Preview

Misconceptions About Homelessness

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1325 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Misconceptions About Homelessness
My friends and I left the restaurant, laughing. It was getting dark and the city was beautifully lit. We smiled and chatted as we walked through downtown. Suddenly my eyes fell on a young woman arranging her sleeping quarters in the middle of the sidewalk. She looked barely older than me - she could have easily been a college student. The girl sat down and pulled a few dirty blankets over her body, preparing for the night’s sleep. I was staggered by the similarities between the two of us. Her face stuck in my memory as I got home and climbed into my comfortable bunk bed. People my age weren’t supposed to be homeless, were they? Where was her family, her connections? Why would she be on the streets? Were there more people like her or was she an anomaly? I realized I knew nothing about homelessness and had instead been subconsciously analyzing it with my own preconceptions as a basis. But I wasn’t the only one allowing myself to remain so misinformed. Research shows there are almost ubiquitous misconceptions concerning homelessness and the stigma against it, especially when it comes to the demographics of the homeless population, the amount of crimes …show more content…
What are the true reasons for homelessness and how long does it normally last? Citizens are blinded by the illusion that homelessness is always a result of laziness and always the fault of the homeless person, which often acts as the basis for further misconceptions. Many people believe some homeless people actually prefer to be homeless because it’s less stressful than “real life,” and that’s why they are not doing everything in their capability to elevate their condition. With that comes another misconception: it is easy to get out of homelessness, and homeless people are lazy because they don’t work and instead live off government
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Barriers to Healthcare for the Homeless Population
    • 1426 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Barriers to Healthcare for the Homeless Population

    A homeless person is defined as someone “who lacks a fixed, regular adequate night time residence or a person who resides in a shelter, welfare hotel, transitional program or place not ordinarily used as regular sleeping accommodations, such as streets, movie theaters, cars, abandoned buildings, etc.” (Cone, 2008, p. ). Homelessness is a growing problem in the United States that affects the psychological and physical aspects of its victims. Two of the fastest growing subpopulations of the homeless are single mothers and families. The word homeless implies being extremely vulnerable and more susceptible to health problems. The homeless population faces many health disparities, just a few are inadequate healthcare, prejudices, and lack of available resources.…

    • 1426 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    Examples Of Homelessness In Canada
    • 3035 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Examples Of Homelessness In Canada

    People become homeless by many different paths; however, the most common reasons are "inability to pay rent (53%), conflict or abuse (26%), alcohol or drug use problems (8%)". Other factors can include mental disorders, foster care exits, exiting from jail or hospitalization, immigration, rising housing costs and decreased rent controls, federal and provincial downloading of housing programs, and low social assistance rates. (Hulchanski, 2009)…

    • 3035 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Reasons For Homelessness In Montgomery County
    • 1297 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Reasons For Homelessness In Montgomery County

    “Reasons for homelessness include poverty, lack affordable housing, unemployment, lack or inadequacy of government financial support, crime, violence, lack of kin support, mental illness, substance, and socially stigmatizing infectious diseases”…

    • 1297 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Dissonance of Homelessness
    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Dissonance of Homelessness

    Every once in awhile a person may find himself walking down the street, strutting his stuff. Then he might hear a couple of chords badly put together, poorly strummed, and a voice howling to the wind like a lost puppy in the night. This is probably being done by one of many kids who have left home and decided that it has become too much of a hassle to live in the confines of society. Only to leave home, work, and studies to play their guitar on the side of the street for the one thing they said they despised from the beginning, money. The clear solution is this, hire musicians to teach the howling puppies how to make music correctly.…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Problem Of Homelessness
    • 83 Words
    • 1 Page

    The Problem Of Homelessness

    Homeless people have the tendency to treat the streets of cities like their personal homes. It’s only natural that they do this because hey, the streets are their homes. But this becomes a problem when you are strolling the streets of your beautiful city and are overwhelmed and distressed by the horrific stench of urine and waste consume the side walk. Like I said before, the sidewalks are homeless people’s homes but when you have to hold your breath, it becomes a problem.…

    • 83 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Individualist Explanations Of Homelessness
    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Individualist Explanations Of Homelessness

    Policies has been frequently influenced by set of social attitudes and beliefs towards the homeless (Sheedy, 2015). Up until the Second World War, homeless policies were underpinned by ideas of the ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor and regulated people’s access to assistance (Leggatt-Cook & Chamberlain, 2015, p. 10). Understanding of homeless in contemporary Western societies exist on an ideological continuum, which shapes the way people think about the issue. For instance, individualist explanations view homelessness as the result of lifestyle choices and personal failings such as drug abuse, criminal deviancy or alcoholism. Overemphasis on Individualist explanations could lead to minimal state intervention, antagonistic responses and reaction…

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Homelessness: Sociology
    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Homelessness: Sociology

    My parents own couple businesses in the city, so I see homeless people a lot. I have to walk a few blocks to get to the store, but I always see the same person. The homeless man is nice and says hi when I pass him, he never asks me for money. But the few times I been to NYC, the homeless people won’t stop begging for money. They would say something back if you just ignore them. Other homeless people I see around is when I drive and stop at a red light, they come up to my window and ask for money. I sometimes feel they are scamming everyone for money and it’s their act. Overall I do feel bad for them, when it’s cold outside, raining, and snowing, they don’t have a roof under their head.…

