Running head: HOMELESSNESS IN AMERICA

Homelessness in America: The Causation of an Epidemic and How to Cure It

Jack Pocock

First Colonial High School

Legal Studies Academy

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Abstract

This paper outlines and presents a brief representation of life as a homeless person, from

sheltering, food insecurity, to job discrimination, and legal injustice. The author outlines the

difficulties presented with the creation of temporary housing facilities, and possible solutions for

the issue of working the welfare benefits system. The author then goes into the changes that can

be made, social and economic, to ensure that the homeless can have a chance to rebuild from

their misfortune. Finally, the author closes out the paper with a restatement of what can be done

to alleviate the issue of homelessness and change society as a whole.

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Homelessness in America: The Causation of an Epidemic, and How to Cure It

America has been the land of opportunity and possibility, from the time of the founding

fathers to the present day. The opportunity to work for yourself, start a business, gain freedom and

live the American dream. This idealistic view of possibilities, although a positive outlook, has

become very outdated with our current social systems. The lower classes and less fortunate are

being held down from their true potential; with none being less opportunistic than those restricted

by the vice grip of homelessness. Homelessness is a weight upon families, be it living on the

streets, not having a reliable, steady income, or the unfair treatment in the justice system. Simple

things that any given household would take for granted dissipate, and life itself becomes a

nihilistic loop of broken will and depression.

Helping the homeless out of their situation will not only require the economic support of

the government, but social changes among the people of the United States. Homelessness can be

alleviated through the increase of employment and housing availability, reform of our legal

system, and the support of the American people.

Life of the Homeless

Definition of Homelessness

Homelessness, according to Section 103 of the McKinney-Vento Act (as reported by the

Congressional Research Service), is:

[an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; and a

person who has a nighttime residence that is (a) a supervised publicly or privately

operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including

welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill);
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(b) an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to

be institutionalized; or (c) a public or private place not designed for, nor

ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.

This statement from the Congressional Research Service helps put into perspective the

reality of living without guaranteed access to food, water, and shelter, almost unimaginable by an

average person’s standards.

Aside from having a lack of access to the basic necessities, the homeless are seen as less

than people from a social standpoint. People raise their kids to stay away from strangers and to

ignore people on the street, regardless of whether or not they can get out of their situation

without help. Ironically, ⅓ of all homeless are below the age of 18 themselves, according to the

National Coalition for the Homeless (Rensink, 2014).

If the homeless are unable to get a proper paying job, they must panhandle, but society

and other media influences may lead a person to believe that money given to a homeless person

will be spent on drugs. A survey in San Francisco shows the opposite, as more than 60% of the

panhandling population receives less than $25 a day from panhandling, and that 94% of that $25

is spent on food (Bailey, 2014). With the scant money that they receive, the need for proper

homeless shelters to provide a roof over their heads and proper nourishment is the top priority,

simply to keep them alive.

For the homeless, living on the streets comes with legal consequences. The homeless

must make a decision between living in jail, with guaranteed meals, housing, and shelter, or live

on the street, where crime, adverse weather, and lack of food is the norm. Although homeless

shelters are in most major cities, they do not properly accommodate the large numbers of the
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homeless populations within their cities. Los Angeles County reported in 2016 that of the

45,000+ homeless in the county, around only 12,000 found room in shelters (Los Angeles

County Government, 2016). No room in homeless shelters means an excess amount of people

without any safe residence, leading to more homeless left on the streets to fend for themselves.

Although sleeping on public property becomes the most readily available option, it is not

necessarily safe or legal, leading to insecure situations for the homeless.

Commonwealth v. Magadini

David Magadini, a homeless man, was trespassing on public property. As the night grew

colder and began to snow, Magadini did not have clothes to survive the night, and so he was

forced to sleep in the hallway of a public facility. He was arrested and taken to trial. Magadini

was tried for sleeping in a public place, and the prosecution pushed to convict him of the crime.

The defense’s standpoint came from that of duress and necessity, that he simply couldn’t survive

without breaking the law, as he would freeze to death if he remained outside. The case was ruled

in favor of Magadini, that a homeless person can’t be arrested simply for being homeless. This

ruling started a trend of cities and communities progressing and reforming their laws, realizing

that humane treatment of the homeless was lacking in some areas of the US. However, this did

not reach to the majority of the US as 40% of US cities still hold sleeping in public places as a

crime ​(National Law Center of Homelessness and Poverty, 2017).

Why Don’t They Get a Job?

