Advocacy

Advocacy and Homelessness

BSHS 441

Joann Wherry

6/6/2013

Advocacy and Homelessness

What is advocacy? The classic definition is simply “The act of pleading or arguing in favor of something, such as a cause, idea, or policy; active support. “(Free Dictionary, 2013). To brand this definition more explicit to advocacy inside the Human Services field we need to add just a little more information. A more exact, directed to human services, definition of advocacy could be: to provide assistance to a certain population by supporting or communicating for them to attain the services in which they require. The amount of homeless individuals in America is disturbing. The need for advocacy amongst the homeless populace is in extreme igh demand today.

“The recession will force 1.5 million more people into homelessness over the next two years, according to estimates by The National Alliance to End Homelessness.” (PBS, 2013). People find themselves homeless for a multitude of reasons. A lack of affordable housing and the limited scale of housing assistance programs have been the main driving force contributing to the current housing crisis. Homelessness and poverty have always been intricately interconnected. Poor individuals are regularly unable to pay for shelter, food, daycare, health care, and schooling. The main reasons why homelessness continues consist of stagnant or dropping incomes and less secure occupations which offer little to no benefits. Other less underlying factors include domestic violence, mental illness, and drug addiction.

“Each day, roughly 700,000 people in the country are homeless. About 120,000 are chronically homeless.” (NY TIMES, 2013). Against this background, the 100,000 Homes Campaign has set an objective of placing 100,000 habitually homeless individuals. It is the human welfare version of NASA’s race to put a man on the moon. The important story with homelessness is that when cities make a combined effort to lessen...