Homelessness: Conceptions vs. Reality
Homelessness is a controversial topic, especially in the United States, one of the richest countries in the world. There are two common conceptions on homelessness; either a person is homeless because of their choices or its due to the structural issues.
My perception on this topic was that it was an individualistic fault, that if a person was homeless it was because they were lazy and didn’t do anything to better their situation. I thought they could easily get a job but chose to live on the streets. For example, if my dad, an immigrant who could speak the bare minimal English, could make a living in this country, how was it possible that white homeless couldn’t make it? I believed the rest of society thought likewise. It wasn’t until I watched a documentary “Streets of Paradise,” written by Michael Taylor Jackson that change my perspective.
The documentary portrays homelessness through the eyes of the homeless. A scene showed a common man expressing violently his opinion about homelessness, saying homeless were lazy and it was their own fault they were living in the conditions they were living, and although I felt bad I agreed on some of his points. A homeless person replied to him, “Are you going to give me a job?” This got me thinking more about homelessness as a structural issue, rather than an individualistic fault.
Conceptions
After discovering the reality of homelessness, I became interested in comparing misconceptions and reality regarding homelessness. There have been surveys done questioning public opinion on their beliefs on why there are poor people in the United States. I looked at a survey conducted by Lee, Jones, and Lewis, who surveyed 293 random households from Nashville, Tennessee, a diverse city, via phone call, to ask them what they believed were the causes of homelessness. A total of 40 questions were asked, but they focussed on six possible causes which included; homelessness is a choice of life, they choose not to work, alcoholism, mental illness, bad luck, or it is a structural problem. The results were as followed:
Contrary to my belief, this showed that the people surveyed believed homelessness was mostly attributed to structural forces rather than individualistic forces.
Mental Health & Addictions
Some may argue mental illnesses cause homelessness, and others argue homelessness cause mental illnesses. Both of these arguments may be correct. A great number of homeless suffer from some sort of mental illness which can include “depression, schizophrenia, substance abuse, psychotic disorders, and personality disorders.” Martens studied that nearly one third of all homeless had previous history of mental health problems.
An example a teacher once used to exemplify mental illness with being homeless, was the case of a schizophrenic who stopped taking her medicine. The voices in her head told her the medicine was poison, and she began to listen to the voices. She stopped living a normal life, got fired from her job, was unable to pay rent, and got evicted. Her friends tried to help, but the voices told her they were trying to kill her. She eventually became homeless like the many people we see on the streets. Mental illness can be a cause of being homeless as well. When a person becomes homeless they often feel depression and anxiety. They are often isolated and stigmatized, and rely on drugs and alcohol.
Structural Causes
There is always debate to whether homelessness is individualistic fault or a structural fault. It is a combination of both, but when the government does nothing to help the people, the blame is put on the government. Elliott and Krivo determined the four main structural causes of homelessness; lack of low-cost housing, high poverty rates, poor economic conditions, and lack of community mental health care facilities. Housing is still a problem today because the rate of inflation is rising faster than wages. The price of housing continues to increase. Higher poverty rates refer to individuals managing their budget, it becomes difficult to pay for housing and basic necessities such as food. Poor economic conditions are problems in the economy such as recession, high unemployment, and changes in the occupational structure. The last structural problem is the lack of facilities available for those who suffer from mental illnesses. As explained previously, homelessness is correlated with mental illness, making an individual incapable of being independent.
Homelessness can be caused by both individualistic faults and structural faults. I believe when the government recognized there is a problem and choose not to help but instead demonize the group, is when it becomes a structural problem. But all I ask of you, my fellow sociologists, is to not be so judgmental when you see a homeless on the street, instead of looking away, smile. So what if they use their money unproductively, who are we to judge on money management?