Question

1. Identify issue(s) involved in the care of homeless population living in shelter related to each of the following areas:       

           (7 pts)

1. legal
2. economic
3. political
4. social
5. cultural
6. ethical

Answer 1

a) The research on legal and justice issues focuses on factors that may contribute to homelessness, including criminal victimization (physical, sexual and emotional abuse of children, women and seniors), discrimination (based on race, class, sexual orientation, and gender, for instance), poverty, justice system involvement, and/or criminal or delinquent behaviour (illegal substance use, involvement in crime). Research also explores how experiences of homelessness produce a range of legal and justice issues.

People who experience homelessness are more likely to be victims of crime and discrimination, may become involved in illegal or quasi-legal activities for survival reasons, and have a much greater likelihood of being involved in the justice system. A dominant response to the homelessness crisis has been to criminalize the behaviours and activities of people who experience homelessness but legal and justice issues that impact people experiencing housing instability and homelessness can also be non-criminal in nature.

Poverty and homelessness has potentially catastrophic effects on civil liberties, including the right to vote, the right to secure government benefits or essential services, the right to security of the person, and the right to participate in the democratic life of the community. As well, homelessness is directly linked to the criminal justice system – many discharged inmates end up experiencing homelessness and, conversely, many people experiencing homelessness wind up in prison.

Non-criminal legal problems that impact civil liberties include: claims for government benefits such as social assistance or disability benefits; housing and homelessness issues such as evictions, tenant/landlord disputes, and housing discrimination; family law, including divorces, child custody, and domestic violence; consumer issues; employee rights; elder law, such as rights of nursing home residents; mental health and disability issues, especially where benefits are denied; immigration law; and, any other non-criminal legal problems. Service providers and outreach teams often work with individuals, that are at risk of or experiencing homelessness, in an attempt to mediate these difficult challenges.

b) Homelessness is an economic problem. People without housing are high consumers of public resources and generate expense, rather than income, for the community. In WNC's tourism- driven economy, homelessness is bad for business and can be a deterrent to downtown visitors. Homelessness is a complex social problem with a variety of underlying economic and social factors such as poverty, lack of affordable housing, uncertain physical and mental health, addictions, and community and family breakdown.
common health problems:-
HIV/AIDS.
Lung diseases, including bronchitis, tuberculosis, and pneumonia.
Malnutrition.
Mental health problems.
Substance use problems.
Wounds and skin infections.

c) Homelessness represents both a policy problem and a political quandary in the United States. In the wealthiest economy in the world, the fact that individuals and families lack housing and must live on the streets, in their cars, or in congregate shelters calls into question the basic functioning of the social safety net and suggests that something is deeply wrong with the political and economic priorities of the country. Yet the dominant discourse in the United States proposes that at least some percentage of homeless people are at fault for their situations; their dysfunctional behavior, aberrant choices, and lack of a work ethic explain their homelessness more than economic inequalities or policy priorities. Within this framework of contrasting views on homelessness, debates rage over the significance of the homeless problem, the reasons people lose their housing, how best to assist them, and who should be classified as homeless. These questions often are linked to one another; why homelessness occurs and which demographic variables are stressed in describing homeless populations relate directly to whether and how policy is structured to help people become housed.

d) Historically, homelessness emerged as a national issue in the 1870s. Early homeless people lived in emerging urban cities, such as New York City. Into the 20th century, the Great Depression of the 1930s caused a substantial rise in unemployment and related social issues, distress and homelessness.
Homelessness is a complex social problem with a variety of underlying economic and social factors such as poverty, lack of affordable housing, uncertain physical and mental health, addictions, and community and family breakdown. Society categorizes people who are homeless as no longer “useful” and/or “functional” members of capitalism, since they do not actively work and support the system. The paper ends on a discussion of the limits of social change in a capitalist society.

e) Physical and sexual abuse in childhood are reliably seen as leading to a host of major problems associated with a lack of wellbeing and proper adjustment in all stages of life. Abuse has a highly negative effect on an individual’s ability to properly cope with stress, form stable relationships, make good decisions or have a healthy self-esteem which in turn makes them far more vulnerable to mental health and substance abuse issues (McIntee & Crompton, 1997; Richardson and Bacon, 2003). Violence against the child or violence witnessed by the child are both included in having these negative effects. This atmosphere becomes the norm and some of these individuals are able to acclimate to the circumstances. This in turn reduces the amount of fear they contend with in dangerous experiences. This ability can help make the transition to the streets, and the violence that occurs there, easier to tolerate. Depending on how severe the abuse occurring at home is, homelessness can be seen as a solution to their problems. This is especially seen in youth due to their mental immaturity and their inadequate exposure to role models who have properly coped with unfortunate life experiences from whom they can learn (Ravenhill, 2008).

f) Addressing issues of violence, trauma, extreme poverty, and isolation that afflict homeless people presents ethical and moral challenges to us as social workers and researchers. The roles and responsibilities of shelter and outreach staff are only viable if they are in step with ethical and moral imperatives to work with vulnerable people with dignity and compassion, and without judgment. We routinely experience new dimensions of extreme poverty in the field that test our skills, the limits of our knowledge, and our notions of justice in principle and practice.

Here is one example. A poor homeless women who lives in and out of our shelter at Jama Masjid is addicted to hard drugs and is routinely abused by her husband. She is the mother of three small children under the age of six. All are malnourished. One night she burns her leg by the flame of a candle while she is high. She is already malnourished since she does not eat a sufficient diet and has lived much of her life on the streets without adequate water and sanitation. These factors compromise immune defenses in the skin and make her more prone to infections that may fester and swell in ways that may become fatal if not treated immediately. We have systems in place and staff to ensure that she is taken to the hospital and provided a caretaker to coordinate her medicines, food, and general care with the doctors and nurses. When we find her we assure her that we will provide her care through the hospital and that it is urgent to act fast in consideration of her worsening condition. But she refuses to go. She says she does not want help. Why, we ask. She says that she does not like hospitals because she is treated poorly there. Secondly, her sister died in a hospital, which makes her fear them even more. Finally, she says she would rather die on the streets.

Here, we are confronted with a series of dilemmas. The challenge is not merely one of convincing her that she needs care or that she has the inalienable right to it but of communicating to her, in as little time as possible, the impacts on her life and the lives of her children if she does not get treated soon so that she may demand such care, if not for herself, for the sake of her dependents. Secondly, we are presented with the limitations of our systems: while the roles of staff and processes to ensure healthcare in local health centres are in place and were conceived on the basis of our knowledge that homeless people are often denied access to public health institutions, we are not equally prepared for challenges of access that arise from perceptions of those institutions held by homeless people. Our programs and the existence of qualified and dedicated staff are not defunct in this situation. Yet, to help this woman through the systems we have in place we will inevitably have to transcend limitations for which we hadn’t originally conceived.