5 Reasons why you Should Care about Poverty and the Homeless by Emily Panganiban

1. Those that are homeless or in poverty are often unable to acquire needed healthcare.                                                                                                                             Results of a study show that seventy-three percent of the sample of homeless adults had one unmet health care need over the past year—a common reason was that they simply could not afford health care. (Baggett, O’Connell, Singer, & Rigotti 2010)                                                via giphy
2. Poverty is actually pretty common.                                                                                          At age seventy-five, fifty-nine percent of people have spent a year living in poverty. (DiNitto & McNeece, 2008, pp.303)
3. Hardly anyone chooses to be homeless or in poverty.                                                   One explanation that people may have for poverty or homelessness is that those people that live in poverty or become homeless are simply irresponsible or lazy. This is not the case it was found that there was little difference in the motivation and attitudes of people that were poor and people that were not poor. (DiNitto & McNeece, 2008, pp.294)                                                                                                                         via giphy
4. Shelters are not comfortable place where you’d want to be.                                             A shelter is not a home. It called a homeless shelter for a reason. In Pitch Black by Landowne and Horton, the narrator describes people dying every day at the shelter—he described the place as hell. In addition to this, according to Boes & Van Wormer (1997, pp.417), there are rules such as needing to be out of the shelter by seven AM.
5. Poverty is a difficult cycle to break out of.                                                                         One explanation of poverty, as described in Social Work: Issues and Opportunities in a Challenging Profession by DiNitto &McNeece (2008, pp.296), explains that, without a good environment with the necessary interventions to escape poverty, it becomes more difficult to breakout and the environment can become worse.via giphy

References:

Baggett, T. P., O’Connell J.J., Singer D. E., & Rigotti N. A. (July 2010). The Unmet Health Care Needs of Homeless Adults: A National Study. American Journal of Public Health, volume 100, number 7, pp. 1326-1333

Boes M., & Van Wormer, K. (Winter 1997). Social Work With Homeless Women in Emergency Rooms: A Strengths-Feminist Perspective. AFFILIA, volume 12, number 4, pp. 408-426

DiNitto, D. M., & McNeece, C. A. (2008). Social Work: Issues and Opportunities in a Challenging Profession, Third Edition. Chicago, IL: Lyceum Books, INC.

Landowne, Y., & Horton, A. (2008) Pitch Black. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press