Housing For The Homeless In The US

Running Head: HOUSING FOR THE HOMELESS IN THE U.S

Housing for the homeless in the U.S

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HOUSING FOR THE HOMELESS IN THE U.S

Introduction

Homelessness in the United States has become one of the biggest problems facing the

country, after other natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes. Today, m millions of

populations do not have a place they can call their own, and their lives revolve around hospitals,

jails and in homeless shelters. Most of them do not have any piece of land titled to them but

rather, they eat and drink from the dustbins in the street. Due to their environment, most of the

members in this bracket are exposed to drugs and victimization. Despite the rising levels of

homelessness in the country, the government has a long history of fighting it to its end. One of

the most remarkable ways in which the government has acted on the issue of homeless is through

legislating it in the McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance Act. Passed in 1987, the act has

been amended several times for the purpose of accommodating some of the emerging needs in

the issue of homelessness in the United States. Although the government has played a very

important role in the issue of housing, there seems to be no permanent solution to the issue. This

paper serves to provide a possible way of ending homelessness in the United States through

provision of housing.

History of Homelessness

The history of homelessness in the United States dates back to 1964 to present.

According to Fischer (2011), the initial view about homelessness was based on personal moral

view. It was seen as though the homelessness was as a result of not meeting ones moral

obligations. From a Christian point of view, the homelessness was a punishment from the higher

power and that a true Christian would never lack a job or a place to call home. However, the

view of the same has changed over time. It has become one of the most complex societal

problems. The problem is now connected to industrial revolution, civil war and natural disasters.

HOUSING FOR THE HOMELESS IN THE U.S

The change of view of this issue has contributed to the change of view of the homelessness and

an urge to bring them from their world to the world of their fellow human beings, where they can

access all their needs fairly. One of the approaches that the government has done is the

introduction of construction management courses in schools for the purpose of creating the

vision of ending homelessness in the country in the coming few decades (Franklin &

Clapham,1997).

Factors leading to homelessness in the USA

Several factors have contributed to homelessness in the United States. For the country to

amicably solve this issue, it has to put into consideration these factors. Some of these factors are

high rates of unemployment, substance abuse as well as mental illness. Most of the unemployed

population end up losing places to stay. Consequently, they end up in the streets where they are

exposed to a very harsh life which in return they respond to by indulging in drug abuse to escape

the reality. Due to poor health conditions that are existent in the streets, they end up falling into

the trap of mental illnesses. The government must always consider all these factors when

proposing the plan for providing housing to the homeless. It is only through consideration of

these three factors that they can provide a non-reversible solution to the problem of

homelessness.

Approaches to housing for the homelessness

In order to achieve the dream of giving the homeless somewhere to call home, there is a

dire need to approach the issue of homelessness in the United States, using some of the processes

involved in construction management.

Planning

HOUSING FOR THE HOMELESS IN THE U.S

The first phase of providing adequate and enough housing to the homeless is found in the

roots of planning. As it goes, rehabilitating someone from their past requires looking at all the

aspects of their current life and trying to address them, to provide a full solution to the problem.

Most of the homeless people not only face the problem of lack of shelter or food. Most of them

are going through hard times due to the circumstance that happen in their lives. Some of the

members of the street families find themselves in the street as a result of neglection and rejection

by their families. This means that they are traumatized and this becomes one of the reason they

end up in drugs. While designing the housing for such people, such factors must be considered.

In planning for housing of these individuals, the government has to look at the three categories of

the homeless, which are the chronically homeless, homeless families as well as individuals who

are at risk

To achieve this, the State government is working with Department of Health and Human

Services to provide housing needs that meet the requirements of these people. The HHS has been

working hard to get to the streets and transform the homeless through provision of care. Their

approach follows the idea that to help people out of this situation, the first step involves fostering

self-reliance. The department has also included a plan for transforming the mentally ill for the

purpose of making them productive in the society. According to the Presidents New Freedom

Commission Report of 2003, one of the ways the mental patients in the streets could be assisted

is through provision of housing, to enable them receive full treatment (HHS, 2003).The best way

to end homelessness is to combine it with other services such as healthcare, which the

department is doing.

Designing

HOUSING FOR THE HOMELESS IN THE U.S

Designing is the other issue that comes into question in an attempt to end homelessness in

the US. The question of helping the homeless revolves around the best way of designing houses

to bring up an environment which enables people to recover from the effects of disabilities and

homelessness. According to the construction engineers, the best way of mitigating these effects

is through provision of ample light, good design, as well as generous landscaping. One of the

ways in which the government has done this is through building houses and putting into

consideration, the involvement of other factors as provision of social amenities which provide

the rehabilitated people with opportunity to participate in creative activities such as playing

games, as well as to participate in group activities such as planting vegetables.

Construction

After planning and designing, construction is the most essential and tangible step of

providing housing to the homeless. The normal approach to the provision of homes to the

homeless is centered on constructing tiny houses in form of villages to accommodate the

homeless. In average, One house meant for the homeless costs around $2000.The houses are

built in form of villages. These villages are important as they act to bring together the previously

homeless people to participate in group activities where everybody can learn from the other.

They are also essential for an easy management of these populations by the government and the

Department of Health and Human Services and the government of the United States (Leavitt, 2007).

When constructing the houses, the government is considering environmental

sustainability is maintained through installation of low water usage fixtures, fixing solar panels

for provision of renewable energy. Additionally, the government should consider using cheap

materials that are not environmentally harmful and are also healthy to the residents. Such should

be environmentally friendly materials such as wood and other non-rusting materials such as

HOUSING FOR THE HOMELESS IN THE U.S

aluminum among others. The designing of these houses should allow the inhabitants to be able to

experience the natural environment resources such as fresh air and natural lighting too. As

outlined before in this paper, some of these people are suffering different types of illnesses due

to the environment they have been exposed to. Exposing them to an environment where they

cannot get healthy supply of light and enough air will only make their condition worse. For

instance, it would not make sense to take someone suffering from tuberculosis from the street

only to expose them to an environment where supply of fresh air is another main problem for

their survival.

Conclusion

To conclude, it is worth noting that homelessness in the United States is becoming a big

issue. As a country that is dreaming on maintaining its economic position in the world, the

United States cannot ignore any of its citizen. The homeless must be put in a position which

gives them an opportunity to develop themselves to a better life which is productive to the

community and the whole nation. The only way this can be achieved is through provision of

housing to the homeless, which restores their dignity and health, and propels them towards

participating in activities that benefit the society and the nation.

HOUSING FOR THE HOMELESS IN THE U.S

References

Fischer, R. (2011). The History of Homelessness from 1964 to Present. Plymouth

Congregational Church

Franklin, B., & Clapham, D. (1997). The social construction of housing management. Housing

Studies, 12(1), 7-26.

US Department of Health and Human Services. (2003). Achieving the promise: Transforming

mental health care in America. Final Report. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and

Human Services.

Leavitt, O. (2007). Strategic Action Plan on Homelessness. U.S. Department of Health and

Human Services

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