The Homelessness Crisis

By: Alex Butler

Along with the many problems we are currently facing and attempting to work through as citizens of the United States, there is yet another very serious issue that is affecting many without much recognition or coverage. The homelessness crisis in America is on the rise and the issue has long been ignored by leaders. The overall size of the homeless population has fortunately been decreasing since 2007, but recently has started to rise once again, and is likely to rise very, very quickly in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. Our cities have isolated the homeless with public spaces implementing hostile architecture, keeping many who do not have proper shelter from finding it in parks, plazas, and areas made “for the people.” Another problem within our homelessness crisis is the sad lack of proper support provided for the people affected by homelessness.

Hostile or Anti-Homeless Architecture is a massive problem that negatively impacts the homeless communities in large cities that use this in parks, plazas, and other areas homeless people could take shelter at night. This type of architecture includes anything that prevents or discomforts those sitting, laying down, or using public areas as places to rest, for example; small spikes on the pavement, jutting armrests on benched preventing someone from lying down, grooves in rails, and fences blocking off sheltered areas. If people are not able to take proper shelter in homes or cannot find help in established shelters, why should we make it harder for them to find a place to rest and spend the night? A Harvard professor, Jerold S. Kayden said; “The irony that some public spaces actively discourage public use should not be lost on anyone,” pointing out the obvious problem of hostile architecture, in most cases, being a problem more than a solution to “unwanted behaviors.” In the same article on The New York Times as that quote by Professor Kayden, Winnie Hu, the author, states “This so-called hostile architecture has flourished in New York, even as the city has significantly added more public space in the last decade, including new plazas and parkland, pedestrian areas once used for cars and reclaimed industrial waterfront.” According to The National Alliance To End Homelessness, The New York City Area’s, the homeless population has risen significantly since 2007, (the year with one of the largest homeless populations in recent history), along with the percentage of sheltered homeless people within New York City. Progress is without a doubt being made, but for those not lucky enough to find a shelter with a room or to accept them, they will have a hard time finding shelter amidst hostile architecture, anti-loitering laws, and other laws and policies that make it seem illegal to not be able to afford a home or live in a shelter. If the cities these people dwell in do not have sufficient infrastructure to support and house them, it should not be as difficult or dangerous as it is for the homeless to find shelter and a place to rest.

The efforts by the government to help, shelter, and assist the homeless are often lackluster and lacking in development, funding, and outspoken support from most elected officials. Our government could and should be doing more to help these people in their unfortunate circumstances. A lot of government-funded, anti-homelessness policies and programs produce short-term positive results but have not been proven to produce long-lasting growth and productivity. A lot of the actions taken by the Trump Administration towards the homelessness crisis have been directed at prevention and attacking the roots of homelessness, instead of providing better shelter and support for those caught in homelessness. Despite the apparent and reported progress that has been made in recent years, over half a million people will be found without a home on a single night. (whitehouse.gov) Approving policies, building shelters, and funding programs to help prevent homelessness are stepping in the right direction, but the work does not end there. There are still many aspects of rehabilitating and helping the homeless population that goes severely underfunded, discredited, and neglected within government plans. Within these aspects and progressive solutions there is funding, support, and help from government plans, however, the amount of funding and support directed to programs of this nature is low and not sufficient to bring about significant change yet. The solutions and areas that need more funding and support to assist the homeless include; accessible healthcare, the reduction of policing and involvement by the justice system of homeless people, strengthening crisis response, career building and assistance, educational stability for homeless youth, shelters and housing, networking amongst services and programs, and the various steps needed to help prevent homelessness. These are all areas that go anywhere from funded to a functioning level, to severely underfunded. These concepts need to be further developed into programs, policies, and systems to support the homeless population. Preventing homelessness and housing the homeless is crucial to improve the situation of the homeless crisis in America, but the issue will never improve long-term if systems are not in place to assist, support, and help the homeless support themselves. If all the government funds are shelters, food programs, and preventative policies (like regulating and lowering the cost of basic housing, food, and essential elements to living and supporting oneself in our current society,) the people already living in homelessness will have difficulty finding help to get to a place where they can support themselves and live sustainably. The systems in place to re-integrate those affected by homelessness need significant improvement in funding, political support, and structure in order to bring about positive healing in the American homelessness crisis.

The state of the homeless crisis in the united states has been reported to have been decreasing since 2007, but the progress that has been made since then is at a major risk of being significantly overturned. With the coronavirus pandemic, many Americans have been confined to working from their homes, subject to risking their own personal health to work, or laid off or furloughed due to a falling economy. With the increased rate of layoffs, furloughs, and unsafe working conditions due to health concerns, many are without a job or proper funds to support themselves in full capacity. According to the Wall Street Journal, 6.5 Million were unemployed in July, which is the highest recorded statistic for records kept since 1948. From March to July, the unemployment rate as a result of permanent layoffs nearly doubled. With an increased level of unemployment and job insecurity, many Americans have found themselves in serious financial trouble, or at risk of significant financial loss in the close future if they cannot find work. With this massive increase in unemployment, many cannot get financial support from the government, leaving them in a very dire situation. Many unemployed Americans would not have enough money to pay rent, keep themselves fed and healthy, and pay utilities for the rest of the pandemic or the nationwide economical damage it will leave behind. With such a large threat of unemployment, financial instability, and debt closing in, many Americans will end up homeless or without enough money left to support themselves. The government is trying to assist the people who find themselves in unstable financial situations and unemployment due to the coronavirus, but the programs to provide support have their limits. The reported decrease of homelessness in America could be facing a serious threat of reversing progress during the nationwide economical aftermath of the Coronavirus Pandemic. We need to both prepare for this increase in the homeless population, and direct more funding to systems that could both prevent this, and support those affected by this new wave of economic damage.

Putting policies and practices into place to help prevent homelessness and funding and providing more public shelters and housing are both good and necessary steps to bring about progress in ending the American Homelessness crisis. While these are necessary and positive steps, they are not long term solutions and do not help to solve the problem on a long-term life-long scale for those without a home. Our cities, policies, and laws make it increasingly difficult for the unsheltered homeless to find safe, legal, and sufficient shelter, especially with the recent increase in popularity of hostile architecture. The threat of a massive surge in the homeless population due to layoffs and financial instability as a result of the coronavirus pandemic is something that should be taken more seriously and actively prepared for. The steps to help bring about a lasting positive change to homelessness are relatively simple, they just take a massive effort to support, fund, and create systems, programs, and shelters that can further help the homeless get to a place where they can be self-supporting again. The American homelessness crisis, while reported to be getting better, is still a very real, very serious, very damaging problem to the thousands of people that have no home.

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