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Homeless Varies
    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Homeless Varies

    Mother Teresa once stated, “We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked, and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.” People are progressively being victimized for being homeless. Anna Quindlen, 1992’s Pulitzer Prize winner, for her New York Times column, “Public and Private”, evaluates the life of a homeless woman in her essay, “Homeless” (1998). She soon realizes that all homeless people have a different story and urges the reader not to judge them. Homeless people feel judged when they are stereotyped, mistreated, and misunderstood.…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Dehumanization Of Homelessness Essay
    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Dehumanization Of Homelessness Essay

    Mindlessly strolling the sidewalks with no destination in sight. Frail legs marching in hopes of locating a meal, a bed, a heart. Day after day, these legs march aimlessly searching for the same necessities over and over again but come to no prevail. So used to being overlooked, they don’t bother anyone anymore. They sit in silence and this fast paced work warps around them leaving them in the dust without anywhere to go. Society views the homeless as helpless creatures that do not contribute to the better of society. Their “dehumanized” appearances and state of being has led to the assumptions that their outside is a mirror image of the content inside them. This derogatory reflection has cast these “creatures’ into the shadows of the…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The State Of Homelessness In America
    • 123 Words
    • 1 Page

    The State Of Homelessness In America

    Homelessness has declined a great amount since previous years but there are families and individuals which are on the edge of becoming homeless and it is easy to see why. Gas prices go up daily and fluctuate, groceries become more expensive without coupons, houses double in value when they aren’t even worth it, and apartment rent is becoming more expensive as well. An online article called Just Released: The State of Homelessness in America, there was a report which stated that “during a time when there was more economic growth, unemployment decreased in almost all states, and homelessness decreased as well but the number for people at risk of homelessness ‘remained at post-recession levels.’” National Alliance to End Homelessness (April 2015,…

    • 123 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Issue Of Homelessness
    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Issue Of Homelessness

    The issue on homelessness is one of America’s most IMPORTANT issues to date because, it’s something that most of us see everyday. There are more homeless in New York, than anywhere else in America( 75,323). Did you know that one quarter of homeless people are children? Homelessness also plays a huge role on the lives of the children, who are part of it. We, as a country, need to think about the many decisions that not on affect ourselves, but the people around us. Even though we may not think about it, there are families out who are struggling, but are staying strong no matter what hardships they have faced, and I find that not only outstanding, but INSPIRATIONAL. There are many different ways we can help out those in need, but we’ll all…

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Social Injustices of Homelessness
    • 809 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Social Injustices of Homelessness

    Homelessness is a growing social injustice in the United States. The degradation that these people face every day is terrifying. It is a crisis that we too often ignore, hoping it will restore itself. That assumption delivers a widespread lack of understanding about the facts that lead to homelessness. Homelessness exists as a problem that we should acknowledge and treat.…

    • 809 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Consequences Of Homelessness
    • 843 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Consequences Of Homelessness

    According to the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, "homeless youth are typically defined as unaccompanied youth between the ages of 12 and 24 who are without family support and who are living in shelters, on the streets, in cars or vacant buildings or who are "couch surfing" or living in other unstable circumstances." On any given night in the US, there is about half a million homeless individuals. 40 percent of that are homeless youth. It is important to say that exact numbers of homeless youth are hard to determine because the lack of standard methods and the mobility of the homeless population. The amount of homeless youth is staggering and heartbreaking. There are many factors that lead to homelessness, and many consequences…

    • 843 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Illusion Of Homelessness Analysis
    • 176 Words
    • 1 Page

    The Illusion Of Homelessness Analysis

    A small bead of sweat trickled down the spine of the homeless man. Or at least he had every appearance of a homeless man. It had taken him weeks of living on the street to get the perfect appearance. Not many people had the patience or fortitude to do what was necessary to gain the advantage. Most of the employees of his agency would simply have taken a day or two with makeup, dirt and various greases to create the illusion of homelessness. But he knew those illusions are easy to see through and the target would have recognize the difference and the danger. This target was different than others, he was good and any inconsistencies would have been seen by the target. But he had spent the time, he had made the sacrifice and it would pay…

    • 176 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Homelessness in America
    • 1418 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Homelessness in America

    The biggest reason people are homeless is simply because of poverty. They just can't afford to have a place to live and food in their mouths. As of 2000, 11.3% of the US population lived in poverty.(1) The number of people in extreme poverty has been increasing since 1999, accounting for 39% of people in poverty, and making less than half the amount of income a person considered in poverty makes.(3) With this amount of people living in poverty, it's no wonder why there are so many homeless today. The reason people are in poverty is because of inflation since the 70's, and the loss of affordable housing projects.(4) This accounts for almost all homeless, but there are also other factors that can contribute as well. There are many people with addiction problems that make them homeless. It's not because they are addicted to drugs, because many people live quite well with an addiction problem, but they could be in a hard point financially, and could be driven to the streets because of money issues. The hard part for them is getting off the streets once they're on them. Since so much of their money goes to drugs, most drug addicts can't overcome being homeless once they have been for more than 6 months.(1) Mental illness is also a big issue causing…

    • 1418 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More