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Indian Community Concerns About Teenage Drinking Essay

, Research Paper


Homelessness, condition of people who lack regular legal access to housing.


Homelessness has been recognized as a significant social problem in the United


States since the early 1980s, when an increase in the number of homeless people


was caused by a weak economy and cuts in federal aid for housing and income


assistance. Other periods of increased homelessness also have occurred many times


in history, including during the colonial era. Most other industrialized societies also


have experienced increases in homeless populations in recent decades.


The number of homeless people in the United States has been an arguable


issue for a while. Advocates for the homeless claim that there are several million


homeless people; however, recent studies suggest that the homeless number from


600,000 to 700,000. Exact numbers are impossible to collect because researchers


define homelessness in different ways and because the homeless are transitory. The


number of people predicted to become homeless in any given year is estimated to be


three to five times the number of people who are homeless at any given moment.


The US Census Bureau attempted to count homeless people in the 1990 census.


However, most people consider this attempt as a failure.


The homeless population is largely made up of adult men, but the number of


women, children, and youth has steadily increased. This group now comprises more


than 40 percent of the total homeless population. Most homeless people are also


extremely poor and separated from their families and other social networks. About


one-third of the adult homeless are chronically mentally ill, and about half are


alcoholic or abuse drugs. During the 1950s, most homele

ss people were older, white,


alcoholic men associated with the rundown sections of cities known as skid rows.


Today’s homeless, however, are mostly non-white; relatively young, with an average


age in the middle 30s; and include a large number of women and children. About


one-third of homeless men are veterans.


In addition to the homeless population, even larger numbers are considered


“marginally housed”; they are in danger of becoming homeless because of poverty or


unavailable housing. About half the nation’s poor households spend 70 percent or


more of their monthly income on housing, which puts them at risk of becoming


homeless if faced with an economic problem. Because the number of people living in


poverty numbers some 37 million, the marginally housed would amount to nearly 20


million people, creating the potential for a vast increase in the size of the homeless


population. Those who are housed only because they have been able to stay with


family or friends are known as the hidden homeless.


Many reasons have tried to explain the dramatic increase in the number of


homeless people in the 1980s and 1990s. The total poverty rate tended to increase


throughout this period, and this was especially true in the inner city areas where


most homeless people live. At the same time, the supply of low-income housing


declined in some cities. Waiting lists for public housing are often many years long


and increases in welfare payments have not kept pace with inflation. Among other


factors implicated in the trend are changes in the treatment of the chronically


mentally ill, drug use, the inability of some families to support dependent adult


members, and an increasing rate of violence against women.

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