Introduction:
Homelessness and poverty are two fundamental traits of the human life and almost everyone have either witnessed or experienced them. The homeless and the poor live among us; however, most people do not feel comfortable to acknowledge or recognize their plight. Ordinary citizens of all ages, politicians, and leaders in the faith community struggle to frame and compartmentalize emotions when they address the issue of homelessness and poverty.
We all share discontent towards having the homeless and the poor among us. However, finding an answer is much contested and debated among all. There seems to be no one agreed upon solution to this fact of life. Scholars, community leaders and practitioners proposed a wide-range of remedies, beliefs and ideas to frame the challenge and none were inclusive. The purpose of this proposal is to seek an approval for funding to finance a research project aims at assessing the validity of the claim that sufficient housing for the homeless in Multnomah County would reduce their numbers. The predicament for this task is the traits homeless population has. Homelessness in Multnomah County tend to be fluid, and difficult to track. Homeless population are displaced individuals. They have different needs and each person’s cause of homelessness may have been triggered by a unique set of circumstances. Prior to the 1980s the subject of homelessness was covered in a shroud of ambiguity due to definition inconsistencies and data limitations. Early work best described by as largely subjective and speculative in nature. Furthermore, homelessness and poverty were conceptually intertwined, and no clear distinctions was yet drawn. By the mid-1990s, the research literature provided a fuller and deeper understanding of homelessness. Social scientists categorized types of homelessness and provided credible demographic estimates. Number of medical journals discussed how being homeless affects a person’s life, and their coping strategies . This paper (proposal) aims to examine if more housing reduces homeless in Multnomah County. The importance of this study is to help policy makers and stakeholders in two folds: first determine if public money spent on housing accomplishes intended purpose; second, measure if public spending on housing reduces homelessness. This proposal intends to use statistical tools to explore and describe the phenomena of homelessness in Multnomah County; in addition, to confirm and test the hypothesized relationship if shelter increase would decrease homelessness within the Multnomah County. Definitions: Homelessness is radically understood as a condition of a person or group of individuals lacking “A fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence” as defined by McKinney-Vento Homeless Act . Given this broad definition, the Multnomah County and the City of Portland prepare every two years Homeless Point-In-time Count to track the state of homelessness within the county. In phase two (next-term) summary analysis of the data and a discussion of policy implication on the homeless population in the county since 2009 will be provided to further enhance all stakeholders understanding. This paper (proposal) uses the McKinney-Vento definition of homeless. The magnitude of this definition influences federal government programs through legislative support and formulates federal government mandate to combat Homelessness since 1987. Congress passed the McKinney-Vento Act to …show more content…
He argues that social organization in urban America, fundamentally, is formed around social class and race. He openly refers to such a structure as “hierarchical human zoology”. Marcus makes the case that social groups in today’s American cities find themselves ranked by what he calls seemingly strong enough to overcome social, economic, or physical hardship. Nonetheless, it is imperative to recognize that his theses on homelessness is rooted in Marxian social theory of class. Other scholars held the belief that homelessness is merely a choice manifests itself by incompetent individuals refusing to fulfill their role in the labor market (Millich 1993, Mitchell 1995, Mitchell 2011, Susser …show more content…
Academic literature from both ends of the spectrum tend to suggest that homelessness is a trait and a feature of poverty. Thus, homelessness is perceived as both a self-inflected and a choice that is rooted in either social class or race, or the combination of both.
On the other end, Homelessness is believed to be exasperated by economic downfall and lack of personal savviness. Thus, ideas of social hierarchy and choice push policy makers to see homelessness through the lens of the legal system, jails and law-enforcement to ensure order for the common good of
Homelessness and poverty are two fundamental traits of the human life and almost everyone have either witnessed or experienced them. The homeless and the poor live among us; however, most people do not feel comfortable to acknowledge or recognize their plight. Ordinary citizens of all ages, politicians, and leaders in the faith community struggle to frame and compartmentalize emotions when they address the issue of homelessness and poverty.
We all share discontent towards having the homeless and the poor among us. However, finding an answer is much contested and debated among all. There seems to be no one agreed upon solution to this fact of life. Scholars, community leaders and practitioners proposed a wide-range of remedies, beliefs and ideas to frame the challenge and none were inclusive. The purpose of this proposal is to seek an approval for funding to finance a research project aims at assessing the validity of the claim that sufficient housing for the homeless in Multnomah County would reduce their numbers. The predicament for this task is the traits homeless population has. Homelessness in Multnomah County tend to be fluid, and difficult to track. Homeless population are displaced individuals. They have different needs and each person’s cause of homelessness may have been triggered by a unique set of circumstances. Prior to the 1980s the subject of homelessness was covered in a shroud of ambiguity due to definition inconsistencies and data limitations. Early work best described by as largely subjective and speculative in nature. Furthermore, homelessness and poverty were conceptually intertwined, and no clear distinctions was yet drawn. By the mid-1990s, the research literature provided a fuller and deeper understanding of homelessness. Social scientists categorized types of homelessness and provided credible demographic estimates. Number of medical journals discussed how being homeless affects a person’s life, and their coping strategies . This paper (proposal) aims to examine if more housing reduces homeless in Multnomah County. The importance of this study is to help policy makers and stakeholders in two folds: first determine if public money spent on housing accomplishes intended purpose; second, measure if public spending on housing reduces homelessness. This proposal intends to use statistical tools to explore and describe the phenomena of homelessness in Multnomah County; in addition, to confirm and test the hypothesized relationship if shelter increase would decrease homelessness within the Multnomah County. Definitions: Homelessness is radically understood as a condition of a person or group of individuals lacking “A fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence” as defined by McKinney-Vento Homeless Act . Given this broad definition, the Multnomah County and the City of Portland prepare every two years Homeless Point-In-time Count to track the state of homelessness within the county. In phase two (next-term) summary analysis of the data and a discussion of policy implication on the homeless population in the county since 2009 will be provided to further enhance all stakeholders understanding. This paper (proposal) uses the McKinney-Vento definition of homeless. The magnitude of this definition influences federal government programs through legislative support and formulates federal government mandate to combat Homelessness since 1987. Congress passed the McKinney-Vento Act to …show more content…
He argues that social organization in urban America, fundamentally, is formed around social class and race. He openly refers to such a structure as “hierarchical human zoology”. Marcus makes the case that social groups in today’s American cities find themselves ranked by what he calls seemingly strong enough to overcome social, economic, or physical hardship. Nonetheless, it is imperative to recognize that his theses on homelessness is rooted in Marxian social theory of class. Other scholars held the belief that homelessness is merely a choice manifests itself by incompetent individuals refusing to fulfill their role in the labor market (Millich 1993, Mitchell 1995, Mitchell 2011, Susser …show more content…
Academic literature from both ends of the spectrum tend to suggest that homelessness is a trait and a feature of poverty. Thus, homelessness is perceived as both a self-inflected and a choice that is rooted in either social class or race, or the combination of both.
On the other end, Homelessness is believed to be exasperated by economic downfall and lack of personal savviness. Thus, ideas of social hierarchy and choice push policy makers to see homelessness through the lens of the legal system, jails and law-enforcement to ensure order for the common good of