Homelessness, generally prevalent in urban areas, is becoming an issue that is unfixable

due to programs that lack the proper strategies or supplies to help those in need. Government

provided services and facilities that someone would take for granted are in most cases either
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scant of necessities or not present at all in less fortunate neighborhoods. If a man in a suit with a

degree applied for a job and someone who was homeless and hadn’t showered for the past five

months applied for the same job, the obvious decision would be the man in the suit. Not only is

he more qualified, but a predisposed bias to the person’s presentation and their hygiene can

change the opinion of an employer without knowledge of prior qualifications. A survey

conducted by the National Coalition for the Homeless showed that 70.4% of the homeless

population in DC had experienced job discrimination from private businesses (​National Coalition

for the Homeless, 2014). ​The homeless, who are seldom able to get their own meals, have to

compete with the highly educated, and are unable to beat them due to something as simple a first

impression. Along with the lack of proper hygiene, most members of the long-term homeless

population “​have a physical or mental disability, such as post-traumatic stress disorder” (Keyes,

2014). Stacked among their other disadvantages and impediments, mental

disabilities/impairments make their job-finding much more difficult than necessary.

Mental impairments and disabilities are also prevalent among the homeless population,

and especially plague the community of homeless veterans, often suffering from disorders such

as PTSD. A comparative study conducted by the Yale University School of Medicine showed

that PTSD affected 90% of male veterans and 75% of female veterans (Tsai, Pietrzak, &

Rosenheck, 2012). Conditions such as these can inhibit an individual’s lifestyle, well-being, and

the ability to gain adequate job positions. However, the veterans are not the only homeless

population having trouble with disorders. According to the US Department of Housing and

Urban Development, ⅕ of the homeless population in America struggles with some kind of
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mental illness (Jervis, 2014). When the homeless lack treatment for these illnesses, they become

a large impediment to progress, and can make their life more difficult than it already is.

Legal Disadvantages

As a result of the lack of jobs they can obtain, the homeless will likely begin to

participate in criminal activities. The homeless commit crimes because in some cases it’s easy

money when compared to applying for a job and getting slow, but legal income. In the case they

are convicted of their crimes, they get free housing that they otherwise would not have access to.

In some cases, the homeless are even disadvantaged in the court system. This is a result of the

public defenders assigned by the state being so overloaded with work that they are unable to

dedicate the necessary time and resources to their own cases​(S. P. Letourneau, Personal

communication, November 19, 2017). Even in the case that a homeless person could be innocent,

the prosecution’s private practice lawyers can get more breathing room. Greater leeway gives

them more range to put effort into a case to beat out the overloaded and understaffed public

defenders.

Once the homeless end up in jail, they get free meals, free housing (at the expense of

taxpayers), and no need to make a steady income. By the time they are able to get out, it becomes

much more efficient to commit crimes to earn easy money or to put themselves back in jail. This

loop of crime both deteriorates the homeless population, the cities they live in, and the future

work opportunities available to the homeless. According to a study conducted by Sheffield

Hallam University, one fifth of homeless people have admitted to committing a crime to get back

into jail (Ramesh, 2010). Working the system is becoming an issue both among the homeless and
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among those who abuse our welfare benefits, a system put in place to help the lower class, not

keep them grounded.

Attempts to Combat Homelessness

One of the best ways to help the homeless (and help our economy in turn) is to

build more permanent housing for the homeless, and to ensure these serve function over aesthetic

pleasure. Flashy architecture throws more money onto a budget than is necessary and takes away

from the optimum function of a homeless shelter. This, when paired with the intention of only

building a motel-style building (one-stop buildings for the homeless), is beginning to waste the

money of cities more than putting the homeless into jail. This has become an issue in Virginia

Beach, in which a new homeless shelter being built has a budget of $29 million but only houses

80 separate residencies, with the majority being single beds. With all areas having “access to

enclosed outdoor courtyards,” it’s easy to see that the possibility of building efficient permanent

housing has instead been overtaken by the local government’s inaccurate ideals of temporary,

ostentatious designs ​(Skelton, 2016). Wasting money on government programs that put

proverbial band-aids on much bigger problems both wastes taxpayers money and the wellbeing

of the homeless.

Putting the homeless into institutions and prisons is also proven to be very inefficient.

