Homelessness: Poverty and Homeless People Essay

Three years ago, my husband, Sithu, and I went to New York City, and we met several homeless people living on the street. They needed help and money. Seeing the faces on the homeless people after we had given them a few dollars gave us the satisfaction of knowing we had done something good, which made me feel better about users.ipfw.edu/andersi/W131Argument.Sample.htm 1/7 1/9/13 Why Homeless People should be provided with myself. These individuals did not have the face of normal people because their faces showed the suffering they had been through in their lives. A human life can change in an instant. One moment things can seem fine, then without warning disaster strikes. Maybe your job is out-sourced, the company has been â€Å"acquired† by a larger corporation, your spouse left, or you have been replaced by the latest technology. We see on television natural disasters that displace families and people who have lost everything because of violence. It could to anyone of us at any time and when these times come, as fellow beings, we have a responsibility to help each other. Right or wrong, in our society one of the first defenses is the government that represents the people. Many people live below the poverty level and along with poverty, homelessness is soon to follow. Homelessness is defined as having no home or permanent place of residence. Homelessness affects hundreds of thousands of people today. Many people make the incorrect generalization that those who are homeless have brought their situation on themselves; therefore, the government is not responsible for changing their plight. The truth is, disaster can strike anyone and without help in times of need, the fabric of our society would disintegrate. There are many reasons society should help the homeless: (1) assistance to the homeless removes obstacles the homeless may not overcome on their own, (2) presents a better image of the city, (3) prevents the spread of infectious diseases, (4) and prevents crime. (T) Our society should provide basic needs for homeless people because assistance removes obstacles the homeless may not be able to overcome on their own.  ® Included in the obstacles they need to overcome and improve their situation are temporary assistance for shelter, food, or jobs. For example, poor people are frequently unable to pay for food, housing, health care, childcare, and education. Moreover, some of these people have lost their jobs, lost their homes to fire, floods or storm, or were forced into homelessness by other disasters. According to Bogard (2001), â€Å"the methodologies of almost all efforts to count homeless people have been closely linked to advocacy activities such as providing shelter and food to those in needs† (p.105). Providing food and shelter has many benefits for homeless people in their lives. In my opinion, we should provide for the homeless because these people may not be able to get jobs, find shelter, and support their family due to circumstances such as a disability, lack of education, low income or continued unemployment. I believe that no one wants to be homeless, but some people could become homeless due to difficulty with money or users. Why Homeless People should be provided with bills. Therefore, we should help the homeless people with food, shelter or finding jobs. On the other hand, some people might argue that it is not the society’s responsibility to help homeless people with food, shelter, and finding employment, because it is not our fault and they might be lazy people. For example, some people might say that if the homeless people really want to work, they can get a job. They should work for a temporary help agency, day labor, and regular part-time employment. These kinds of work arrangements typically offer lower wages, fewer benefits, and less job security, but later they could get high wages, full-time jobs, and job security. Some people feel that whoever would like to obtain employment or secure employment can do so by their own means. It is their duty in life and they should support themselves. I refute this argument by saying that we need to help them because they might be not lazy people but they could have problem with low income, raised rental fees, loss of jobs, destroyed homes (fires), and disabilities. Therefore, our society should be a support in helping the less fortunate in finding employment, so they can become self-reliant. We need to support agencies that help the homeless in areas of improving skills to obtain employment, securing employment, and offering opportunities to become self-reliant. Society’s primary goal should be to help the homeless get a job so they can support themselves. Most people are interested in finding jobs and taking care of themselves. They are willing to look for work, to establish a residence, and want to be in a position to make their contribution to society. Therefore, we as a society have a moral obligation to help homeless people improve their lives. (T) Furthermore, society should help the homeless because this presents a better image of the city and the community.  ® Help of the homeless should include offering job assistance, and giving homeless people a way to avoid sleeping on the streets. For instance, the image of people sleeping in the street, of a filthy urban environment, and violence in the news due to drugs and hopelessness of its citizens is not the picture that civilized society wants to present. We appear much more like a caring society when we see on the news how people are overcoming their obstacles and helping each other. For example, homeless people need help getting off the streets but are unable to do it by themselves. Donahue (2001) said, â€Å"2,500 people sleep on the streets every night†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (P.23). This is too large a number to be sleeping on thestreet. People should not just give the homeless the cold shoulder and keep on walking like nothing is wrong. In order for the homeless problem to stop, we must make it end by helping the less fortunate to find shelter or some other sources of help like churches and charitable organizations. Many of these sources provide housing, food, childcare, health care, and education. Why Homeless People should be provided with is a major problem in our society because the homeless sleep on the street and they could die on the street from poor health care or other accidents. According to the article â€Å"Out in the cold† (2003) from Current Events magazine, â€Å"Some Boston officials say the freezing weather is too risky for homeless people. They say the city should pass a law so emergency workers can force homeless people to go to shelters when the temperature becomes dangerously cold† (p.3). Nobody wants to stay outside in bad weather but most homeless people are staying in dangerously cold weather, and they could die in these hazardous conditions. Therefore, society should help homeless people because we will see a better image of the city and of ourselves. When the homeless are living on the streets it creates opportunities for other problems in society like crime, drugs, abandoned children, and violence; so the conditions of the homeless refle ct the condition of our society as a whole. It is becoming more apparent that these problems are going to continue and will have a direct consequence on our future in this country. For this reason, we need to help the homeless people because we would like to see our society with a better image and to develop our cities and our country. (T) Moreover, society should help homeless people because we need to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.  ® Society can do this by offering medical coverage and giving medical treatment to the homeless. For example, in our society there is no doubt that health conditions are a very large cost and a very sensitive matter. If someone becomes sick, it can drain finances, damage physical and psychological status, and create contention between family members, friends, and associates. At a broader national level, it is easier to consider. If someone suffers from an infectious disease, it is more than his or her problem. It threatens other people. Plaques, influenza, cholera, and HIV infection are diseases that affect everybody in the community. Therefore, we should help the homeless people to obtain health care and proper diets because of the long-term effects on society as a whole. As discussed previously, it is not only the problem of the homeless, but also it is the problem of every one of us. Because those people are members of our society and we are also subject to infection from these diseases, we need to ask ourselves: why don’t we need to provide health measures? Why don’t we determine to help each other? We are all from the same human race and we all have genuine needs. On the other hand, some people might say the government should not help with the homeless people’s health problems because it is their responsibility to take care of themselves. For example, some people might argue that we should not spend a lot of money on homelessness. They say homeless people use drugs, which makes them prone to these infectious diseases; therefore, they have brought these things on themselves. Why Homeless People should be provided with is not the government’s responsibility to provide healthcare, insurance, or other medical assistance. If we spend a lot of money for the homeless peoples’ illness or diseases, they say it will rob money from other government programs and, therefore, we should not give this support to homeless people. Also, some people who oppose providing for the homeless say it is spending the country’s budget on things that do not benefit the majority of the people. Hopefully, in our society few people think that these people are lazy and will not to try to provide for their health costs. If society provided for the health problems of these homeless people, they would work to provide for themselves and for their families. The costs are high to provide these basic needs, but the cost of not providing them is even higher. We have many reasons to do the responsible thing. First, as said previously, we are a civilized society. We are in the same society and are subject to the same afflictions. The homeless may be more vulnerable, but these diseases can spread through the population to us. For example, if the plague starts with the homeless, it is not only the homeless class or group that will be affected but also the whole town. The whole town will be quarantined. You can imagine the damage caused to many people’s lives. Therefore, if the government provides the health care for homeless, it will prevent the disease from spreading throughout society. Prevention is better than cure for all of us, and will improve society as a whole. Prevention will save money and increase the budget for needs in other areas. This is one of the means of prevention, isn’t it? If you treat the diseases only when outbreak occurs, it is a very short-sighted waste of tax dollars, human resources, and time. Therefo re, we should provide funds, drugs, technologies and human resources to homeless people. We shouldn’t blame them because they are poor. According to the Health and Human Services Agency Group (2003), Secretary Thompson said, â€Å"People with†¦health problems†¦are at risk for a life of homelessness†¦we will be judged by our ability to help the weakest† (para.2). We need to help the homeless people’s health problems, and we should spend our budget for them because they are also human. The spending of tax dollars should solely depend on who really has needs, not on the class. Therefore, by doing this we show human kindness and sympathy. It means we are truly a civilized society. (T) In addition, the government also should help the homeless people in order to prevent crimes such as stealing food and money. This government help should include financial planning, temporary assistance (food, shelter, clothes, and education), and planning for the homeless people’s future. For instance, homeless people lack the food, housing, clothing, and medical care. Why Homeless People should be provided with money in any way available to them. Therefore, these people are more likely to commit crimes to get what they need. Helping homeless people who commit violent crimes is imperative if we are to effectively curtail the growing crime rate in this country. My opinion is that the government needs to help homeless people get back on their feet so that the homeless, including young people, no longer need to commit crimes to survive. According to Kenyon (1991), â€Å"When families with young children become homeless, it is the children who suffer most. Sometimes the children have behavior problems because of an unstable or difficult family life† (p. 26). Homeless young children might have a bad attitude because they need food or other necessities. They might do anything to get what they need; therefore, our society would have more crimes and more dangers. As a result, the government needs to provide help for young homeless people so they will have hope, support, and safe housing to prevent their involvement in crime as victims or offenders. Therefore, when we help the homeless people, we not only prevent crimes, but also improve our society. In conclusion, I believe that we should support help for these homeless because our help will assist the homeless in overcoming difficult obstacles, improve our cities, help to stop the spread of infection, and lower the crime rate; this could seriously help the problems of society and homeless people could get off the street, ending homelessness. Some people agree with my opinion about homelessness, and some people disagree with my attitude about the homeless. But the results speak for themselves; in societies where the homeless and underprivileged are taken care of there is less crime, better public health, and a happier trusting society. Cities are cleaner and safer; there is less pollution, disease, and suffering. In any society there are those who will take advantage of the good will of others or will take advantage of the system, but we can’t let the attitudes of a few determine the destiny of society. The vast majority of people are good; they want to be self-sufficient and make a contribution. If we do not help the many who are just temporarily down on their luck, the few with poor attitudes will become the many. How much is it worth to help those without hope or even knowledge that their life can change their circumstances? What is the value of a human soul? In order for the homeless problem to stop, society must make it end by helping the less fortunate get to shelters, food or to some other source of help. users.ipfw.edu/andersi/W131Argument.Sample.htm References Bogard, C. J. (2001). Advocacy and enumeration: Counting homeless people in a suburban community. American Behavioral Scientist, 45(1). Retrieved April 26, 2004, from http://web18.epnet.com. Donahue, B. (2001). Giving shelter. Mother Jones, 26(4). Retrieved April 5, 2004, http://web18.epnet.com. Kenyon, T. L. (1991). The national alliance to end homelessness: What you can do to help the homeless. New York: Fireside. Out in the cold. (2003). Current Events, 102(22). Retrieved April 5, 2004, from http://web18.epnet.com. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency Group. (2003, June 12). HHS totaling $23 million to provide substance abuse and mental Regulatory Intelligence Database. awards 14 grants from health services for homeless people. FDCH Retrieved April 14, 2004, from http://web18.epnet.com. users.ipfw.edu/andersi/W131Argument.Sample.htm