HOMELESSNESS Why aren’t we doing more to help those around the world?
How can we contribute to prevent homelessness in the Philippines?
“It is not necessary to advertise food to hungry people, fuel to cold people, or houses to the homeless.�- John Kenneth Galbraith
DID YOU KNOW? Although the general macroeconomic outlook improved significantly in recent years, the economy still faces several long term challenges, the Philippines will need still higher, sustained growth to make progress in alleviating poverty, given its high population growth and unequal distribution of income. Children have to deal with substances that are inhalants, like solvent/rugby and cough syrups, followed by marijuana and Homelessness categorizes the condition of people without a regular dwelling because they are unable to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence. The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country to country, or among different entities or institutions in the same country or region.
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Data on the number of homeless individuals and families are largely unavailable. The only consensus is that the number of homeless persons is probably between 600,000 and 2.5 million. The homeless are notoriously difficult to count because of their nomadic nature and because so many of the homeless are not in shelters, but are on the streets or are doubled-up with friends and family. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has undertaken a congressional mandate to implement a system that will provide an unduplicated
Are we doing enough to help end homelessness?
Unknown to most, the Philippians have the highest homeless/displacement rates in the world
Did You Know
32.8 million 40% of the population in the Philippians live in slums or are homeless 1.8 million of them are children
We have come dangerously close to accepting the homeless situation as a problem that we just can't solve. -Linda Lingle-
WHO IS THIS AFFECTING? LOCATION: Southeastern Asia
CAPITAL: Manila POPULATION: 101,833,938 SIZE: 300,000 sq. km. Slightly larger than Arizona
LANGUAGES: Filipino and English CHILD MORTALITY RATE: 33.1/1,000
LIFE EXPECTANCY: 71.6 years. Males: 68.7 females: 74.7
DOCTOR TO PATIENT RATIO: 1:26000 RELIGION: Roman Catholic (80.9%) Islam (5%) Evangelical Christian (2.8%) Iglesia ni Kristo (2.3%), Aglipayan (2%), and other Christian denominations (4.5%). About one percent is Hindu.
ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER: 85%
LITERACY RATE: 94% POP. LIVING ON LESS THAN $2/DAY: 45%
History The Philippines was originally a Spanish colony starting in the 1600s. After the Spanish- American war, the Philippines became a colony of the United States. By 1935, they were a self governing commonwealth of the U.S. World War II interrupted the Philippines from becoming a independent sovereign state. After the war, the Treaty of Milan was signed, declaring the Philippines’ its independence. During the early 1950s and 60s, the Philippines had a stable economy. As a result of student protests and civil against President Ferdinand Marcos, marital law was put into place. Since then, their economy has been very unstable.
Did you know… The Philippines is considered the “text capital of the world?” Roughly 350 to 400 million texts are sent daily by 35 million cell phone subscribers. The Philippine flag is the only flag in the world that is displayed upside- down when the country is in war.
Can the homelessness in the Philippines in be ended? Communities in several cities had been running savings programs for several years and had made some contacts with each other. But the idea of joining these scattered initiatives into something larger came in the past two years, when visits to poor people's federations in India, South Africa and Thailand showed the enormous potential of large-scale community federations. With support from the federation's NGO partner, the Vincentian Missionaries Development Foundation, and using the tool of community exchange visits, strong ties have been forged between groups in 18 cities, all with diverse operating structures, working styles and local ideas.
CASE STUDY Case Study Matthew and Michael CanoyCanoy have lived Francisca Polgo,Polgo, 56, since their mother skipped Matthew and Michael have with livedtheir withgrandmother their grandmother Francisca 56, since their mother town seven Matthew, 12 and Michael, never13, met theirnever American father, reportedly a U.S. skippedyears townago. seven years ago. Matthew, 1213, andhave Michael, have met their American father, Marine. The twoabrothers and their to sleep on cardboard in the back of a three-wheeled reportedly U.S. Marine. Thegrandmother two brothers used and their grandmother usedboxes to sleep on cardboard boxes in the cart, called which served as called their home. theyserved use the a "sari-sari" store which sell back ofa trike, a three-wheeled cart, a trike,Now which as trike their as home. Now they usefrom the trike asthey a "sarifruit and other miscellaneous convenience store items to earn their livelihood. Their dwelling is a box about 6 feet long, 4 feet wide and 7 feet high. It is constructed of scrap metal, wire mesh and other scavenged materials. It has one bed inside upon which all three sleep. The rest of the space is jam-packed with their belongings.
Solutions At this time, many homeless organizations in an effort to not contaminate the entire shelter population will immediately evict homeless people that come back drunk or high. This denies the science of addiction, which usually involves relapses. Take away privileges, begin eviction proceedings but do not link housing to social services. Eviction is the punishment in society for violations of a lease. Why would the social services have a higher threshold for homeless people than those living in the private sector when these individuals need guidance and nurturing environments? Even if the individual is given thirty-day notice to leave, the shelter should attempt to relocate them to a treatment center or similar facility.
What are we doing to prevent homelessness in the United States?
What is our government doing?
Creation of Interagency Council on Homelessness to come together to help veterans find work.
Case Study Homelessness has been an epidemic for many years. This is just one example of how a person can find themselves homeless. I worked at a fast food restauraunt when I was 17. One of the guys that worked there I was really good friends with. He was charming, funny, and just a really decent person. JJ had a secret though that he told very few people about. JJ was still in high school and was working part time after school. But JJ was always at the restaurant he would come in just right after we opened and was one of the last to leave when we closed. It did not matter that he was not working. He just hung out at the store. One morning when the morning crew showed up to prep the store to open it at 4am in the morning they found JJ asleep in his car. Then all the pieces begin to fall in place. JJ had told his the one person that he thought that he could trust with his secret, his mom. His mom then kicked JJ out of the house and told him that she never wanted to see him again. JJ had been living in his car for several months. He had continued to work and continued to go to school. Another employee opened her home to JJ and he lived with her and her family until he graduated from high school. Then he went off to college.
Help End Homelessness For More Information www.unhabitat.org www.endhomelessness.org www.homelessnessinamerica.com www.nlchp.org nationalhomeless.org asianhistory.about.com/od/philippines/p/philippinesprof.htm