Introduction
America’s homelessness problem is a major socioeconomic issue that is closely related to poverty. The problem is exacerbated by elements including insecure housing, times of economic hardship, the growing wealth gap, unemployment, and health crises. The issue appears in different forms such as those living on the streets of cities, individuals finding difficulty finding housing winding up sleeping on train station benches or in cars, and families struggling to find local shelters and end up moving overseas. Homelessness is not limited to the United States; but also affects all countries globally like Australia, the Netherlands, and Canada.
Problem Description
Homelessness is primarily caused by several social variables, including inequality, high unemployment, wealth inequality, and unstable housing. In the US, local factors include housing program budget cuts, gentrification, and unstable housing options (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018). Broader socioeconomic trends like underemployment, unemployment, inequalities based on class, and health crises are the main causes of the problem on a global scale (Cleveland, 2020). Widespread social class, wealth, and poverty inequality in classical economics restrict access to reasonably priced housing, healthcare, and education on a worldwide scale.
Homelessness can appear the same to many individuals locally, but it can also differ internationally. For example, the way that homelessness impacts people economically and sociologically is similar locally, in the United States, and internationally. Numerous ethnic groups experience stigma and stereotypes, discrimination, and unemployment due to mental health concerns (Johnstone et al., 2015). The issue’s manifestation and causes appear to differ globally; locally, the causes include zoning laws, the conversion of skid row areas into pricey apartment and condominium complexes with exorbitant rents, budget cuts to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Fund (HUD), and city gentrification. Whereas globally the issue is majorly caused by socioeconomic trends like unemployment, class differences, and the wide gap between the rich and the poor accompanied by high poverty levels.
Approach
Homelessness stereotypes are formed by grouping certain communities with specific social classes and ethnicities like the poor minority and jobless group. According to Johnstone et al. (2015), these groups are perceived as the less fortunate as well as being lazy, drug addicts, and criminals who can hide the true complexity of homelessness. These stigmatizing and victim-blaming stereotypes against homelessness can impede the development of effective policies by encouraging victimization.
Having grown up in low-income neighborhoods and having experienced discrimination and homelessness, some of my prejudices include beliefs about personal responsibility and the causes of homelessness. One factor influencing my perception of the homelessness and poverty situation may be these prejudices. I would be better off examining homelessness via the prism of conflict theory to lessen my prejudices. According to conflict theory, there are power dynamics and global economic systems that impact homelessness. These include economic instability, poverty, underemployment, and unemployment (IGH, 2019). Focusing on power dynamics, economic inequality, and institutional roles in sustaining social issues is made possible by the theory.
Global Impact
Homelessness and other issues such as crime and poverty in many urban cities have been linked to globalization. Globalization emphasizes how social and economic structures are interdependent by highlighting the industrialization and sophistication impacts. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, (2018), highlights that more people are moving to cities in search of better job opportunities as a result of industrialization and globalization. This relocation causes an increase in homelessness and urban unrest. The gentrification of inner cities is another effect of globalization. Due to housing shortages brought on by the large population, low-income people became homeless as rental prices in cities increased and became unaffordable.
Both locally and globally, homelessness can take many different forms. Certain financial gain-driven policies and decisions, such as budget cuts and inner-city gentrification, exacerbate the issue in the United States. Due to supply restrictions imposed by local laws, housing is expensive. The incidence of homelessness among the lower class is influenced by high housing costs, especially for the unemployed and low-income population (Cleveland, 2020). Global homelessness rates are influenced by macroeconomic variables such as economic hardships and epidemic crises. Economic or financial crises are a direct cause of an increase in the number of homeless people as well as families and communities that are more likely to stay in poverty due to unemployment and joblessness. The similarity is in how local and global factors impact specific groups, like the low-income group, in the context of homelessness overall.
According to the conflict perspective, society is made up of several groups and classes that compete for scarce resources like money, power, prestige, or the ability to impose their beliefs on others (IGH, 2019). People view society from a conflict perspective as a struggle for wealth and power. This viewpoint, which views society as a never-ending conflict between social classes, could contribute to the explanation of the parallels and discrepancies between local and global homelessness expressions. At the local level, the issue is exacerbated by certain financial gain-driven policies and decisions, such as budget cuts and inner-city gentrification. Additionally, the theory examines the distinctions between local and global homelessness issues, showing that although national conflicts of interest may have an impact on local decisions such as budget cuts, global economic trends are a reflection of more significant power struggles and inequality within the local community.
Possible Potential Solution
Pricey housing policies like the establishment of HUD, have shown success in addressing systemic problems and social determinants by highlighting the need for stable housing as a first step, which is one possible solution to homelessness in today’s society (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018). Another attempted but failed solution is the job creation. Job creation has been tried to address the nation’s homelessness problem, but it has often backfired because it ignored the underlying causes of the problem. The adoption of Housing First approaches has also led to a significant decline in homelessness (IGH, 2019). Successful solutions frequently require collaboration between the public, nonprofit, and private sectors.
References
Cleveland, M. (2020). Homelessness and inequality. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 79(2), 559-590. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajes.12327
Institute of Global Homelessness, IGH. (2019, May). State of homelessness in countries with developed economies. State of Homelessness in Countries with Developed Economies | IGHHub.https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2019/05/CASEY_Louise_Paper.pdf
Johnstone, M., Jetten, J., Dingle, G. A., Parsell, C., & Walter, Z. C. (2015). Discrimination and well-being amongst the homeless: the role of multiple group membership. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 739. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00739
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2018). Permanent supportive housing: Evaluating the evidence for improving health outcomes among people experiencing chronic homelessness. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519584/
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