THE LIFE OF A

HOMELESS

Homeless

Homeless People in America get a bad rap. Urban Myths, Legends and a attitude by most Americans " So What Its Not Me " continues to contribute to the Homeless Problem in America. Yet we can fight multi billion dollar wars in foreign lands while there are homeless men women and children , yes children homeless and hungry here in the United States each and every night. Do you know that most homeless families consist of a single mother and children. And the amount of single mothers with children is going up not down but yet we continue to send millions of dollars to foreign countries to fight poverty there when we have plenty of poverty right here. Yet you see few if any late night TV commercials asking for help for homeless women and children here in the United States.

Homeless Lets take a look at the real causes

of homelessness here in the United States. There was the movement in the 1960's to create community based mental health programs and do away with the state facility's for the mental ill. There was only one big huge problem with this. Community Based Mental Health Programs have no places for people to stay. While the ideal to create community based mental heath treatment programs may have been great the government officials thinking it up forgot one big thing. Where were all the people sent back to their families going to sleep at night. For the most part their families don't want them and if there is a homeless shelter in the area the persons with mental problems act out and get kicked out of the shelters and many even get banned from the shelters. So they end up sleeping in the streets.

Homeless The failure of urban housing projects to

provide safe , secure and affordable housing contributed greatly to the homeless problem in America today. Welfare Reform in the late 1980's and early 1990's also contributed greatly to the homeless problem in America today. Again when the government officials thought up welfare reform they either didn't think when they wrote up their rules or they just didn't care. Also did you know that if your a man and homeless in America about the only help available to you is food stamps. No help for housing in any way.

Homeless The failure of the Department of Veteran

Affairs to provide effective mental heath care and housing for veterans contributed greatly to the homelessness problem here in America today. The VA has many ineffective programs that again fail to provide the one thing that could really help homeless vets and that is a place to live. And unfortunately there are a lot of homeless veterans that for one red tape reason or another they just simply refuse to help. Often because thehomeless veteran has no ID or papers of any type. So once again the homeless person ends up sleeping on the streets.

More homeless factsAccording to a recent study by the US Conference of Mayors the demand for emergency shelter in 300 medium to large size American cities went up 37 percent in 2006 and the demand seems even greater in 2007. Almost a full 30 percent of people seeking shelter in America every night are turned away. With shrinking budgets many cities have adopted a closed door attitude towards homeless people.

Homes for the Homeless• Homes for the Homeless is an organization which provides housing and

employment training for families and homeless people in New York City. It was founded in 1986 through a collaboration with Leonard N. Stern, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and the city of New York.

• Homes for the Homeless recognizes that homelessness is not merely a housing problem – it is an education problem and a family problem, and predominantly, it is a poverty problem. Homes for the Homeless aims to alleviate the problems of poverty by providing families with the tools necessary to move families out of the shelters and prepare them to live on their own. These include educational resources, job training resources, health services, and summer camps for children.

• Homes for the Homeless operates five transitional shelters, called American Family Inns, in the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens. The Family Inns serve over 630 homeless families and over 1,200 homeless children each day. Homes for the Homeless also operates three summer camps for New York City homeless children. Camp Kiwago, Camp Lanowa, and Camp Wakonda are located in New York's Harriman State Park and serve almost 1000 children each summer. Currently, Camp Lanowa and Wakonda are the only camps in operation.

Homes for the Homeless• Homes for the Homeless runs Milk from the Heart, which provides free milk

to thousands of low-income families in New York City every week.• The care offered at the American Family Inns includes needs assessment

and case management; healthcare services; family counseling and preservation; and housing search assistance. Families are encouraged to look beyond the daily obstacles presented by homelessness and participate in education and training to equip themselves with the skills they need to gain independence. Concurrent education and recreation programs for children aim to help the whole family to overcome the debilitating effects of homelessness.

• In 1990, Homes for the Homeless founded The Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness a research and development organization. The Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness (ICPH) focuses on research designed to study family homelessness and inform public policy on this complex issue. ICP also works to raise awareness of family homelessness through educational materials.

Homeless World Cup• The Homeless World Cup organization was founded in 2001 by Mel Young

and Harald Schmied while searching for an international language to unite homeless people around the world. They decided that football could act as this common ground.

• The first annual football tournament for homeless people took place in 2003 in Graz, Austria. Host cities since then have included Gothenburg, Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Cape Town, Melbourne, Milan, Rio de Janeiro and Paris. Mexico City will host the 2012 edition.

• Along with the annual event, the Homeless World Cup is establishing itself as a social enterprise. The organization reports that over 70% of players engaged in the event changed their lives by beating addictions, moving into jobs, homes, training, education and repairing relationships. Some participants have also become social entrepreneurs, coaches and players.

• To date, the Homeless World Cup has touched the lives of over 200,000 homeless people and created three legacy enterprises, operating in the sports equipment and recycling sectors.

Cause• There are 100 million homeless people in our world today. This is a

global issue that affects every nation.• Homelessness can force people into isolation, which affects their

ability to share, communicate their thoughts and work with others. Day-to-day survival needs take priority over longer term planning - often resulting in a chaotic lifestyle.

• When a homeless person gets involved in football they communicate and build relationships with others; they become teammates, learning to trust and share; they have a responsibility to attend training sessions and games, to be on time and prepared to participate. They feel part of something.

• These skills and attributes are all transferable to daily life and therefore help a homeless person see that they can change their liv

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