Poverty and Homelessness

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Poverty and Homelessness
Poverty refers to scarcity thereof material possessions, money or even inability to fulfill one’s basic needs or obligations. Homelessness, on the other hand, depicts the lack of a stable housing condition. Poverty contributes to homelessness which intensify the perceptions of powerlessness, insecurity and even stress (Lister, 2004). It is often associated with inequality and may seem chronic. Targets have been set by many nations, humanitarian bodies and even the individuals themselves on how to curb this poverty. Poverty and homelessness are a recipe for disaster in other sectors of the economy and even the realm of life, for example, it might contribute to the deterioration of the education and health sectors in any economy. In Poverty (pg. 150), by Ruth Lister, she describes the experience of poverty as the determinant of identity and subjectivity aspects which are important in the development of the political agency. The poverty and homelessness experiences are a blow to self-esteem and affect one’s identity, which is required in the capacity for political agency. Daly Gerald, in Homeless:Policies,Strategies and Lives on the Street, looks at the homelessness situation across the North America especially the cities of Los Angeles, California where the statistics for the homelessness situation are worse. The causes of abject poverty can become political and economic hazard if not controlled considering the systems are well merged that any disturbance can cause the entire web of systems to rattle and even disintegrate. Though Joel A. Devine, in the Greatest of Evils: Urban Poverty and the American Underclass, defines poverty from the economic realm, he does associate this with a specific group as chronic poor. These included households headed by the elderly, blacks, females and those living in the South. This is purely hypothetical as poverty is situational and involves a much wider spectrum. Attempts have been made to categorize poverty and even measure the same. Philip Kotler in Up and Out of Poverty: The Social Marketing Solution places two categories for measuring poverty. These included:
Absolute poverty: refers to complete lack of basic human needs for survival such as food, shelter and clothing. It describes forthwith the struggle to survive compounded with destitution. It is often associated with developing economies.
Relative poverty: usually associated with developed countries, in that poverty is understood considering the generally accepted standard of living in that society and even participating in activities regarded as the norm for this society. This depicts that poverty does not concern only money.
Exclusion helps us understand poverty in a wider perspective, its causes and the net impact on those affected. Social exclusion segregates people further and distances them from the chance of falling into adequate income or even job opportunities. Without adequate income, the affected person(s) is bound to search for affordable housing which are rare in the current economic situations. The society at large does little to accommodate them forcing the poor and homeless to look for alternative shelter in public places which are normally not meant for stable shelter or housing. Therefore, poverty and homelessness, though inter-linked, are also contributed to by the societal opinion and behavior towards the struggling fraction or minority in a population.
Poverty is a multi-faceted abstraction with economic, political and social perspectives. It is a global factor with many affected grossly by it. There might be a voluntary aspect to it, in that, some may choose to be poor because of certain commitments like the priesthood, Buddhists and even the monks. The main goal is to detach oneself from materialistic views in order to focus more on the spiritual needs.
Therefore, who would sacrifice to be poor or who are the most considered ‘poor’ people in the society? The group at high risk of being in the poverty fraction included:
Unemployed person(s)
The lowly paid
Larger families, especially those headed by single parents.
Those living in public homes and remote areas as they face extreme deprivation in terms of access to transport and health services, low income and even deplorable housing.
Households headed by ill or parents with disability
The lesbians and the gay people as they face discrimination in job selections, opportunities in education and even access to public amenities and services.
The list is endless as to those who might be considered vulnerable to poverty and the areas prone to poverty and homelessness are defined by the same group. What could be some of the factors that influence the possibility of being poor and what could be the defining states for poverty cases among families and households (Kotler, 2009). These factors are diverse in their respect as they vary from region to region and many are inter-related. Some of these factors influencing poverty cases would include: social class, sexual orientation, ill-health and disability, family size, gender, employment status, age and also ethnicity. Poverty for most families and person(s) often means getting into debt often, being discriminated against, poor housing, surviving on inadequate diet, having fewer cultural, recreational and social activities and access to fewer educational chances. How does homelessness impact the society and what are the measurable effects of poverty and its effects? Homelessness has a big impact on the society; it can change people’s view towards a town or city flocked by the homeless. It has a load of other effects on the society as a whole like it can contribute to limited economic growth as huge funds chucked from other economic sectors would be concentrated on feeding and providence of shelter to the homeless. The degree of impact of poverty is not quite measurable and would depend on empirical relations. The major effect of poverty in most societies is homelessness. Long periods of poverty-stricken people would lack stable shelter conditions, forcing them to migrate from one public square to the next to have a place to pass the night. Some of the prevalent effects of poverty and homelessness includes violence, malnutrition, educational underachievement, hopelessness, the spread of diseases and even deaths due to uncouth living conditions complemented by the poor healthcare system.
Like most political and social issues, poverty is a very complex subject and also sensitive. How can this topic be handled in the current modern society? It is pretty tough, but like all cases, it requires step-by-step implementation of recommended steps to reduce poverty levels. It is a collective responsibility requiring input from the public, private sectors and the government to realize this change. Some of the tactics to be employed would include:
Reducing brain-drain
Managing population and controlling overpopulation levels
Increasing income for the employed person(s)
Improving healthcare services and education
Reducing constraints in terms of the accessibility to government services not considering gender or sexuality.
Poverty and homelessness should be viewed as a national concern. The society should conjure efforts to uplift the poor and the homeless among us. Poverty and homelessness are human and civil right issues that can be integrated into the normal protection procedures so that each member of the society can fully enjoy his/her rights and freedom. As much as poverty and homelessness have structural causes, it is majorly worsened by the moral flaws and the societal attitude towards this aspect. In order to put an end to poverty and homelessness, the society has to chip in extra efforts. Why would the society like to eradicate poverty and homelessness? This question lingers across all boards, but the implementation of recommended changes is the difficult phase (John, 2012). Reasons for this eradication are as discussed in subsequent sections.
First, no human being is a lesser being. Each person in the society should be treated fairly and have access to opportunities equally. Social justice proclaims equal rights and opportunities to all, not on the basis of gender, social status or even disability; this depicts the main reason why the society should help fight poverty and homelessness. Poverty depicts wasted life and opportunities-lives which could have outdone their current potential if given the right environment and condition; this could have contributed to the overall success of the community. In Up and Out of Poverty: Understanding Barriers, Benefits and the Competition for Change by Philip Kotler& Nancy Lee depicts how a peasant farmer, given the right knowledge and conditions, was able to turn around his earnings to be able to even repay the loan he had started out with.
Second, poverty breeds hopelessness which might cause desperation among the poor and homeless people and some might even resort to extreme crimes and actions endangering the whole community. Some might even turn to unimaginable ventures like begging being organized into business units which is morally unacceptable. Others would turn to burglary, prostitution and even drugs in order to fend for their living. The society has turned a blind eye towards these and the ones not affected care less for the afflicted persons. A great society will fall by its own bosom and will be almost completed by those acting from without. All human effort should be channeled towards improving on what nature h...