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Homelessness: The Great Depression And The 2008 Recession

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Homeless has been around for a long time. Three different points in history I will discuss are, Pre-Great Depression, The Great Depression, and The 2008 Recession. Homeless has always been apart of America’s History. It has dated back centuries ago. It has also affected much of today’s society. Homeless has been documented since 1640 in America. Today, it is a social issue with many variables. Homelessness was a moral deficiency. Those who were homeless were said to have a character flaw. God should have gave them what they needed. Homeless people would go from town to town and try and prove their worth. The fathers of the town would decide and if they were not worthy, the people would have to leave. Many variables caused people to be homeless during the time. Native Americans also had a homeless problem. Wars between Natives and Settlers was a huge cause of homelessness. Settlers stole most of the Native’s land. Some European settlers had a harder time and were often homeless in the larger cities such as Boston or New York. As the world changed, more and more found themselves homeless. …show more content…

Jobs were lost and hard to come by. Many families were forced to live in what is called a Hooverville or a Shantytown. These were shack towns that were built from whatever resources which were available. Hoovervilles got their name from president Herbert Hoover who was blamed for the miserable economy. Homeless had a much harder time surviving. Food was scarce and people ate anything they could. Helping the homeless was not an easy task. Soup kitchens opened because you should make more soup by just adding water. The Great Depression was a terrible time for homeless in

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The worse the depression got, the more soup kitchens there were. “When soup kitchens first appeared, they were run by churches or private charities… Volunteers of America also was important in setting up soup kitchens all over America. By the mid-1930s, state and federal governments also were operating them” (“Depression-era Soup Kitchens”). Everyone who wasn’t harmed as badly by the Great Depression helped the ones who had in the form of soup kitchens as well as other charitable deeds.

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Life in urban America during the Great depression affected every person, every race, and every community. The number of homeless rose exponentially. The homeless formed little communities called Hoovervilles. (Shultz, 2014). They made shelters out of whatever scraps they could glean.

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The main reason for homelessness still hasn’t changed, yet they are seen differently throughout the years. The main reason for people being homeless is still due to the lack of money. Today hobos are often seen as someone who is lazy or drunk. Just about everyone who thinks that probably doesn’t know their story behind how they got there.

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Modern homelessness in New York City emerged during the 1970’s; it was not new occurrence to the city because there was a great deal of homelessness during the Great Depression. However, homelessness was never as great as it is today. In the 1970’s New York experienced an increase in the homeless population. Although many people became homeless for a variety of reasons, the lack of affordable housing was the primary factor. Many of the city's homeless population were individuals who suffer from mental illnesses or who were substance abusers.

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The Great Depression caused homelessness for many people because before the event took place, the government was giving out money to everyone who needed it for a short period of time. People thought that, that was money just to spend on whatever they wanted, but in reality it was money to help them pay off their debt. So when it was time to do so, nobody, with the exception of a few, was able to pay back their debt, causing them to lose everything they had. This action is what led up to people becoming homeless. The number of homeless people/families was so high that the towns was also known as "Hooverville".

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The Great Depression caused mass homelessness during this time period due to the loss of employment and savings. These people used the ever growing railway system to move from town to town. These people would come to be known as “hobos”. Homelessness during the Great Depression Depression is a big part of history because it was a dangerous time for the hobos because how bad the living condition were.

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Homelessness dates back to 1640, according to Homelessness History. In the mid eighteen hundreds, homeless people were acknowledged as “sturdy beggars”. The sturdy beggars were found in every corner of the colonial towns. Back then, Baltimore and Philadelphia had the highest population of homeless people. There was one big problem about homelessness at that time.

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Luke Roe Mr. Thomson U.S. History 13 November 2017 A Homeless America The great depression caused millions to lose their. in the 1920s and parts of the 1930’s, many people were homeless. During the great depression, many people across the country did not have homes.

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Tons of people had consequently lost their jobs and unemployment rates skyrocketed. Britannica Encyclopedia states “it is widely agreed upon that the unemployment rate exceeded 20 percent at its highest point” during the depression (Romer). Finding a job making a decent amount of money was close to impossible. Without a job, and after foreclosing on their rent, people were forced to live in the streets. There were so many homeless people in the nation that numerous small makeshift towns were made.

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During the Great Depression, citizens were suffering and hopeless because they were hungry and bankrupt. As a result of the Great Depression, citizens became unemployed and lost their bi-weekly wages. Also during the Depression, food lines, where citizens were forced to wait for bread and vegetables, were miles long, and no one was guaranteed any food. Some people during the Great Depression could no longer afford their homes and were forced to build temporary homes made out of tents and pieces of wood and metal in Hoovervilles. Families who had children were forced to stop educating their children and force the children to start working to earn money to help their families put a meal on their dinner tables.

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Homelessness is one the most ignored problems in the United States with citizen and politician. Homeless people are walked by and ignored. Nobody ever thinks that they will be homeless. Due to the economy, people live paycheck to paycheck making house payments very difficult. Most people will want to believe most homeless people are drug addicts or alcoholics, but most people will be surprise to know that it is no all true.

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The issue of homelessness in America has been evident since the early 1600’s. Across the country men, women and children spend their nights on the streets not knowing when or if they will ever find a permanent home. States and federal officials or city councils have tried to alleviate or at least reduce the number of homeless over the last several decades at a city, state or national level but it continues to be an ongoing problem. There is a multitude of factors that account for the growing homeless population that affects each state in the country differently. Though there are many contributing factors that contribute to the amount of people living on the street at any given night in the U.S.

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Homelessness is a significant complex societal problem. Many people think homelessness is an individual problem, but I think society has a large factor on why people become homeless. Individuals who are homeless are not lazy like most of society thinks. These people are struggling with societal problems such as living costs and mostly cannot support themselves financially. In my eyes, Homelessness is a factor of societal forces such as high cost of housing and living and also society having failed systems to support people who are stuck in these sorts of situations.

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