The Homeless and Elderly Population Essay Example

of the King Philip' War of 1675-1676 against the native people. Many colonies were driven out of their homes to see shelter in the forest.

But as the war continue between the French and Indians, the securities of some families were threatened and forced many families to become refugees across the frontier areas like New England and New York. Homelessness is a complex social problem. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless in "How Many People Experience Homelessness? " , one-half to three- quarters of a million people lack a place to sleep on any given night in the United States, and 3. million will be homeless at some time during the year. Social researchers”educators, sociologists, economists, and political scientists”have tudied homelessness in the past and present and have determined that homelessness is caused by a combination of poverty, misfortune, illness, and behavior.

Many people view homelessness as a fringe issue, affecting only certain kinds of people on the edges of society. This view does not reflect the changing demographics of homelessness in the United States, including a steady rise in homelessness among families with Children. ounger individuals, with elder men reporting an average homeless episode lasting over 60 days, and younger episodes without a permanent shelter, some reporting omeless episodes of over two years, whereas younger men reported being homeless an average of 11 months (Hecht & Coyle, 2001). This is likely due to less social support and the difficulty in either moving in with a roommate or living with family, often due to caretaking issues related to common age-related physical problems. The response to elders who are homeless must be vastly different

due to all of the variables associated with their advanced age.

One variable mentioned relates to the diminished capacity of the elderly in getting back on their feet by finding new mployment opportunities or entering a reeducation program to enter a new career, thus the possibility of regaining financial independence is greatly diminished in the elderly population. Other issues affecting the elderly population includes their increased vulnerability both physically and psychologically, leaving them open to physical and financial victimization. Physical disability and illness are also complicated factors in meeting the needs of the elderly homeless population.

One Night Count remains the largest community-organized count in the United States. Since 1980, SKCCH and Operation Nightwatch have organized the One Night Count of people who are without shelter. Over 900 volunteers, like me go out at 2:00 am counting the people sleeping outdoors in King County. We all go out with trained team leaders to pre-arranged areas in parts of Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Shoreline, Kenmore, Bothell, Woodinville, Kent, Federal Way, Renton, Auburn, and White Center. All together we counted 2,759 people living outside in King County.

We counted children, adults, and seniors, some huddled in doorways, some sleeping in cars, others camped in green spaces or sheltered in makeshift campsites. One night ount collected information from select hospitals about emergency room usage, and from Metro night owl buses operating throughout the county. The 2010 total number of people counted living on the streets of King County is 5% lower than the numbers counted in 2009. The unsheltered number released does not include the estimate 5,800 people staying in emergency shelter and transitional housing overnight.

Working with

the homeless population is a challenging as it is meaningful. Whether a homeless client is a grown man, and elder, a child, or entire family being homeless is traumatic, degrading, and for many actually terrifying as one's oundation slips away without any sort of safety net to stop the fall. I see it every day; when I volunteer for the Catholic Community Service, HOME/ARISE shelter for men. But what I especially see if how many elderly I saw this weekend, somebodys father, grandfather and great grandfather.

The process of becoming homeless, which typically comes on the heels of months or years of financial and residential instability, is extreme stressful and often leads to anxiety disorders, depression, loss of self- esteem, substance abuse, and even personality disorders as individuals respond to he harshness of life in various maladaptive and defensive ways. Demographics exist, but no national statistics that provide an accurate count of elder homelessness.

Some studies estimate that the elderly compose only 2. percent of all homeless persons (Cohen, 1999), while other data indicate that 6 percent of homeless clients are between 55 and 64 years old, and another 2 percent are 65 years of age and estimate that up to 10-15 percent of homeless persons are elderly (Gardner, 1999). In 1988, Tully (Tully ; Jacobson, 1994) found that 27 percent of homeless persons were over the age of 60. Intervention strategies come in when the human services field is to empower clients by plugging them into a variety of social support systems moving them toward a stated of self-sufficiency.

Providing services such as; emergency housing, shelters, case management, counseling, transitional housing, child care, education

training and substance abuse treatment and following with our clients for aftercare, as we do in Katherine's House, when a resident moves out, we provide one year after follow-up care, it gives the resident a chance to still come by and let us know if they need any esources or information. As a Human Service professional, I believe that we could do more than what we doing now.

I know that with the inflation and hard times are difficult to help another person, when you are in need yourself. Is not always monetary in a way of helping, is about being able to direct someone with resources and sometimes is Just about going into the shelters and helping out to feed the homeless, bring blankets, bring in some toiletries and most of all share all the resources that you have. For future considerations the state, government need to really open their eyes and see where he need is at, build more shelters, emergency and transitional housing.