Homeless articles_

Article 1

This fact sheet specifically defines what homelessness and uses numerous facts and figures to analyse the trends and common characteristics of homeless people. To start with the definition, the definition provided by the fact sheet can be simplified into “a person who lacks a fixed night-time residence and has a primary night time residence that is either public or private shelter.” However, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines homelessness slightly differently by stating that it only includes people on the streets or in shelters and have no alternative residences or resources to obtain housing. If this definition is applied in urban areas, a large number of people will be considered homeless and if this is applied in rural areas, it would not be able to include those who are living with relatives in substandard housing. The facts show that homeless population consists of a large number of children, male, families with children, African-American, people who suffered from domestic violence, veterans, people with mental illness, people addicted to drugs and unemployed people.

This article allowed me to consider the importance of specific definition. I used to have a very vague definition of homelessness in my mind but if that is applied to researches undertaken to find out about homeless people, the results would not be accurate enough. I also

Article 2

This article is based on an astonishing story about negative attitudes towards homeless people. It starts with a story of Mr. Messner who killed a homeless person when he was 15. However, the problem in the article is not limited to Mr. Messner’s murder; it deals with the prejudices against the homeless people that are causing other people to shamelessly attack them. In fact, the number of attacks on homeless people is rapidly increasing and there was even an occasion when one hit the homeless person’s head with a baseball bat. The fundamental reason for these actions is simply lack of awareness of these people, which is leading to lack of respect and thereby not treating them as humans. In order to reduce these attacks on people, there should be an education on the homeless people in order to eliminate negative attitudes towards these people.

When I first read this article, I was shocked that homeless people were attacked without any reasons. I was vaguely aware of the difficult situations of these people but I did not know that these people were suffering from prejudices. I wholeheartedly agree with the plan on education, which intends to raise awareness of these people, thereby increasing respect towards them. If this is achieved, I believe that the occurrences of cruel and brutal attacks on homeless people will reduce to a significant extent.

Article 3

This article depicts lives of homeless people on the streets. It deals with a variety of issues and one of them is related to the definition of homelessness. This is because people find it difficult to count exact number of homeless people because many of them are on the border line of homelessness. The article also contains interviews with homeless people, which describe how they became homeless and what kind of situations they are in. According to the interviews, the biggest reason for becoming homeless was poverty, which was caused by worsening economic conditions that people could not afford housing. On top of this, the article describes how the shelters for homeless people are becoming full, meaning that the spaces intended to take care of homeless people are becoming smaller and smaller while the number of homeless people are increasing.

After reading this article, I became more familiar with the situations of homeless people. I have only encountered few homeless people when I was in Korea and when I saw them, I was not aware of their situations and their backgrounds. This article allowed me to become aware that the homeless people need care and that it is not their fault that they became homeless.