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The Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 has exposed the severity of America’s homelessness crisis. As of January 2020, there are 5 million homeless people in the nation. 70% of the homeless population were individuals, while the rest were families with children.
Nearly 1 million people were left stranded when decision-makers implemented lockdown restrictions to contain the spread of Coronavirus. In a way, the pandemic brought this issue to the fore, which otherwise goes unnoticed by many.
The United States of America witnessed homelessness for the first time following the Civil war. It was when jobless veterans struggled to find permanent housing in the cities. The issue that started then gradually went down from 2007.
However, after 2016, the crisis started to increase and is likely to rise for years to come. The issue of homelessness is a persistent problem in the United States with varying severity. The intensity of this issue changes by community and state.
Every year, the government allocates specific resources to address this issue. The first step to alleviate this crisis starts with locating the places which experience this problem. The standard assistance provided by the nation includes – permanent supportive housing and emergency shelter.
A staggering amount of $3 billion was spent by New York City in 2019 to help its homeless population. Another city, California, will follow the same suit and is expected to spend around $4.8 billion on the crisis.
Unfortunately, in spite of an increase in budget allocation, the situation has only bettered by 10% since 2007. Anthony Love of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness believes this is because we are moving in the wrong direction.
The US has been practicing the “housing first” approach, which aims at providing permanent housing for homeless people. And this assistance comes with no preconditions. Homeless people are offered permanent housing without requiring them to be sober or hold a job.
This approach has been a bone of contention for most critics, who believe this solution has not given credible results to declare it a success.
Another form of homelessness assistance growing is the Rapid Re-Housing and “Other Permanent Housing.”
Although the statistics show a grim picture of increasing homelessness, people still hope that a situation like this can be resolved. While it is fine to think positively, we need to think practically. And, thereby develop solutions that address these issues without straining limited resources.
