Homelessness in the USA

Both the number and the demographic composition of the homeless in the United States are matters of dispute. Such disagreements occur for reasons of both societal structure, and political motivation. First, consider the number of the homeless. The National Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group, states that approximately three million persons in the United States will be homeless at some point during any given 12month time period (Ehrlich 132). By contrast, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that, at any given point in time, the homeless number between 250 and 400 thousand (Ehrlich 132). Counting the homeless is, at best, a difficult undertaking. The homeless are not congregated in easily found locations. Further, locations are often fluid  the individual who sleeps under one freeway overpass tonight may sleep under another tom

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of the homeless in the United States. Public Policy The development of public policy in the United States, including that relevant to the provision of housing for the needy is highly political in character. The politics of providing housing for the needy has long been tied closely to perceptions among the white majority in the American population (Weber 3-10). The three most significant of these perceptions are that: (1) something is wrong with people who require help; if they require help, it likely because of their own failures; (2) the presence of cultural differences in the United States is wrong; everyone in the United States should adopt a single set of American values; and (3) social service needs and outcomes in the US should be addressed and assessed within the framework of white, middleclass norms (Weber 3-10). White, middleclass values tend to place the responsibility for failures on individuals (Shertzer and Stone 60). Thus, if needy persons find themselves unable to provide acceptable housing for themselves, they are likely to be blamed for the situation. The white middleclass value structure in the United States is associated with a peculiarly American linkage between religious belief and econo
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Approximate Word count = 3372
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)

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