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| Yes | 40% | 2 votes | Total: 5 votes | |
| No | 60% | 3 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesWhen considering the complex issue of homelessness in America, we must accept certain facts. First, 16% of those without homes suffer from mental disorders that prevent them from either obtaining or maintaining a steady job on their own. Second, 63% of homeless women are homeless because of domestic abuse. Third, a lack of affordable health care can bankrupt any uninsured middle class family, plunging them into debt, and leading them to the streets. Finally, addictions to drugs and alcohol have significant effects on the rates of homelessness. All of these factors are solved by homeless shelters.
Homeless shelters provide aid and support to those with mental disabilities. They help these people find jobs, and through constant support and supervision help them to keep these jobs, and eventually prepare them to continue their jobs on their own. Shelters provide a safe-haven for women that are the victims of domestic abuse. Homeless shelters for women keep these them safe from their abusive husbands and boyfriends, and get them on the right road to a successful life. Shelters sever the attachment that women have with their domestic abusers, because they destroy the belief that women need these damaging men to provide money, food, and housing.
Shelters provide free medical attention to those in need. A single injury or illness, the result of no fault of the individual, can lead to thousands of dollars in debt, loss of a job, and even foreclosure or eviction. With one in three Americans uninsured, and over 26 million uninsured minors, this nightmare becomes reality for middle class working families everyday.
Finally, homeless shelters eliminate the leading cause of homelessness from the impoverished people's lives; substance abuse. Homeless shelters do not allow the use of drugs or alcohol by any of their residents at any time. And because these residents don't want to be back out on the street, they will do anything, including quitting cold turkey, to stay in the shelter. Without the lurking shadow of addiction in their lives, the homeless can restart their lives, keep a steady job, and contribute to society.
While homeless shelters may not need all of the needs of the least fortunate in society, and may not be numerous enough to provide for all of the homeless people in our nation, they act to eradicate homelessness at its roots. They work to help those with mental disabilities, victims of abuse, the ill and injured, and drug and alcohol addicts, and aid them in seeking a better tomorrow.
Learn more about this author, Matthew Zipple.
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No
The issue of homelessness hits very close to home with me, as I, too, have been homeless. Many years ago, I was face-to-face with the very same issues. I have seen and heard it all.
Even though I am thankful I was provided the opportunity to achieve success through a homeless shelter, most people are not so fortunate. The shelters are all through the city, open for anyone needing the help, to go.
However, the problem is most of the shelters do not provide the necessary tools these people need to gain self-sufficiency. In many cases, homeless people have been diagnosed with some type of mental illness. Many are unable to get the medications they are in dire need of.
A shelter provides just that: shelter. Maybe a decent meal and a place to shower, but the help stops there. Many of these places treat the homeless terribly. If it isn't enough to not have a place to call home, imagine having people treat you as if you are nothing, a place where you are looked down upon. People who are suppose to be helping you. Imagine a place where you can only stay at night, and have to take all of your belongings with you every day. How is one expected to look for a job, mental help counseling, etc .lugging around everything they own?
Being put with other people in the same situation is a deterioration in itself. You can't sleep at night for fear someone will steal what little you have, or maybe sleeping on a bench intended for use as a church just isn't comfortable enough to shut your eyes. You have to worry about what everyone else is doing instead of yourself.
Aside from this, there are those people who are unwilling to help themselves. Perhaps a drug problem has taken over, maybe they have just grown use to hand-outs. Whatever the reason, it is impossible to help a person who does not want the help or do not want to help themselves. A shelter itself can not provide rehabilitation for those who need it.
Having homeless shelters is a great thing. People need a place to go, to get a meal. Finding the right one can help a person make it out of the situation, but those are few and far between. Shelters are only the start of a much larger problem, and will not solve the homeless problem itself .
Learn more about this author, Erik Harris.
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