRI) (2013, p. 5). Nevertheless, it was only when the author of this paper was given the possibility to volunteer in a shelter that the penny dropped and we realized homeless people were nothing like we thought. Not all of them, in any case. When growing up, what we were usually told was to avoid any contact with homeless people. This warning did not necessarily come in verbal terms, but once you have been pulled away from their surroundings a number of times, your mind registers the ?danger? and is taught how to react thereon. We have come to realize since that society usually inoculates the idea that homeless people are not productive members, that they are usually violent, thus to be avoided. It would not be exaggerated to state that perhaps, far greater is the danger caused by our perceptions over homeless people than the danger the latter possess to regular individuals or, for that matter, to society. Thus, one's fear of homeless people can just as easily be passed on to another without them ever knowing the true story behind homelessness.