Homelessness
Is it possible to completely eliminate homelessness?
What causes homelessness? At any given time today in America, there are about half a million people who are "homeless" --they don't have a “permanent, safe, decent, affordable place to live.� Around the world there are about 100 million homeless people, and many of them are women and children. - Robert Alan
What is homelessness? Homelessness is the state or condition of having no home especially the state of living in the streets.
The Problem According to the United Nations, 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes due to homelessness; making it one person every three and a half seconds. The main cause for homelessness, no matter where in the world, is poverty. Without some kind of income people are unable to obtain or acquire regular, safe, and adequate housing. There are also a few other causes to homelessness such as, mental illness, job loss, drug and alcohol related problems, domestic violence, or physical disabilities.
DID YOU KNOW The estimated number of people in the U.S. who are homeless for any period of time in a given year is 3.5 million 70% of the homeless has been homeless for less than two years 24.6% live in makeshift housing (tents, cardboard boxes, etc) 40% of homeless men are veterans. 30% of these families have children.
Does Homelessness ever end? “We have come dangerously close to accepting the homeless situation as a problem that we just can’t solve.� - Linda Lingle
Did you know? Over 25% of former foster children become homeless within two to four years of leaving the system. 56% of homeless people live in a shelter and 44% are unsheltered. 59% of homeless people are single adults and 41% are people with a family. There is over 3 million homeless people in Europe. 57% of homeless kids spend at least one day every month without food. Almost 40% of homeless in the United States are under the age on 18.
Where is homelessness most prevalent? Sudan Stats
Location: Northeastern Africa Capital: Khartoum Population: 45,047,502
Size: 2,505,813 square kilometers Language: Arabic and English are official languages Child Mortality Rate: 68.07 deaths/1,000 live births Life Expectancy: 55.42 years Religions: Sunni Muslim, Christian, and other Freshwater Withdrawal: 37.32 cu km/yr Literacy Rate: 61.1%
History
Sudan is a very troubled nation. Due mainly to multiple civil wars, there has been an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 deaths and nearly 2 million people have been displaced. The Darfur conflict, the aftermath of two decades of civil war in the south, the lack of basic organization in large areas, and a reliance by much of the population on subsistence agriculture ensure much of the population will remain at or below the poverty line for years to come. This problems lead to an extremely large homeless rate.
Patient to Doctor Ratio: 4,500:1 Pop. Living on Less than $2/Day: N/A
Did you know..? -The percentage of homeless children in different countries in Sudan‌ -Khartoum- 38.8% -Central States- 33.9% -Darfur States- 15.4% -Kordofan States- 7.6% -Eastern States- 4% -Northern States- 2%
What makes Sudan the most prevalent What makes Sudan the most prevalent country for homelessness? country for homelessness? Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in January 2005 ended the 21 year civil war between North and South Sudan. Since then over 2 million displaced people returned to the south. The conflict between the North and South in 2009 and 2010 made people fear that the CPA would end. CASE STUDY: CAMP KALMA Kalma is a huge camp 15 km south of Nyala, in which displaced people continue to seek refuge, constantly swelling its numbers. Since Kalma was opened, the displaced sheltering there have been constantly harassed by the police. The situation has often been tense; in July and August a group of displaced lynched an Arab attending a humanitarian course, accusing him of being one of those who attacked villages. As the situation became more and more insecure, thousands of newly displaced people fled to Kalma camp. Sudanese government officials considered that the camp was already too large and increased their pressure on residents to go back to their homes. On 21-22 November there was an attack on the police post in the camp, reportedly from SLA sympathizers within the camp, killing four policemen and three of the attackers. IDPs were arrested in several groups by police and security.
What can be done to solve the problem? • The United States must support the CPA, including in Abyei. • The Government of Southern Sudan must help recover the community while donor governments should fun basic services. • The international community must support the Darfur peace process and ensure that peacekeeping forces are fully focused on civilian protection.
What makes Sudan the most prevalent country for homelessness? Jessica’s Personal Story “It sucks being homeless. And I don’t ever want to see my little girl homeless.” This was the first thing Jessica said when I met her in Anchorage. She and her 1-year-old daughter are currently living with Jessica’s aunt, who sometimes kicks them out when she’s angry. She’s a young mother, obviously scared to be on the streets any longer. It’s a face we don’t usually associate with homelessness. Instead of three wishes, she only had one, tearful wish: to go home.
Invisiblepeople.tv have been doing a world tour living homeless and meeting other people who go through this for years, Jessica was a
Homeless Shelters in Indianapolis: Salvation Army’s Women Shelter (317)-637-5551 Wheeler Mission Ministries (317)-635-3575 Julian Center, Inc./ Sojourner (317)-635-4674 Hancock Hope House Homeless Shelter (317)-467-4991
girl they came across in Alaska. To see other stories visit www.Invisitblepeople.tv
The government provides the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the public. HUD's Mission: Create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality, affordable homes for all. HUD's Vision: Our vision is to improve lives and strengthen communities to deliver on America's dreams. Therefore, we pledgeFor Our Residents:
We will improve lives by creating affordable homes in safe, healthy communities of opportunity, and by protecting the rights and affirming the values of a diverse society.
For the Public:
We will be a good neighbor, building inclusive and sustainable communities that create value and investing public money responsibly to deliver results that matter.
Currently the HUD has A budget underway: HUD’s FY 2012 budget tackles these challenges head on: by helping responsible families at risk of losing their homes and meeting the need for quality affordable rental housing; by transforming neighborhoods of poverty and ensuring that children there have access to the quality education we need to compete in the 21st century; by rebuilding the national resource that is our federally-assisted public housing stock and ensuring that its tenants are part of the mobile, skilled workforce our new global economy requires, and by leveraging private sector investments in communities to create jobs and generate the economic growth we need to out innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world.
Homelessness is a very serious epidemic throughout the world. As much homelessness as you think you see in America, there are just as many, if not more cases in other countries like Sudan. We need YOU in order to make a change in the world!
TAKE ACTION!!!! http://www.policyalmanac.org/social_welfare/homeless.sh tml http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/ http://www.ich.gov/slocal/plans/indianapolis.pdf http://www.endhomelessness.org/ http://www.solutionsforamerica.org/thrivingneigh/homele ssness.html http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/homeles sness