Homelessness in America
Every day, approximately half –million people find themselves without a secure place to live. Homelessness impacts all races, ethnic groups, men, women, children, big cities and small towns throughout this nation (Hayashi, 2016). African- Americans and Latinos comprise 40.1 and 19.9 percent respectively (Hayashi, 2016). But of all the homeless in America, people of color are inexplicably the most impacted. For African-American homeless women the correlation between homelessness and health are rather troubling. My project will examine how homelessness (Hayashi, 2016)affects the health of Afro-American women age 55-65 living in the city of Newark and explore what factors that contributed to their state.
The association between housing and health is coldly logical. The sick and defenseless become homeless, and the homeless become sicker and more vulnerable (Hayashi, 2016).
Journey to Homelessness While there can be many reasons why one becomes homeless, loss of a job, sickness, injury or other traumatic occurrence seem to be most common. Illness and injury make keeping a job difficult which then leads to decrease in income and eventually homelessness for those without anything or anyone to fall back on. Due to the mostly employer –based health insurance coverage system in the U.S., no job means
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One’s health status will improve once they are provided with support and a clean, safe place to live. Programs such as Housing First, which is a program that was started in Los Angeles to help the homeless obtain permanent housing proved successful. This program not only provided housing but supportive services such as case management that connect people with healthcare and social services. Ending homelessness can be quite complicated but I believe if departments of housing, labor, education, and health focus on this epidemic then homelessness can become a thing of the