Peer Responses

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Chad Powers

Professor Misaghi

English 1

26 March 2021

America’s Homeless Epidemic

Life is an interesting thing because no matter what, things are always going to be

changing. Now sometimes these changes are for the good and sometimes they are for the bad.

One major change that can affect a person's life for the worse is by ending up homeless. While

many Americans try to avoid this harsh truth, homelessness is a constantly growing epidemic in

this country. The threat of homelessness isn’t a new issue in the United States, it has been

plaguing this country for centuries. According to an article titled History of Homelessness from

the organization Invisible People, the first ever “historical case of homelessness” in the U.S. was

back in the “1640’s”(Invisible People). The article explains how the uprooting of the native

population from “European settlers” caused conflicts that arose and led to both Native

Americans and Europeans to become homeless. In the present time people are much more likely

to experience being homeless than in days gone by. There are many things that can cause a

person to end up homeless and it hasn’t been our country's main concern to figure out how these

people ended up on the streets. I personally have known two people who have ended up on the

streets and knowing a bit of their stories sheds some light on the issue at hand, and it brings an

understanding on how to potentially solve it. No matter what the causes are they need to be

discovered and dealt with appropriately. The issues of homelessness that’s been on the rise in

the United States are only going to get worse unless something is done about the lack of

jobs, the poor execution of mental health programs, and the threat of natural disasters.

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Job loss and outsourcing have been key factors in people becoming homeless. Over the

last year alone unemployment has jumped from “5.72 million in Feb 2020” to “9.97 million in

Feb 2021”(Statista). During the recent and ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, it is estimated that “over

8 million people” in the United States have become unemployed (Flaming, 19). In Los Angeles,

a city that was hit tremendously hard by the pandemic, “homelessness among working-age

adults” has seen a 100 percent increase in the past year (28). Much of this is caused by a “less

forgiving” economy, low wages and high cost of living (28). When the pandemic started in the

beginning of last year many jobs were deemed nonessential. An article from the website

betterteam.com gave a list of employees that were seen as nonessential. Anything from

“hairdressers, waiters and waitresses, and non food related workers” many of which make

minimum wage were let go from their jobs (betterteam). When these people lose their jobs and

source of income they aren’t able to make rent payments. Now as of March 27, 2020 the CARES

Act passed Section 4022, that provides temporary relief on “foreclosures” for people who have

“borrowed federal-backed mortgages”(Beard). This gives a renter an “extended 180 day” period

to get payments, and during this time landlords can’t evict tenants (Beard). The acts to help

people avoid eviction during the pandemic are helpful during these trying times, but it hasn’t

helped so much for people who have already been evicted or are currently living on the streets

for other reasons. Most of these people who are currently homeless are suffering from mental

illness.

People with untreated mental health issues are much more likely to end up on the streets.

According to an article from Professor Deborah K. Padgett at Cambridge, the “relationship with

mental health and homelessness” have been a subject of many reports (Padgett). Studies have

found that about “25-30 percent” of homeless people suffer from a form of mental illness such as

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“schizophrenia”(Padgett). Mental health is already a vastly overlooked issue in the United States,

and there is a huge “gap between mental health” services that are available to not just the general

population but more importantly the homeless population as well (Padgett). A vast majority of

homeless people are veterans of the U.S. Military. Things such as PTSD are among some of the

psychological effects of war. An article from the American Psychiatric Association has stated

that when “ the Afghanistan and Iraq wars” ended it has left its veterans with a “legacy of

extensive” mental illness (Katz). I happen to have an insight into a person with mental illness

who ended up homeless, because my cousin happens to be living on the streets. She is suffering

from Schizophrenia. The symptoms of her illness didn’t really show up until adulthood when

after she had her second child. Part of what made her illness show up was her development of

postpartum depression. She began to hear voices and hallucinate regularly. She was treated and

given meds to control her illness, but eventually she stopped taking them and walked out on her

family. The effect of her mental illness became too much to handle for her to live and be with

other people. Today she is in her 50’s and still lives on the streets. From time to time she gets

into contact with her older sister who in earlier years tried to get her help and off the streets, but

just like a lot of the homeless people she doesn’t want to be confined to the prison of society as

she puts it. Some people don’t even need to lose their jobs or suffer from mental health to end up

homeless. Sometimes it’s an act of nature that puts them out on the streets.

Natural disasters can be a major cause in people ending up homeless. In recent years

California has been the epicenter of wildfires. LA times posted an article in Aug 2020 about a

Northern California wildfire that destroyed “2000 structures”. That number of houses that were

destroyed have left over thousands of people left without a form of shelter. These fires are

nothing new in California, there is even a season dedicated to fires. With poor maintenance of

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forests and vegetation surrounding many homes, we’ve created the perfect environment for

wildfires to thrive. According to a study done by CoreLogic, about “roughly 35 million homes”

or one third of “our nation’s housing” are at potential risk of being destroyed by natural disaster

(Olick). Data from CoreLogic states that the “unexpected natural” occurrences puts every U.S.

citizen’s livelihood at a peril risk (Olick).

These are just a few of the major ways people can end up becoming homeless and it is up

to the country as a whole to try and help find ways to help people off the streets.

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Work Cited

Barile, John P., Anna S. Pruitt, and Josie L. Parker. "Identifying and understanding gaps in

services for adults experiencing homelessness." Journal of Community & Applied Social

Psychology 30.3 (2020): 262-277.

Beard, Virginia, COVID-19: Poverty, Housing, Homelessness – A Broad View and a Picture

from West Michigan (May 28, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3613030 or

http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3613030

“California Firestorm Could Claim More than 3,000 Homes and Structures.” Los Angeles Times,

Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 2020,

www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-26/california-fires-burn-more-than-1-600-structures-

but-total-losses-could-top-3-000-officials-say.

Department, Published by Statista Research, and Mar 9. “U.S. Unemployment Level: Seasonally

Adjusted Number February 2021.” Statista, 9 Mar. 2021,

www.statista.com/statistics/193280/seasonally-adjusted-monthly-number-of-unemployed-person

s-in-the-usa/.

Flaming, Daniel, et al. "Locked Out: Unemployment and Homelessness in the COVID

Economy." Available at SSRN 3765109 (2021).

Katz, Ira R. "Homelessness and premature mortality among veterans." Psychiatric Services 64.7

(2013): 605-605.

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Olick, Diana. “Nearly One-Third of U.S. Homes Are at High Risk of Natural Disaster, Study

Says.” CNBC, CNBC, 27 Jan. 2021,

www.cnbc.com/2021/01/27/nearly-one-third-us-homes-natural-disaster-high-risk-new-study-says

.html.

Padgett, Deborah K. "Homelessness, housing instability and mental health: making the

connections." BJPsych bulletin 44.5 (2020): 197-201.

Raifman, Julia, Jacob Bor, and Atheendar Venkataramani. "Association between receipt of

unemployment insurance and food insecurity among people who lost employment during the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United States." JAMA network open 4.1 (2021):

e2035884-e2035884.

Shinn, Marybeth. "Homelessness: What is a psychologist to do?." American Journal of

Community Psychology 20.1 (1992): 1-24.

“What Is a Nonessential Employee?” Betterteam,

www.betterteam.com/what-is-a-nonessential-employee.