Homeless in America: Causes of Homelessness (Pt.3)

Many people believe that addictions are a cause of homelessness. Does a drug problem really cause someone ending up on the streets? I guess it must depend on their financial situation to some extend. Yes, a drug problem could cause someone to end up on the streets if that person does not have enough support from family, friends, and services and if that person does not have enough money to keep them from loosing all of their possessions. This person could loose everything, because of their addiction. However, drug and alcohol addictions are not generally a cause of homelessness. Look at all the celebrities on TV with drug and alcohol problems that are not homeless, and still wear their bling bling and are dressed GQ. Then think about all the other people in Corporate America with drug and alcohol addictions. I’m not saying that all celebrities and people with money have addictions. I’m just saying that there are a lot of people with addictions that are not homeless, and have not become homeless because of their addictions. Helping a homeless individual who has a drug problem end their habit is only half of the battle. The other half of the battle is to cure the true cause of this person’s homelessness. To read more about how drugs are not really a cause of homelessness, check out a post by the Homeless Guy called “Addictions Do Not Cause Homelessness.”


Mental Illness however can be a cause of homelessness. The reason is not because of the person is mentally ill, but because of the lack of services, and facilities to help those people with mental illness. Also, it would mean that this person has no one else to care for them: family, friends, etc. What is a mental illness that could cause someone to become homeless? Schizophrenia? Autism? Bi-Polar Disorder? Depression? A lot of times there are individuals who are suffering from deep depression and become homeless because they don’t care enough anymore to help their current situation. Therefore, lest say the reason the person became homeless is not because they lost their job, but because their depression. Another great post by the homeless guy called “No Beds for Crazies Means More Crazy Homeless.” When thinking of a ten year plan to end homelessness, yes, housing and job training is an important issue to end homelessness. However, when designing a ten year plan there is much more to be considered. So the classical reasons for homelessness that one may read about are as follows:

Lack of affordable Health CareNatural DisastersDomestic ViolenceLack of Education
Drug Abuse
Mental Illness
Lack of affordable housing
And many more

However, it is important to know that usually there is a lot more to it then just one of these simple reasons of why people are homeless. Obviously a huge Natural Disaster like New Orleans can cause many people to become homeless. Why do most of these people stay homeless though? It has been almost three years, and there are still thousands living on the streets. Have these people fallen into a state of depression where they can no longer help themselves? Is there truly just not enough help outside of New Orleans that they can reach out too? The people of New Orleans need a lot of support to help rebuild their city, and most importantly to help the people who used to reside in the city overcome any mental issues they are dealing with. It is important that when trying to help the homeless, one must become more familiar with the true reasons to homelessness, which in most situations can be extremely different from case to case. In order for someone wanting to end homelessness they must take the time to talk to homeless individuals, seek individual’s needs, and be careful to use good judgment to what services are truly needed to begin the end of homelessness. Job Training/Housing play a huge role to ending homelessness, but that is just half the battle.