INTRODUCTION

Homelessness is a condition of people who lack regular access to
adequate housing. As this condition becomes a growing problem in Canada
people are forced to deal with the issues. Who are the homeless? They
range from children to adults and even in some cases, families. Why are
they homeless? Poverty, lack of jobs or well paying jobs, decline in
Social Services, domestic violence, mental illness, and chemical dependency
contribute to the majority of the homeless within our society. What
effects does being homeless have on merabers of the family? It contributes
to many physical and mental health problems for both parents and their
children. Homelessness is a world-wide issue, yet zeroing in on Canada,
the majority of the homeless live on the streets of Toronto and Vancouver
where they seek shelter anywhere from a park bench to dark alleys. The
fact remains that homelessness will always be a problem yet over the years,
the nuraber of homeless people has been on the rise and something must be
done. Homelessness, specially in families, is a devastating experience.
It disturbs nearly all aspects of family life, damaging the physical and
emotional health of family merabers. In addition, it interferes with
children's education and development and often results in the separation of
family merabers. It is hard to say exactly who the homeless are because it
is usually a temporary circumstance and not a permanent condition.

Therefore more appropriate manner of estimating homelessness is to
look at the nuraber of people who are currently experiencing homelessness
rather than the nuraber of "homeless people".

WHO ARE THE HOMELESS

Homeless people range anywhere from 11 to 65 years of age. Most
studies show that homeless adults are most likely to be male that female.
The homeless population is made up many different ethnic backgrounRAB, the
majority being African-American. The majority of homeless children and
females are victims of domestic violence (NCH, 1998). It is estimated that
there are 200 000 homeless people who live on the streets of Canada (Globe
and Mail, 1998) and an 80 000 more in risk of becoming homeless (National
Post, 1998). Of these people between 30% and 35% are people with severe
mental illnesses (National Post, 1998). "On any given night, 45% of the 4
200 people filling Toronto's homeless shelters are families with children"
(Toronto Star, 1998). An increasing nuraber of the homeless are teenagers
of which many are runaways who have been kicked out or felt they had no
choice but to leave (Michaud, Margaret, 1988). It is difficult to find out
exactly what age categories the homeless fit into because the information
is very limited.

WHY THEY ARE HOMELESS

There is so many different causes of homelessness the largest being
poverty (NCH, 1998). Poor people are frequently unable to pay for housing,
food, health care and child care. It is hard to make choices when recourses
are so limited. Unemployment is also a large contribution to the homeless
society (NCH, 1998). Another factor contributing to homelessness is the
decline in Social Services. Within the last few years, government has made
it increasingly difficult for anyone to be approved to get assistance.
There is also the factors of domestic violence which forces many out of
their home, mental illness which enables the individuals to obtain access
to supportive housing and/or other treatment services, and chemical
dependency which forces people into poverty because of their addiction (NCH,
1998). It is hard to give specific percentage data supporting cases of
unemployment, domestic abuse, chemical dependants, and decreasing Social
Services because the data is rather difficult to find.

EFFECTS OF HOMELESSNESS ON PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH

Homelessness severely impacts the health and well-being of every
family meraber. Compared to poor children that are housed, children that
are homeless experience worse health; more developmental delays; more
anxiety, depression, some behavioural problems; and lower educational
achievement (NCH, 1998).

Furthermore, homeless children face obstacles to enrolling and
attending school. Some of these difficulties include transportation
problems, residency requirements, inability to obtain previous school
recorRAB, and lack of clothing and school supplies. Parents also feel the
harsh effects of homelessness. Homeless females tend to have chronic
depression more frequently than housed females. Homeless mothers are also
much more likely to attempt suicide than housed mothers (Bassuk et al.,
1996).

Homelessness very often results in the break up of families.
Families are sometimes separated as a result of shelter policies. In
addition, children are sometimes placed into foster homes when their
parents become homeless. In other cases, parents may leave their children
in the care of relatives or frienRAB in order to save them from the effects
of homelessness or to enable them to keep attending their regular school.

There are some cases where the homeless make their situation worse
by wanting to have children while they are on the streets. For example
Martin and Kathleen, a homeless couple, say they want to have two children.
What will be the fate of these children? They will most likely turn out
like their parents spending time on the streets begging for money and
drinking the remainder of the day away until they have to search for a
place where they can spend the night (High Class SkiRAB, 1990).

HELP FOR THE HOMELESS

Although there isn't as much help out there as there should be for
the homeless, there is always shelters, which in most cases overflowing
with homeless, and soup kitchens and organizations like street newspapers
to raise money (James D. Wright, 1998). There is still a great need for
more organizations and programs to help the homeless. Canada is far from
dealing with the problem. Subsidized hosing is in great need, more
shelters are needed, more jobs are needed, and basically any help the
homeless can get is needed.

CONCLUSION

It is clear from the information given that homelessness is a large
problem within our society. It is important to realize that homelessness
is usually not by choice, but a condition that occurs when the recourse
needed for individuals or groups of people (i.e. families) to be able to
live in homes of their own are limited or in some cases even non-existent.
Homelessness in most case is the result of poverty and unemployment or low
income jobs. There are also other cases which contribute to the homeless
population. Homelessness is a devastating issue to deal with especially
for familles. It has many effects on every meraber, effects that could
possibly be scarring for life.

It is incredibly hard to find Canadian statistics on the homeless.
On the other hand, it is unbelievably easy to find statistics on the United
States homeless. Their problem, although larger than the Canadians, is not
on such a larger scale that it should be so vaguely imposed.

Table of Contents

Introduction...................................... .................... 1
Who Are the Homeless.......................................... ........ 2
Why They Are Homeless.......................................... ....... 3
The Effects of Homelessness on Physical and Mental Health............. 3
Help For the Homeless.......................................... ....... 5
Conclusion........................................ .................... 5
Works Cited............................................. ............. 7

WORKS CITED

Bassuk et al. "the Characteristics and neeRAB of Sheltered Homeless and low
income housed mothers, " Journal of the American Medical Association 276
(August 28, 1996)

"Homeless Familles with Children "NCH Fact Sheet #7, Internet, May 1998,
Available http://nch.ari.net/families.html

"How Many People Experience Homelessness?" NCH Fact Sheet #2, Internet, May
1998, Available http://nch.ari.net/nurabers.html

Michuad, Margaret., Dead End, Vancouver: Detseling Enterprises Ltd, 1988

Monsebraaten, Laurie. "Assisted housing 31 000 kiRAB wait" the Toronto Star
30 Nov. 1998.

"Not a Homeless Problem." the National Post 29 Oct. 1998.

Ross, Val. "On Patrol in Toronto's Cold Desert of Homelessness." the Globe
and Mail 11 Nov. 1998.

"who is Homeless?" NCH Fact Sheet #3, Internet, May 1998, Available
http://nch.ari.net/who.html

"Why Are People Homeless?" NCH Fact Sheet #1, Internet, May 1998.
Available http://nch.arl.net/causes.html.





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