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Introduction: America's New Homeless
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18783 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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12 / 1991 |
480 Words |
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Only 25 to 30 percent of America's homeless are on the streets because of deinstitutionalization or mental illness. Nearly 75 percent of the nation's homeless are average, normal people. And not all of them are to be found in America's cities: the new homelessness in America now grips the young and the old in middle-class suburbia.
No less alarming is the fact that categories of the homeless are burgeoning. Homeless vulnerable, near homeless, and prehomeless have been added to social science vocabularies and studies. The broadened definition includes those people who, if they had not joined forces with family, friends, or government would have ended up on the street or in shelters.
In essence, homelessness now affects all of America. While the homeless problems most evident in U.S. cities, with their familiar sights of disheveled people sleeping in doorways or digging through garbage cans, non-metropolitan areas are now seriously affected. With this Special Report, THE WORLD & I offers the national picture of American homelessness.
Kris Zawisza, a research associate at the Housing Assistance Council, reports that homelessness is everywhere: it affects the Rust Belt, the Sun Belt, the Frost Belt, and in between. The numbers of people on the street are growing. In state after state, surveys showed that the majority of people interviewed became homeless after a financial crisis such as unemployment, rent increases, or bankruptcy. While the majority of homeless are older males, more women with children and the elderly are finding themselves on the streets due to family crises, violence, eviction, or sudden unemployment. Linda Chernick and Ellen Bassuk of the Better Homes Foundation debunk the major myths about the homeless, including the common belief that most are alcoholics or drug abusers.
While the images and effects of homelessness are evident through the United States, the causes are often overlooked. One common trend among the homeless is a sense of alienation stemming from the decline of the American community. Former USIA senior adviser Gerald Campbell argues that there is an urgent need for more bonding within and between communities across the country. Meanwhile, in rural America, the spiraling number of middle-class people who cannot afford housing often directly result from the decline in the local, national, and in some cases, international economies. Most states predict homelessness will continue to grow as the supply of low-cost housing dwindles.
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