Sources and Proposal

Sources

Pathways into adult homelessness

Chamberlain, Chris; Johnson, Guy "Pathways to Adult Homelessness" Journal of Sociology 49.1 (2013) 60-77 Web 22 March 2015

http://jos.sagepub.com.ezproxy.lewisu.edu/content/49/1/60.full.pdf+html

Summary:

Within this journal RMIT University did a larger scale experiment to find why adults were homeless. They did interviews with homeless adults to understand their pasts over a six month period of time. They were able to break the reasons given into five areas with some subsections in order to understand more. The article also goes into some detail about adapting to homelessness.

Analysis:

Similar to the last source, but this one pertained to homeless adults. This one shows that the biggest reasons for adult homelessness was growing up into it, being jobless, and housing issues. The data here showed that how homelessness changes though life or how it does not. This data will be used as we watch how homelessness progresses through life.

The Ever-Evolving Difficulties of Giving Housing to the Homeless

Chang, Bettina. "The Ever-Evolving Difficulties of Giving Housing to the Homeless." Pacific Standard. 15 May 2014. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. <http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/landlords-recreation-essential-housing-first-program-81439>

Summary:

This article outlines a different program, similar to Housing First but is stationed more internationally. The Canadian program is called Transitions to Home (T2H), it is similar to Housing First in terms of finding homes for the homeless, but is more proactive in helping homeless adjust back from the social isolation. The program puts together activities for people to participate in, to gain skills and form bonds with others. The article also talks about the differences in costs to the state and country by getting people off the street.

Analysis:

This program seems to be an improvement of the Housing First program, by not only taking care of the issue of being homeless, but also actively trying to allow social aspects to recover as well. The steps taken within this program show that they are trying to adapt to ending homelessness, yet is does not seem to be working quickly enough due to the still increasing amounts of homelessness.

Older homeless people: increasing numbers and changing needs

Crane, Maureen; Joly, Louise "Older homeless people: increasing numbers and changing needs" Reviews in Clinical Gerontology 24.4 (2014) 255-268 Web 22 March 2015

http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.lewisu.edu/docview/1658686243?pq-origsite=summon

Summary:

Within this work from King’s College London, it addresses how in many countries around the world homelessness is changing. In countries such as the UK, USA, Canada, Spain, Australia, and Japan data was measured from previous dates, then recollected for comparison. With his data there are many conclusions gained from them, many of which being that homelessness is growing, and becoming even longer lasting.

Analysis:

This source was extremely useful as a comparison between homelessness five to six years ago to much more recently. It shows how homelessness is increasing, in not just the United States, but worldwide as well. That the numbers of homeless people are increasing due to lack of jobs from advances in technology as well as financial safety later in life. All of these can be connected to previous sources in order to create a timeline for homeless people, then show how homelessness has increased through time and create a possible projection of what things may be like in 10 years if things do not change.

Reasons for homelessness: An Empirical typology

Heize, Hillary;  Hernandez Jozefowicz, Debra; Foro, Paul; and Blue, Logan "Reasons for homelessness: An empirical typology" Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies 7.1 (2012) 88-101 Web 19 March 2015

http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lewisu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=3859de7c-145f-4d1f-a8d1-8856b1f02661%40sessionmgr4004&vid=2&hid=4114

Summary:

This journal was done by professors from many Midwest American colleges in phycology or social work, which talks about a study done that statistically shows from a group of consenting homeless why they are homeless and characteristics of the people. The interviewers clustered main reasons why many people are homeless, then asked others to take this survey providing such details. They then were able to break down these details and examine the connections to different types of homeless and what happened to them.

Analysis:

This source seemed very credible, it may be a regional piece of data but it is a beginning for the structure. They produced good results from a decently done test that made categorizing and understanding how homeless people became homeless. Hopefully by using the data from this source as well as others there will be a better understanding of homelessness and how to prevent it.

Pathways’ Housing First Program

"Intervention Summary - Pathways' Housing First Program." Intervention Summary - Pathways' Housing First Program. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. <http://nrepp.samhsa.gov/ViewIntervention.aspx?id=365>.

Summary:

This article goes more in-depth into studies conducted by the program itself. It shows the measures done, key finding, and overall outcomes of these experiments. Most of these experiments seem to be valid due to them constantly doing follow-ups after giving housing to people. It gives some good data on things, yet it also gave poor data for one of the experiments as well.

Analysis:

The experiments done here produced fair results into what the organization is trying to accomplish, yet it also defined many things more clearly than the parent government site. This organization only takes in homeless with mental disabilities or who abuse substances, which was not made very clear before. Also the age of some of these experiments causes issues as well. Many of them being done 10 or more years ago, being before we had a recession here in the United States.

Housing First

"United States Interagency Council on Homelessness." Housing First. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. <http://usich.gov/usich_resources/solutions/explore/housing_first/>.

Summary:

This is a government program designed to create housing for the homeless in order for them to recover. It is based on a lease program which can last for a permanent amount of time in order to provide enough support for the tenant. Housing costs are affordable and allow tenants to pay while adapting back into a ‘normal’ lifestyle. There have been many positive outcomes from this program due to relief on taxpayers and obviously reduction of homelessness.

Analysis:

This program is a step in the right direction in terms of helping homeless get back onto their feet. It did not provide many statistics or detailed outcomes of the program, yet it does provide outside evidence the outcomes. This seemed to be more of an introductory page into the program rather than an experimental outcome summary.

Proposal

Fear is something everyone feels, yet not many people have the misfortune to live it. There are many things that facilitate fear within us, one that is without question is losing everything one owns and becoming helpless and alone. It is something many of us fear to even imagine, let alone live, yet there are hundreds of thousands of people that this fear becomes their lives. In one simple word to describe this is homelessness, where you are literally homeless, without a job, or just nowhere to go. Homelessness effects everyone, kids, teens, adults, and elders alike, some people homelessness becomes their entire life. With the sources thus far provided, I would like to take readers on a journey of homelessness. This would start with a source or two about how there are homeless children everywhere, living on the streets, where every day is a battle to get the things we take for granted every day. From here I would branch off about poverty and hunger in many places, how this is a huge contributor to homelessness. I would then continue on throughout life to adults and how they become homelessness, as well as the struggles of continuing growing up being homeless. Then, I would branch off again, talking about how due to the advances in technology it leaves little to no room for no skilled workers, and sometimes even very skilled workers. Causing readers to sympathize with these workers, knowing it could happen to them at any time, regardless of education or not. From here, I would either talk about programs that help homeless people get on their feet, or I would talk about how homelessness is continuously growing regardless of the programs we have. I would support all of these points by using data and quotes from the sources used. Lastly I would bring everything together, how even with all these programs, funds, and charities are working too slowly to fix homelessness, and connect it to my thesis of ‘With world issues being an extremely large part of being called to service, homelessness is everywhere, and at first it may seem like getting people off the streets is what will end it, it is really about keeping kids off the street as well as having a safety net for those who lose their jobs suddenly’ or something similar and more trimmed down than that. I would be pushing for a call to service of keeping kids out of abusive homes and allow them to create a future of their own as well as safeguard an adult’s loss of a house or job. It is something everyone is at risk for, and everyone would benefit from by actively saving people at risk and pushing for revolutionary programs. I would hope to be able to take a common natural fear and allow others to realize that we can reduce homelessness by helping the root of the problem in childhood and onward.

How does childhood homelessness affect one’s entire life?

How should current homeless prevention programs be changed in order to more efficiently get people off the street?

How to different ‘types’ of homelessness affect programs aimed at helping homelessness?