Homelessness

3 Pages 866 Words

When many people think of homelessness they think that the homeless are a group of crazy bums, drunks and people that are too lazy to work, as did one of our presidents Ronald Reagan. Yet if we think about it, not all homeless people fall into these categories. There are many reasons people become homeless.
People become homeless due to job loss, generally without hope for future employment, inability to recover from low paying jobs, natural disasters and/or illness. Other reasons people become homeless are of mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction. Even though one-third of the homeless population is mentally ill, and this is a great number, it doesn’t mean that all homeless are mentally ill.
“Did you know that” here are a few facts about homelessness:
1. The typical homeless person in America is a child.

2. Children and families make up the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.

3. There are 6,000 families living in the New York City shelter system. Ten times that number are one step away from homelessness.

4. Over half of all homeless children have never lived in their own home. Over forty percent have been homeless more than once.

5. Over one-third of homeless families have an open case for child abuse or neglect; one out of five have lost at least one child to foster care.

6. Nearly half of homeless children either have witnessed or have been subjected to violence in their home.

7. The typical homeless family is a single, 20-year-old mother with two children under the age of six.


Now think about the facts and put yourself in this situation, the typical homeless family consists of an unmarried 20-year-old mother with one or two children under the age of 6, probably fathered by different men. It is found common that this young mother never completed high school and never worked to support her family. There is a one in five chance that she was in foster care as a child; if so, she ...