According to a cost benefit analysis done by the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness,

“​when accounting for a variety of public expenses, Florida residents pay $31,065 per chronically

homeless person every year they live on the streets.” However, when compared to permanent

housing, “it would cost taxpayers just $10,051 per homeless person to give them a permanent
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place to live and services like job training and healthcare.” The article also states that if a new

plan was implemented to get the homeless these public services, the state of Florida alone could

save 350 million dollars over the next decade (Keyes, 2014). Giving the homeless a second

chance with proper job training and a place to stay will work not only for them but will add to

the country’s workforce.

A Fresh Start

The efficient option is giving the homeless permanent housing. A study conducted by

Fox Business estimated that 18.9 million homes are vacant across the country(Bronson, 2010).

When compared to the same study’s statistic of 3.5 million people living without homes, this

creates the simple conclusion of putting the homeless into foreclosed homes. By this logic, not

only is permanent housing the best option, it’s widely available as well. Giving the homeless

public housing can open the door to giving them a proper household to care for a family and

treatment for medical conditions, such as mental illnesses or disorders.

This strategy has proven to work in many instances, and is currently being implemented

in the state of Utah in the Housing First initiative. This strategy was initially tested by the

Pathway to Housing, putting 242 chronically homeless people into apartments, also giving them

free and available services such as medical care, drug rehabilitation, etc. However, the homeless

had to decide whether or not they were to use the services given to them. The results from this

study proved to that not only was the test a success, but it was also cost-efficient:

After five years, 88 percent of the clients were still in their apartments, and the cost of

caring for them in their own homes was a little less than what it would have cost to take

care of them on the street.​ A subsequent study​ of 4,679 New York City homeless with
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severe mental illness found that each cost an average of $40,449 a year in emergency

room, shelter, and other expenses to the system, and that getting those individuals in

supportive housing saved an average of $16,282 (Carrier, 2017).

Other cities began to implement this new strategy. Denver saw a 73% decrease in

“emergency-service costs alone,” and “savings of $31,545 per person” of each homeless

individual put into the Housing First program (Carrier, 2017).

Work for the Homeless

The second step in helping the homeless to recuperate is giving them proper job training

and work to do. One way to accomplish this is by increasing the funding of the Department of

the Interior and pushing for more infrastructural upgrades within the municipal governments.

Redirecting the budget towards the betterment of the standard of living will require quite a feat to

be approved by Congress, but in the end will prove to be more beneficial on the economic side of

things.

However, having a workforce doesn’t always mean work. With this in mind,

improvements to city infrastructure public resource buildings will instituted. If the homeless

need permanent housing and a job, they can move to a temporary housing facility and apply for a

job with public works. From here, their first project will be building the permanent housing units

for themselves and other homeless individuals. This proposed strategy, when implemented

correctly, will simultaneously coalesce building a workforce and cleaning the streets.

Legal Actions Required

Although ​Commonwealth v. Magadini ​set a precedent as far as Massachusetts goes, but

nationally has no effect on laws and regulations to help the homeless. Other laws and acts are
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also being put in place to help combat homelessness. Even with new law propositions and reform

movements to help the homeless, the middle class may continue to assume that common

government services such as welfare are the only needed programs to help the homeless. With

over 1 trillion dollars in budgeted welfare programs ​(Rude, 2017)​, reform is needed in order to

keep taxpayers paying the proper amount, and to help the preserve the freedom and well-being of

the individual. However, the current welfare system is not only outdated, but is being worked by

far more people than necessary. According to data collected by the US Census in 2012, 35.4% of

citizens, or 109,631,000 people, are claiming some kind of welfare ​(Jeffrey, 2014). It’s easy to

see that the welfare system, though initially a good plan for helping the lower-class, is being

abused and must be replaced in order to get the U.S. back on its feet. Food stamps are another

example of a government program that can easily be worked around. Commonplace violations

and fraud often span from food stamp recipients “claiming benefits for which they aren’t

eligible, claiming more benefits than those to which they are legally entitled, and by selling off

food stamps to buy other non-food items, such as guns or drugs” (Rude, 2017). The SNAP

(Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) program, or food stamps, originally costing $17

billion in 2000, is now estimated to have cost around $71 billion in 2016 (Springer, 2017).

Reforming SNAP and the welfare system is necessary, as there are multiple people that live off

of welfare checks that have the capacity for employment, but don’t pursue the opportunity.

Without reform, the hapless will be unable to progress towards greater goals.

