Introduction
Maslow’s famous “Hierarchy of Needs” first published in 1943, established that in order to be a productive member of society we must have our basic need for shelter, food, water and warmth. Seventy-seven years later, we still have many in society who do not have those basic human rights. Go to any major city in America and you will find people living in squalor, on the streets, under bridges. No sanitation, no warmth, no shelter. We are not in a faraway underdeveloped county but in one of the richest nations on earth, America.
There are over 500,000 homeless every night in the United States. (Mayer) There are between 1,700,000 and 2,500,000 who are homeless within a year. This is a transient society and therefore much more difficult to obtain accurate count and information but most researchers agree on these numbers. Homelessness in America is often associated with crime. In city after city in America, crime from the homeless is on the rise. In his article on “Crime and the Homeless” Richard Dover states, “An increase in homelessness will result in an increase in crime”. The homeless are more prone to drug abuse and alcohol dependency. Lacking monetary resources and often unemployed, they resort to crime in order to survive. Theft and burglary are common among the homeless. Targeted by law enforcement, they are more prone to arrest and incarceration. (Mayer) A study of 125 shelters revealed 62% of had arrests for criminal activity and 43% had served time in prison.(Solarz).Interaction with the criminal justice system only exacerbates their inability to find employment, housing and other needed social services.
The current public policy is not working. A prosperous country like the United States should be able to solve this problem or at least improve the outcome for this part of the population. Programs and policies for drug abuse, homelessness and crime often do not follow proven recommendations. There is a huge divide between policy and the reality. (Stevens).
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Homelessness
An individual is homeless when they do not have a permanent home .The homeless also live in shelters or in temporary housing. This includes those living in a car, on the street, in tents camped outside. Other locations not meant for proper rest such as bus and train stations, benches, parks also qualify for homelessness definition. (Sam Kurtz). HUD defines homelessness as those living in a shelter. Those who leave jail with no place to go, those who will lose their temporary housing within two weeks and those who have no resources to find a home.(Mayer) As with unemployment, disability and other social services, the definition is important to determine who gets assistance.
The 2018 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress defines homelessness as those who lack a “fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence”. It also concluded that there are more than half a million homeless every night in America, of those possibly 63% were in shelters and the rest out in the streets. Sadly there are children under the age of 18 but the majority or 71% are older than 24. (OCCPAD 2018, 10).there are 1,700,000 homeless in America within a calendar year. Between 2017 and 2018 the homeless population increased by 2%. Large urban areas where rent and home ownership are prohibitively expensive also experience the highest rates of homelessness. New York, California, Florida, Texas and Washington make up half of the homeless population in the United States. (Leins). For every 10,000 people there are 9.4 % homeless in rural areas, versus 28.4 % in urban areas, (Nisar)
Poverty is the main driver of homelessness. (National Coalition for the Homeless).Families do not just need shelter. They need food, clothing, medical care, childcare, education. Of these basic human needs, housing is the most expensive and therefore the first to go. When rent requires 40% or more of your income, you might not have a choice but to eliminate that expense and be able to provide, food, clothing and medicine for your family. As early as 2009, the National Coalition for the Homeless recommended a minimum wage of $15 an hour to afford a one bedroom and $18 an hour minimum wage to afford a two bedroom.
We are in 2020, eleven years after that recommendation and the minimum wage ranges from $7, 25 in Alabama and $12 in California according to the Department of Labor. Housing on the other hand has risen 4.18% every year according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The real value of our current minimum wage has gone down. (National Coalition for the Homeless) The obvious is clear; poverty has caused many to become homeless. Almost 4,500,000 families need affordable housing, which is unavailable. (Mayer). The need for affordable housing and services for low-income families keeps growing and this increases the possibility of homelessness. (Cohen).
The homeless population is a transient one. They often move from one area to another.
Without proper documentation, which in our day-to-day lives is so crucial. Lacking proper identity cause even further discrimination against them. Every affordable housing project, healthcare provider and potential employer would require proper identification or social security number. More than 53% of the homeless do not qualify for food stamps and 51% do not get social security due to lack of proper documentation. (Rothrie)
Substance Abuse and Crime
There is overwhelming connection between individuals who suffer from substance abuse, incarceration and homelessness. Those who have an addiction and are homeless are more likely to commit crimes to satisfy their needs. The larger the homeless population the more crimes committed such as burglary, theft and even violent crimes. (Dover). A large part of the homeless population end up in jail, simply because they are homeless and there is discrimination against them. They might be guilty of minor indiscretions but because they have no means to defend themselves, they end up in jail, or with a criminal record. Often their stay in jail is longer than it should be also for the above reasons. Once out of jail they might become homeless, if they were not already on the streets,.
The two biggest issues are the view that homelessness is a crime and the policy of over incarceration in the United States. The United States has one of the largest jail population in the world. Jails are a big “business” but what have they accomplished. We have a revolving door of prisoners. The punishment does not rehabilitate the individual it just increases the possibility of repeating the behavior once released from prison without some safety net to help through the process of reentering society.
Homelessness grew with increased incarceration from the 1980’s. (Remster). Poverty and addiction lead to crime and homelessness. Homeless addicts have do not have health insurance, cannot get medical help or addiction help and this exacerbates the problem, (National Coalition for the Homeless). There is evidence that 20% of the homeless are addicted to drugs. (Baum) Once incarcerated the chance of repeat criminal behavior and of a more serious nature increases for the homeless. (Hickey).Drug addiction is the main reason for this repeat offender. Not having support from a drug program after release from jail significantly increased the possibility of committing crimes. (Hickey). A large percentage of the homeless are non-white. (Mayer). The justice system already discriminates against non-white offenders and this only increases the rates of incarceration among the homeless. Homeless individuals have many more prior arrests than the average person does. According to the US Bureau of Justice and Statistics 12% of the prison population were homeless when arrested. Once released from prison there is a higher risk of drug abuse without proper intervention. Many affordable housing communities will not accept a person released from jail for five years. (Mayer). Often employment is hard to come by with a criminal record and again this leads many commit crimes merely to survive. Crimes are committed because of povery. Crimes are committed in order to survive. (Solarz).
