Homelessness Who's Concern Is It anyway

A Company that is making a difference when it comes to our homeless, are you doing your part. Is there anything we can do to help.

(PRWEB) December 20, 2003 --The United States experienced the largest increase of homelessness starting in the 80's than in recent history. Numerous reports and studies confirm what is painfully obvious as we walk down any one of our city streets in America: homelessness is a pervasive problem throughout this country. And contrary to our notion that homelessness is just confined to our urban areas, it is a problem that now plagues communities where in the past it would seem unthinkable - our Nations rural communities.

How many homeless people are there? The exact number of individuals living without stable housing in this country is almost impossible to know. But according to a 2001 study, Helping America's Homeless, it is estimated that 842,000 people were homeless in a given week. In the same year, an estimated 3.5 million people were homeless over the course of a year. A 1995 study reports that over a five-year period two to three percent of the U.S. population (five to eight million people) will experience at least one night of homelessness. While the exact number is uncertain, it is a general acknowledgment that homelessness in the United States is steadily on the rise.

Why are people homeless? This is a difficult question to answer; however, there are a variety of conditions that interact to contribute to an individual or family becoming homeless. Underlying all homelessness are the conditions of poverty: inadequate income and the lack of affordable housing. Inadequate income may be due to unemployment (either because of market conditions, lack of skills or an inability to work due to disability), or underemployment, as a result of the trend over the last two decades from well-paid manufacturing jobs to minimum-wage service sector jobs. Even for those who have jobs, the decline or stagnation of wages has meant that employment is not necessarily a relief from poverty.

For those unable to work, income or assistance in the form of public benefits has decreased significantly over the past two decades. This has particularly affected families - considered to be the fastest growing subgroup of people experiencing homelessness. It is anticipated that this downward trend will continue even more drastically as welfare programs are shifted from the Federal level to State authority. Additionally, people with little or no income find it harder to find affordable housing. Over the past two decades, there has been a significant decrease in the number of affordable housing units. Between 1973 and 2003, over two million low-rent housing units disappeared from the market. At the same time, the number of low-income renters increased by nearly five million.

In addition to poverty, there are also personal factors that can increase an individual or familys vulnerability to becoming homeless. Some of these characteristics include acute and chronic physical problems or disabilities, mental illnesses (both chronic and acute), substance abuse problems, domestic violence, history of abuse or neglect (as a child), or any combination of the above.

The thousands of men, women, and children living in homelessness are challenged at nearly every turn in their daily struggle to survive. Whether concentrating on finding a meal or a place to sleep each night, these disenfranchised individuals struggle to maneuver through a series of support systems, always hoping that they will not fall through the cracks.

Chris Hines CEO of EC & CH Management Inc of Charlotte said that the communities will need to get involved if we really want to make a difference. Chris said that one thing that his company is doing to help, we are footing the bill and building websites helpingourhomeless.com for every city from which 100% of the proceeds goes to the local homeless shelters and non profit organization. These websites are operated by the local public citizens and all sales and statistics are availiable to the public.

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