Poverty is one of the main elements that are behind homelessness.
Homelessness and poverty are serious social problems in almost every part of the world.
Poverty can mean not possessing enough belonging or money to cater to your basic needs like food and shelter.
It is a societal problem that can’t be cracked easily, which deprives a low-income family or individual of an average life.
Hence homelessness is caused by not having the capability to pay for shelter.
Causes Of Poverty and Homelessness
Poverty and homelessness are inseparably connected, and there have different causes. This includes:
1. Illiteracy: Without education, people will be unable to take some steps to better their condition. Most of these people can read and write, it would be easier to get free of poverty.
Being unable to get out of poverty means the inability to pay for specific necessities, including housing, which can lead to homelessness.
2.Conflict: When there is conflict within or among countries, productivity suffers, and keeping things going will take work.
Conflict can also cause people not to be able to stay in one place, which can mean homelessness.
3.Social inequity: Individuals or families that are victims of social mistreatment, e.g.
gender discrimination, ethnicity, racial discrimination and other forms, struggle with getting basic things like getting the right job, getting educated, and even getting a place of shelter.
4.High expenses: In a situation where things are costly, including the bare necessities, the poor people will need to apply opportunity cost.
Which means between food and housing, they will pick the former to sustain themselves because they can not even afford the rent of housing.
A solution to Poverty and Homelessness
We can reduce or solve poverty and homelessness through good earnings and housing.
Individuals need to be supported to prevent a continuous revolution of new individuals.
1. Provision of jobs worldwide: Following the International Labor Organization, about 197 million people in the world are without a job.
Hence, if more job opportunities are provided, the level of poverty will reduce.
And to boost the employment rate, uneducated people can be taught a few crafts to make them functional.
2. Having a place of shelter: is an integral part of a human’s life. Without shelter, attending to some basic needs in life becomes almost impossible, like getting food or a suitable job.
The serenity of a home gives poor people a chance to put a good life together for themselves.
3. Peace: The expense that is to be used to cover conflict can also be used to provide public services.
Easing violence sidesteps the substantial direct costs and authorizes the redistribution of resources to more productive sectors, such as the health and education sectors, increasing the community’s usefulness over time.
Significant adjustment in peace would exceedingly modify the financial situation for most countries with low stability.
Facts about Poverty and Homelessness
• Every year, millions of individuals encounter forceful ejections due to increased housing expenses or other problems.
It is a complete breach of human rights, usually rendering them homeless, needy, and dwelling in absolute poverty and deprivation.
• Multinational review by the UN indicates that about 1.6 billion people in the world are sheltered in lousy housing. The population of homeless people consists of the most noticeable situations of homelessness, which include staying in shelters and receiving government support.
• Homeless people are more likely to have issues with their mental health, fall sick often, or become victims of violence.
This can cause them to have a short life expectancy.
• World poverty has reduced halfway through the last decade; regardless, a high percentage of the population still dwells in low-income or impoverished situations.
• Half of the people dwelling in utmost poverty live in five countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Bangladesh, India, and Ethiopia.
• Roughly 297,000 children below the age of 5 die yearly due to diarrhoeal disease caused by bad hygiene, poor sanitation, and unhealthy water.
• Being a marginalized group member can increase one’s chance of homelessness.
Also, women with abusive partners have a high chance of being chased into the streets due to physical or emotional abuse.
Poverty and Homelessness Social Issue
Poverty and homelessness are part of the most critical social problems, and many citizens have died.
As a result, some have developed health problems, and many more. Poverty leads to homelessness; they are almost inseparable.
Becoming unsheltered can be a very distressing experience, leading to a mental breakdown or involvement in substance abuse.
Homelessness goes beyond not having a roof over your head, it also involves not having access to social and economic prospects, e.g. health assistance, job opportunities, adequate education, etc.
All these happen to be the impelling cause of poverty.
Poor people are the most vulnerable and prone to become homeless, and population groups in need are more likely to become impoverished.
Poverty and homelessness as social problems demand that the government implement corrective actions to create a source of income for the homeless to alleviate poverty.
Unemployment and low government assistance are the causes of the aforementioned social problems.
On the other hand, even getting employed does not guarantee the eradication of poverty.
The effects of homelessness are complicated and reciprocating in nature.
Because of this, the government should create better techniques to alleviate the developing poverty level to assist the homeless people in the world.
Effects of Poverty and Homelessness
Despite the causes of poverty and homelessness, they still have a ruinous effect on those experiencing it.
• People who live in poverty are likely to have many health issues, and they won’t be opportune to receive proper health care.
Poor people suffer from inadequate nutrition, which damages their ability to perform well or acquire stable jobs that can help them reduce poverty.
The lack of adequate ventilation can cause them to have respiratory disease. Also, they are likely to have typhoid or cholera from the bad toilets.
• Poor people are the most likely to become homeless or live in shabby houses. Most of them eventually spend the little money they earn on rent.
They also live in poor environments that lack the necessities they require.
• Homeless people are usually treated poorly by other people, and they also avoid staying around them.
This may cause them to isolate themselves since other people do not rate them, and by so doing, they can also develop mental issues or depression.
• As a result of inadequate nutrition or other homelessness-related issues, homeless people might have a reduced life expectancy than those who have shelter.
This is because some begin to feel like they no longer have an aim.
• Homelessness mostly leads to joblessness. This may be because people have no regard for those who are sheltered; they feel like they are not stable enough for them to be given a job.
Homeless people are socially condemned, and on the other way round, joblessness can also lead to homelessness and poverty.
Conclusion
This article is solely concentrated on poverty and homelessness, and a strong bond exists between them, which means that they are liable to each other.
Poverty can be alleviated by raising the average earnings among the sectors below standard in society.
Poverty is a severe problem in our society. It arises mainly in developing countries and affects the world’s population.
Due to poverty, some lives have been lost, and most children born into poverty often suffer from malnutrition since they have no food to eat.
The popular belief is that homeless people go through a lot of trouble in trying to provide for their families and make their kids receive proper education; hence, they lose their power to operate as a family.
Even though the issue of homelessness remains significant, innovative strategies have been found to secure permanent accommodation for homeless families.
It is imperative to take corrective measures against poverty to not allow more children on the streets; then, information technology should be used to get words out to the people and also create efficiency in looking for shelter houses for the homeless.
This will serve as a starting point of intervention in developing countries to help homeless people.
