Homelessness in America has reached crisis proportions with rough estimates indicating that over 500,000 million people lack a place to call home. The most worrying thing about the figure is that the number keeps rising with the situation appearing even gleam among the veterans. Attempts by the Federal government to address the crisis failed to yield positive results, which made the problem to escalate. Erickson and Wilhelm (2017) suggest that the l ack of commitment from the Federal government in funding housing projects only helped to worsen the situation. Veterans also form part of the homeless population with the male veterans appearing to be experiencing more cases than their female counterparts.
Many factors cause homelessness, but poverty stands out among the rest. Policymakers have had to rethink their approaches when it comes to combating the problem of homelessness since without addressing the issue of poverty, then all the efforts mean nothing. Pundits believe that eradicating poverty will have the double effect of ending the problem of homelessness. According to Erickson & Wilhelm (2017), p overty denies households the means by which they can acquire property. Most poverty-stricken families focus on acquiring food and primary health care with shelter coming last in the list of priorities. Transition shelters have helped to reduce the population of homeless individuals, but the ever-increasing cases have already overwhelmed the available capacity of the houses.
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Americans find themselves homeless in the cold streets due to their inability to pay rent or buy a house. The prices of houses have also risen over the years going beyond the reach of many, which also means that the lack of affordable housing has contributed to the problem of homelessness. Essentially, it is difficult for an individual to think of paying rent or buying a house when the person cannot afford food ( Erickson & Wilhelm, 2017). Poor households have to make tough decisions of choosing which basic need to have and which one to forego.
A shortfall of over 7.4 million affordable and rental houses required to cater for the needs of 11.4 million households provide a clear picture of the magnitude of the crisis. It is against such misery that the “Ending Homelessness Act of 2017” made public its intentions of planning to invest $13.27 billion within five years majorly to address the shortage of affordable houses ( Mackie, Johnsen & Wood, 2017). The legislation also made it clear that it will provide $1 billion to the National Housing Trust Fund annually to set up the first units of affordable houses targeting individuals most in need.
Besides, the legislation indicated that it would be providing $50 million annually as rental aid to families in need. Mackie, Johnsen, & Wood (2017) contend that the rental aid targets to subsidize the rent paid by households by almost half, which will enable them to make savings from the remainder of their salaries. Ideally, individuals with limited wages can take advantage of the subsidized rent to use their savings in services mortgages, which will eventually help them acquire affordable, decent, and safe houses.
Paying attention to the McKinney-Vento that includes transitional housing, rapid housing, and emergency shelters will also help to address the problem of homelessness decisively. Notably, the three measures will ensure that homeless families vacate the streets and avoid direct exposure to apparent risks. Mackie, Johnsen & Wood (2017) further note that streets have many threats, which pose dangers to the homeless populations such as rape, gang attacks, disease attacks, cold, and lack of necessary provisions such as healthcare. The transition houses will help provide accommodation to the homeless populations even when they reorganize themselves.
Rapid housing stands as another critical phase in combating the problem of homelessness. Ideally, rapid housing will ensure that the houses available cater to the population that keeps increasing with each passing day. Mackie, Johnsen, & Wood (2017) note that t he initiative aims at ensuring that the number of dwellings surpasses the demand. The move will help lower the prices of the homes to make them affordable and assist in reducing the rent. Overall, the rapid housing initiative will aid Americans to own houses at lower prices following the law of demand that indicates that when supply surpasses demand, the prices fall.
U.S Representative Maxine Waters made a reintroduction of the “Ending Homelessness Act of 2017,” which provided a comprehensive framework that aimed at providing a lasting solution to the long-standing homelessness problem. The policy outlined three significant objectives including providing safe, decent, and affordable housing for the homeless American population. The policy has made remarkable achievements, for instance, the $ 5 billion McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistant Grant has managed to provide 85,000 safe, decent, and affordable houses that have helped to eliminate the long-standing homelessness problem ( Mackie, Johnsen & Wood, 2017). Broadly, with over 500,000 homeless Americans, availing 85,000 homes means it is an excellent deal, because if the program runs for the next half a decade, then it will have solved the problem to near completion.
Notably, the “Ending Homelessness Act of 2017” demonstrated one major weakness, which was its lack of a plan to stem poverty. As indicated earlier, poverty stands as the leading cause for homelessness in America as the little wages that families earn make it impossible for them to buy food, seek healthcare, and at the same time buy property or pay rent ( Mackie, Johnsen & Wood, 2017). To this end, the policy ought to establish a way of ensuring that households with limited salaries stand a chance of acquiring affordable housing since subsidizing the rent alone is not sustainable. The policy indicated that it would establish a saving scheme for households with little income to enable them to save the little they earn after receiving the rent subsidy to allow them to acquire affordable houses after a given duration.
Summary of the Current State of Policy Implementation
The legislation has started rolling out the Homeless Assistance Funding where $1 billion will be spent annually as an emergency relief grant to meet the unmet needs of homeless families. The U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development in conjunction with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness has already devised a formula for grant allocation. Moreover, $ 1 billion has already been paid to the Housing Trust Fund as proposed in the legislation ( Mackie, Johnsen & Wood, 2017). Besides, $50 million annual allocations have already been dispensed for the fiscal year 2018 to cater for the incremental project-based assistance. In terms of implementation, the “ Ending Homelessness Act of 2017” has achieved over 70 percent implementation considering all the funding proposals have gone through, and new housing units have already been constructed to cater for the neediest situations (ibid). The rent subsidy has already taken effect, which has seen small income families manage to make some savings to acquire their houses.