New Government Acts

Despite the weight of the current outdated programs, new acts are being put into place to

help the homeless. Homeless children are being assisted through the recently enacted Every
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Child Achieves Act of 2015. This act helps homeless children through the integration of liaisons

to local homeless shelters that help provide transport homeless children to their zoned schools

(Congressional Research Service, 2016). Free and reduced lunch programs have been

implemented in most public schools to assist lower-class and homeless children. Although

collegiate level education is an issue for these students, they will be able to set a strong

foundation to whichever field they pursue.

The EFS program, implemented in 1983, funds small-scale homeless support programs

and homeless prevention services. Being the oldest and most general of all of the

government-sanctioned homeless assistance, the EFS was originally for emergency food supplies

and the prevention of homelessness. Although it is technically no longer an active service,

funding is still being donated and allocated (Congressional Research Service, 2016).

The Transitional Living Program for Homeless Youth, still in effect today, provides

semi-permanent housing for homeless individuals ages 16-22. This government program also

offers educational training, basic life skills training, assistance in obtaining jobs, and a variety of

medical care (Congressional Research Service, 2016). This program has proven to be the most

effective of the three previously mentioned, as it gives the the youthful homeless a second

chance at life, allowing them to create opportunities for themselves in the job field and in their

own education.

Poverty’s Connection

If new acts are to be put in place to help the lower class, the would-be middle class needs

to stop leeching off free benefits and get to work in real paying jobs. The main issue with
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welfare, however, lies in the poverty cycle: a positive feedback loop that drags down a

lower-class citizen and the rest of their family with them.

In the case that a family falls into a rough patch, they may apply for SNAP in order to get

food stamps, or a safety net welfare program, courtesy of taxpayers. If they remove themselves

from their rough patch and are on their feet again, they may not need the food stamps anymore,

but will continue to claim the benefits. This denies the proper equity of assistance that needs to

be given according to each families needs, or in the case of a homeless person, according to their

basic necessities for survival. Would-be middle-class individuals that do nothing to seek jobs and

instead rely on their consistent welfare checks do not advance in society, and if their privileges

and assistance are revoked, they can fall into the poverty cycle.

The poverty cycle keeps a family grounded due to its grip on wages, lifestyle, and

socioeconomic status. First, a person in an underdeveloped inner city neighborhood may lose

their job and fall into poverty, often due to lack of a steady income. They may search for another

job, but are unable to find one due to the lackluster ratio of jobs per capita surrounding the area.

These areas, (commonly Detroit, Southern Los Angeles, Chicago and New York) may have jobs,

but they won’t provide a consistent, usable income. When compared to the crime rates of these

cities, jobs are a much less effective way of getting money. The breadwinner of the family may

have to move on to selling drugs, burglary, and robbery just to put food on the table. Bad

conditions in cities can deny funding for projects, such as schools and basic public services.

Running out of options to support themselves with legal means because of the subpar

public services provided, the homeless are once again stuck with the choice of dying on the

streets, or committing a crime to survive in jail.

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Changing Society’s View on the Homeless

Social views have skewed from helping the less fortunate to stranger danger. If society is

to help those in need, it can’t allow people to block them out. In a social experiment conducted

by the New York Rescue Mission and its partners, a group of candid people off the street are

unknowingly recorded, walking past homeless people living on the street. Unknown to the

people walking past, the homeless are their own family members, even spouses, wearing tattered

clothing and with blemished makeup on. Experiments such as these show how people’s

perception of the homeless has changed. Regardless of a person’s situation, someone walking

down the street couldn’t take their time to stop, give them money, help, or someone to talk to.

Society’s perspective has changed from assisting those in need to ignoring them for our own

safety. Craig Mayes, the executive director of the New York Rescue Mission, speaks volumes

on this issue saying, “They are in trouble and in pain. And they are someone’s uncle or cousin or

wife”.​ ​(Gates, 2014)

Conclusion on the State of Homelessness

Working on permanent solutions to a problem as far-reaching as homelessness can be

difficult, especially in the case of getting them off of the streets and back into being productive

members of society. Unemployment and mental disease handicap and debilitate the homeless

population and their potential for work opportunities. Without changes being made to the justice

system, homeless individuals accused of a crime will be stuck in a rut and will not be able to

escape institutionalization. Government programs, if not reformed, could hold down the

homeless by helping people that have more opportunities for work instead of assisting those that

simply just need a chance to work for themselves. Issues such as employment discrimination,
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lack of housing, food insecurity, addiction, and nearly unbreakable cycles continue to weigh

down the less fortunate. Increasing job availability, granting permanent housing, changing the

justice system and changing society’s view on the homeless will not only help cities in the long

run; it will help those who need it the most.

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