Conclusion
We are in a vicious cycle of crime, substance abuse and homelessness. There is mounting evidence that there exists a strong correlation between homelessness, substance abuse and crime. The current policies do not seem to address this crisis adequately. The notion that all our social services are costing too much money is wrong. Our politicians seem to neglect the cost of not solving the problem, which is much greater. Homeless shelters, urgent medical care, policing, drug overdose care, jails, unemployment all costs our government and society a great deal of money. As early as 2009, a study on Nashville, projected the cost of hospital services, medical clinics, emergency services, social services, police, jail and legal services for the homeless at over $53,000,000. (Voorhees). Imagine the cost for the whole country.
Prevention is key. Prevent the poverty, prevent the crime, prevent incarceration, prevent homelessness and this vicious cycle, which seems to be growing. Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” perfectly describes what we must do. Do as much as we can to prevent the problem before it starts.
Housing: There is nothing more important than the Housing First initiative. The human right of shelter must come first. Housing or shelter has many ramifications beyond a roof over one’s head. It reduces stress; it increases well-being and thereby prevents health issues that require medical care. Indirectly may reduce the dependency on substance abuse. Housing and shelter need to take many forms. Governments have to provide affordable housing to match the needs. Provide assistance before someone becomes homeless. Rental assistance helps families meet their other basic needs for food, clothing, childcare and medical care. Those leaving jail must have some form of housing prior to their release.
Minimum Wage: When minimum wage cannot afford the basic standard of living, it is not an adequate minimum wage. If corporations do not rise to the occasion to correct this then the government must.
Prison: Police need training to deal with the homeless and prevent incarceration if possible. Prevent the vicious cycle of crime, incarceration, homelessness and repeat. Any means that are available to rehabilitate an individual with services other than jail, should be the first option. There should not be arrests for sleeping on benches or other minor offences. Police response at this time is too aggressive. There should be “Homeless Courts” where the offenders can be directed to the appropriate social services rather than end up in the criminal system. Punishing the offenders will not improve their ability to find shelter or employment.
Cost Benefit Analysis: There needs to be a comprehensive cost benefit analysis of the various assistance programs versus the current situation. When we spend more money on jails than on education, the system is broken. Only if lawmakers and politicians see the savings that will occur with additional prevention will they look favorably on more social services for those in need. Providing adequate support will save money in the long term and make for a healthier society. This will also help society to understand that additional costs will benefit all of us in the future and support programs that would require a little more sacrifice from all of us. The government should help when states cannot provide adequate help for its citizens. Quick fixes will not stop the cycle.
Centralization: We live in a digital world. There needs to be a central data bank for the homeless. Accessing any kind of social services without paperwork, social security, driver’s license, medical history is virtually impossible. There should be a mechanism to tag individuals and keep an ongoing record of their whereabouts and condition. All social services and correctional institutions should be able to access information and more efficiently help these individuals. Blockchain technology is a shared database that can give the homeless better access to services. It can store their identities, their documentation, and their history and thereby facilitate providing the necessary help that they need. Just as there is a need to digitize and centralize our homeland security, our medical information and have, one agency be able to integrate with another, the same should lessen the homeless situation and make addressing all issues more efficient..
Tables
As reflected in the above table presented in the article “Madness in the Streets: Mental Illness, Homelessness and Criminal Behavior”, the correlation between homelessness and crime is high. Contributing the excessive incarceration of the homeless and continuing the vicious cycle of crime and homelessness in America. In the table below, 40% of those incarcerated had been homeless at some point and 21% of those arrested were homeless the night before their arrest.
Affordable housing is a real issue in the homelessness population. As we see from the above graph, low-income housing is scarce and getting worse. A person earning $8 an hour would be spending 50% of their income for the lowest possible rent. Leaving just 50% for food, clothing, healthcare, utilities, and transportation.
References
- Dover, Richard (2017) Crime and the Homeless. Homeless Think-tank
- Stevens, Alex (2011) Drugs, Crime and Public Health: The Political Economy of Drug Policy
- Kurtz, Sam (2019) Chronic Homelessness in America: What is it & Who Experiences it? Policy Peer
- Mayer C, Reichert J (2018) The Intersection of Homelessness and the Criminal Justice System
- Solarz, A. An Examination of Criminal Behavior among the Homeless
- Novac, S. (2006) Justice and Injustice
- National Coalition for the Homeless (2009) Why are people Homeless?
- The 2018 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress
- Leins. C. (2019) 10 Facts about homelessness in the United States. U.S. News
- Nisar, H (2019) Market Predictions of Homelessness
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Cohen, E (2019) The Effects of Designated Homeless Housing Sites on Local Communities:
- Remster, B (2019) Homelessness and Crime. Oxford Bibliographies
- Hickey,C (2002) Crime & Homelessness
- Ramanuj, P. (2019). Bearing the cost of the American dream: Reflecting on street homelessness in America. BJPsych International, 16(1), 11-13. doi:10.1192/bji.2017.32
- Baum, A. S. (2019). A nation in denial: The truth about homelessness. Routledge.
- Voorhees,C.W.(2009) The Hidden Costs of Homelessness in Nashville
- Rothrie, S (2018) How Blockchain Can Help the Homeless
