Chris Howard Being Homeless

People living on the streets often get labelled as street urchinsstreet urchins [street urchin]street urchins or driftersdrifters [drifter]drifters since many communities see them as a problem. With housing being very expensive, particularly in heavily populated areas in the likes of New York City, sleeping roughsleeping roughsleeping rough is often the only option for some people. Others may be able to afford to sleep in hostelshostels [hostel]hostels – small accommodation which often caters to several people per room, making them much cheaper alternatives to actual hotels.

It is common for the homeless population to have no fixed addressno fixed addressno fixed address, which most often leads to issues like being unable to find work or open bank accounts. In other words, it is very difficult for homeless people to claim housing benefitshousing benefitshousing benefits. The lack of a bank account can also mean that buying food is impossible, which in turn makes their need for places like  soup kitchenssoup kitchens [soup kitchen]soup kitchens more pressing. And what are soup kitchens exactly? They are locations where free meals are provided to homeless or down and outdown and outdown and out people. Other than receiving food, they can also count on warmth and support from the workers. Unfortunately, little more can be done.

The question may arise at this point: how does one become homeless? What leads to this inhumane situation? Sociologists argue there are many reasons. Among others: abuse or losing a job. Of course, some people claim that homelessness is their choice. That may well be true, but many of them did not, in fact, decide to live on the streets. They're homeless due to events beyond their control.

 Unfortunately, the problem of homelessness affects not only individuals but also entire families who are sometimes referred to as waifs and strayswaifs and strayswaifs and strays, and are most likely to be displaceddisplaceddisplaced by either catastrophic events, such as Hurricane Katrina, or economic factors. Due to circumstances beyond their control, whole families are forced to live as though they had no roots, no background and often no hope to retrieve their homes.

1 Źródło: Chris Howard, [na podstawie:] https://www.crisis.org.uk/ending-homelessness/about-homelessness/ [dostęp 11.10.2021], https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-housing/homelessness-and-human-rights [dostęp 11.10.2021], licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.