Institutionalization Of Homelessness Essay

Within the built environment come many problems with inequality, such as homelessness. Homelessness is a common occurrence throughout the world and is very prominent in American big cities. It is a complex social matter that affects millions of people. There are many factors that can lead to homelessness, but this is the overarching component that leads to all the other factors. The built environment contributes to homelessness because of the illegalization of homelessness, lack of care for homeless well-being, and insufficient facilities and provisions for this community. The built environment created a problem in enabling homelessness, especially with the cities illegalizing the homeless. To keep a certain “image” of the city, many

People don’t care if they are homeless and don’t have anywhere to go, they just don’t want to see them. This way it can be thought that there is not a growing homelessness problem because you can’t see it. The quote, “…to eliminate homeless people, not homelessness.” (Mitchel, Ch 5) is very powerful and significant because it highlights the issue with the effort being made to help the homeless. They don’t actually care if this is resolved, they just want the people out of the picture. If there was an effort with more shelters being built there would be more homeless out and trying to get a job and improve their life because they wouldn’t have to fight to just live it. The government wants to solve the problem of homelessness in the cities without solving the problem. These “lower class” people get pushed to the outside where they’re not as visible and not “affecting” the image of the city. The built environment is becoming too high-class and expensive for many people to afford. As a result, many become homeless and have nowhere to go, so they go to the streets and park benches. Then they get kicked out of these areas and can even be given misdemeanors for trespassing, but it was because there wasn’t anywhere, they could go. The cycle just continues to grow because of the lack of effort to solve the

Along with the idea of having the “perfect” city comes the carelessness of the homeless and their well-being. As an example, “…in most American cities, the number of homeless deaths is…not tracked.” (Mitchel, Ch 6) This is significant because they don’t fit into the built environment that is the clean urban areas, higher-income, or higher-class families that the government wants to show. As a result of this, the problems of the homeless get swept under the rug. If they aren’t the main attraction of people or the certain target of their focus, all care is dropped. Most go in with the mindset that it’s the homeless people’s fault that they’re homeless and they can just get up and get a job. When in reality, if they get sick, they have nowhere to go because they don’t have access to medical care, or if there is violence they have nowhere to go. Who cares? They’re homeless! That’s the thought process that’s begun because of this built environment, it creates this separation. These are still people who deserve to live a better quality of life. Many homeless die and no one knows because they don’t care and believe that they are endowed with fewer rights. Chapter six from Mitchel really emphasizes the many struggles and profiling that the homeless endure and shows how they are thought of as lesser human beings. This is not fair, this