Myth busting Homelessness

"Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

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Our society has created this image of what a successful person is and how one can live their life to become a successful person. Those who fail are seen as lower class. The homeless population is failures in societal eyes because they did not follow these unspoken rules about how a person should live.

The homeless population is often seen as lazy, uneducated, drug addicts, the mentally ill, and the list goes on. Stereotyping the homeless is a substantial problem in our society. A few of the most common stereotypes revolving around the homeless community are as followed:

1. People choose to be homeless.

There are a number of reasons that a person becomes homeless. Very rarely, if at all, does a person choose homelessness. Homelessness is a last resort option when all other options have been exhausted. Some of the reasons behind a person becoming homeless are evictions, housing costs, tough job market, unpayable debt, and so on. Sometimes it's a simple reason out of an individual's control that causes a person to become homeless.

2. Homeless people are lazy.

With being homeless, it takes work to survive day to day. Homeless individuals are spending the majority of their time looking for food, shelter, and other resources need to sustain life. This myth goes hand in hand with number one in the sense that a person doesn't necessarily become homeless due to laziness.

3. All homeless people are addicts or mentally ill.

According to PBS.org, "38% report alcohol use problems while 26% report other drug use problems. 39% report some form of mental health problems." These percentages go to show that there is a percentage of the homeless population who do fall in this stereotype but it's not a big portion of the population.

(These figures can be seen at http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/526/homeless-facts.html)

4. Homeless people don't try to find jobs.

There are homeless people who have a job but remain homeless due to unlivable wages and high housing costs. When it comes to finding a job, there are barriers that make it difficult for a homeless individual to obtain a job. These barriers are: lacking a permanent address, not having regular access to showers or hygiene products, and lack of transportation.

5. It's cheaper to ignore the homeless problem.

HUD secretary, Shaun Donovan, stated in an interview in 2012 that "a homeless person costs taxpayers $40,000 a year." This money comes from the costs of incarcerations, medical expenses, and shelter costs. A study done in 2002 by Dennis Culhane found that "before placement, homeless people with severe mental illness used about $40,451 per person per year in services (1999 dollars). Placement was associated with a reduction in services use of $16,281 per housing unit per year."

Find out more about the cost of housing the homelessness in an upcoming blog post!

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