Influence of Culture Structure and Values on Privilege and Power
Notably, different cultures have different ways by which they govern themselves. Some bestow power and privilege to the oligarchy, others to a monarchy while others delegate the authority to the people. In this regard, the type of cultural practices and values that a particular group of people upholds determine who enjoys powers and privileges. In the case of a monarch, power and privilege remain within the monarch amongst the royal family ( Mackie, Johnsen & Wood, 2017). The individuals with the reins of power have the right of making important decisions regarding the distribution of wealth and arbitration of disputes among other important issues that arise in the society involved. Overall, the cultural structure and values of people provide guidelines on who enjoys power and privileges.
Conclusions Regarding the Effectiveness of the Policy
The “Ending Homelessness Act of 2017” has various strengths and weakness that have helped to improve or hamper the homelessness situation. For instance, the policy established the particular purpose vouchers worth $ 500 million annually to provide rental assistance for homeless persons. Pavlakis & Duffield (2017) assert that t he coupons have helped to remove families from the biting cold of the streets thus protecting them from hazards such as attacks from gang members. Additionally, the vouchers have assisted in upholding the human dignity of the homeless families by sheltering them even as they organize themselves.
One of the strengths of the policy was the inclusion of the $1 billion for the Homeless Assistant Funding, which has gone a long way in funding the HUD and the USICH departments that have helped to end chronic homelessness ( Pavlakis & Duffield, 2017). The two entities have also assisted in the provision of affordable houses throughout the U.S. Generally, the allocation has ensured that the various housing agencies move with speed to contain the menace of homelessness among the poor households.
Importantly, the policy introduced training aimed at equipping the homeless population with skills, which will help them generate an income for their survival. Poverty has emerged as the leading cause of homelessness, and alleviating the same through equipping individuals with skills goes a long way in stemming the problem ( Pavlakis & Duffield, 2017). The skills also vary to ensure that skilled individuals do not compete among themselves for the limited opportunities in their environment.
Nevertheless, the policy demonstrated some weaknesses; for instance, it failed to provide other solutions other than equipping individuals with skills in the effort to alleviate poverty. Ideally, training the poverty-stricken families on various skills takes time and requires massive resources ( Tsai et al., 2017). The policy ought to have come up with other short-term approaches that would have helped to provide an immediate solution to the problem then make training the long-term solution. Besides, the available resources are too scarce to invest in training people on various skills and should instead go towards solving the most apparent problem of establishing new affordable houses.
Recommendations to the Policy
I recommend the policy to incorporate an entrepreneurial empowerment fund that should go towards providing start-up capital for homeless individuals who want to venture into business. Ideally, business ventures offer quick solutions to the problem of poverty that has continued to destabilize families across the US. Supporting individuals who have business ideas will also help them create employment opportunities to other individuals if the venture becomes successful. The long-term advantage of supporting business ventures is that it enables individuals to make capital while at the same time allowing them to create employment opportunities for others to earn a living ( Tsai et al., 2017). In general, the policy ought to set aside some funds for financing individuals with viable business ventures.
The government should also move to ensure equal distribution of resources in the economy to reduce the gap between the poor and the rich. The bigger the difference between the poor and the rich, the worse the poverty situation becomes. Indeed, it is not surprising to find in the same economy individuals who cannot afford basic shelter while others own several expensive mansions. According to Tsai et al., 2017), empowering individuals through training to equip and provide them with skills and education respectively helps to reduce the ever-widening gap between the rich and poor. Education helps in creating equality in the society since when an individual is educated, the person accesses the same privileges as those from the well-endowed backgrounds. Moreover, education exposes one to opportunities beyond the person’s area of specialization. School also provides room for upward mobility meaning individuals can increase their knowledge, which has a resultant effect of increasing the individual’s salary and job class.
Education is referred to us the natural equalizer in society. Building more schools in the poverty-stricken areas and even providing free education will give children from poor households an opportunity to compete effectively in the economy and the job market afterward. Ideally, it stands cheaper to educate an individual and make the person independent rather than abandon the person in abject poverty and later establish a fund that is not sustainable to help the same person make a living. Wright (2017) concurs that educated people have many opportunities at their disposal, which they can exploit to make their lives better. An educated person can easily afford to acquire a house, which means providing education to children in the poverty-stricken region will have helped to address the problem of homelessness and poverty at the same time.
Revised Policy Implementation
The Federal Government ought to establish an institution and station it in the various poverty-stricken areas amongst the homeless population. The institution ought to teach people basic entrepreneurial skills that seek to address the challenges that face multiple localities. Besides, the institution ought to come up with a mechanism of identifying individuals or groups with business ideas and help them through the provision of financial grants to enable them to start their ventures. Sensitization will also assist in creating awareness among the targeted population. Many projects have failed in the past due to lack of knowledge by the targeted community ( Wright, 2017). Using various media platforms such as television, radio, and social media will go a long way in sensitizing the public about the same.
References
Erickson, J., & Wilhelm, C. (2017). Housing the homeless . Routledge.
Mackie, P., Johnsen, S., & Wood, J. (2017). Ending rough sleeping: what works. An international evidence review. London: Crisis .
Pavlakis, A. E., & Duffield, B. (2017). The Politics of Policy in the McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act: Setting the Agenda for Students Experiencing Homelessness. The Urban Review , 49 (5), 805-831.
Tsai, J., Lee, C. Y. S., Byrne, T., Pietrzak, R. H., & Southwick, S. M. (2017). Changes in public attitudes and perceptions about homelessness between 1990 and 2016. American journal of community psychology , 60 (3-4), 599-606.
Wright, J. (2017). Address unknown: The homeless in America . Routledge.
