Introduction
England is counted among the top most developed countries. There are many ways it could be idealized, but on the other hand, developed countries are facing a number of factors that are creating great darkness, and that’s not yet understood or resolved. One of the main issues in America, England and many developed countries is the homelessness of the natives as well as immigrants, and they are facing the issue very severely. The top reasons which are causing homelessness are unemployment, lack of government support, relocations, and debits. There are a number of international NGOs which are working for England to reduce the maximum possible homelessness. The government, as well as private housebuilders, are making better approaches for homeless citizens by giving loans, employment opportunities, and many other welfare schemes. There are many other factors that are included further to understand why homelessness has increased in England and how it’s perceived. The results of homelessness are crime, uncomfortable situations for normal living people and a concerned image of the country. The main aim of the paper is to discuss the overall perception of homelessness all over England.
Discussion
Causes perceived of homelessness
There are a number of survey-making and research-conducting associations working on social issues. They have kept homelessness second after the crime issues. Due to highly expensive accommodation charges, the private associations are unable to help homeless people. Therefore, their main aim was to raise awareness of the impacts of homelessness on the economy, community and social structure all over Great Britain. There are a number of perceived leading causes of homelessness in Britain. One of the leading accommodation and homelessness charity service providers, Shelter, has explained a number of facts about homelessness and perceived it in a deeper way. The most effective causes provided by the shelters are personnel, structural, and some other specified issues explained by the homeless people themselves (England.shelter.org.uk, 2018).
Among a number of other factors, there are some personal and social factors which are highly contributing to the increase of homelessness of the people in the United Kingdom. Discussing individual factors include the lack of social support and qualification, poor physical as well as mental health, rent and mortgage, relationship breakdowns and involvement in crime at very early ages. The family background is also one of the main issues in homelessness, in which the sexual and physical abuse in childhood and adolescence, parents involved in drugs, and some previous family homelessness experiences. Another raised personal problem that is causing the homelessness increase is individual experience in care, military, and prison. With respect to the structural causes which are responsible for the increase in homelessness among British citizens, they are also highly considered. These issues are normally economic and social in nature and out of the control of an individual and the families. The main social and economic issues are poverty, unemployment, unaffordable accommodation, housing policies, housing benefit administration, and the policy development of care, such as being unable to stay longer in mental institutes.
Alcohol or drug addiction is perceived as a primary cause of homelessness. According to the Salvation Army, 27% of the homeless group lost their accommodation due to their addiction habits. There is no alcohol or drug ban in the United States, and that’s why a huge number of people are consuming them. Addiction causes problems in the behaviour of an individual, and the families get disturbed because of the aggressiveness in the drug addict’s behaviour.
There are some reasons given by the homeless people all over Great Britain. These reasons are collected by a number of NGOs as well as government statistical analytical teams in which the most prominent are unwillingness of parents, friends and families to accommodate, relationship breakdown and domestic violence, as well as loss of the assured short hold tenancy. These reasons are considered catalysts that help people succeed in getting assistance, but the real issues are mostly kept hidden, which causes them to live homeless in the first place (England.shelter.org.uk, 2018). According to the official statistics, almost 33% of the people explained that they are unable to secure employment because they lack an address. 51% of the people claimed that employers are less likely to give a job to a person who has been previously homeless for some time even. 23% of the people discussed that they or someone close to them would never experience homelessness.
A study was conducted specifically about homelessness in London City. It was explained that homeless people are from approximately every field, country, culture and race. Almost 8000 people sleep rough on the streets. Most of them need work, but they are unable to find it because of a number of factors, including reputation, trust and employer preferences. There is a claim discussed on a blog that homelessness begins when something wrong, unhealthy or unnatural happens. It could be from the legal, social, economic or personal side, and the person who faces homelessness doesn’t have friends and family to support or help at all. Sometimes, people have a number of major or minor crises which end in homelessness, and people don’t have any place to stay (Streetsoflondon.org.uk, 2018).
Official Causes Perceived
It should not be forgotten that only the individual or social factors are not responsible for homelessness, but the government is also blamed for this social problem. It is perceived that in the last five years, homelessness has increased very rapidly, and the speed of homelessness has increased by the private sector rents and cuts increase in the housing benefit.
Another factor causing the government to act very late is the lack of understanding of the ministers of this problem and being ignored for a long time. Although it is known that the ministers don’t have any grip on the causes and costs of the rise of homelessness, they haven’t shown any actions to handle the issue.
The government spokesperson has admitted that there is a lot to do about this problem and that all citizens should have permanent residence so that they would not be removed from there. The government representatives have explained further that there are a number of plans which are under review and will be announced very soon.
Another official reason for the increase in homelessness is the non-comparative increase in rents. At the start of the decade, the private rents increased by up to 25% of the total, but the total wages increased by only 3%, which made the people unable to live in the rented homes and apartments and caused them to get out of their accommodations.
Effects on Local Communities
When the social structure of a community is disturbed, the effects drop on both groups, including the one affected and the one visualized or in the safe zone. The increasing number of homeless people is seen lying on the streets and under bridges, which causes a situation of unpleasantness and fear for the people living in their homes. 54% of teenagers and young adults have explained that their lives get disturbed when they see someone lying in the street in front of their home or on the way to college. They are unable to do anything, and controversial thoughts occupy their brains completely.
Salvation Army has finalized its studies and research that show that homelessness can affect anyone. Even professors and people with jobs which require higher skills and experiences experienced homelessness. There are a number of churches and Lifehouses working deeply for the homeless people. Salvation Army have used a personal approach by considering the tailoring of the procedure while providing assistance to anyone, and they have claimed that families complained about streets covered with crowds sleeping in and need to find a solution, accommodation or something easier rather than pushing the crowd from one side to another (Salvationarmy.org.uk, 2015).
Hidden Homelessness in Britain
There are outnumbered people who are not seen as homeless as they prefer not to sleep on the streets. The hidden homelessness is mostly unseen by the authorities. More than 400,000 people are affected by this hidden homelessness. The common people don’t perceive these people as homeless people because they are not seen lying on the streets. There are outnumbered people living out of sight of anyone in hostels, temporary accommodations, sofa-surfing, living in conditions of severe overcrowding, and in their own vehicles.
They don’t have any home or any other option to stay. These conditions are causing problems for many families. The problem of homelessness was initially ignored, but now it is seriously considered, and there are outnumbered communities which are helping the homeless families.
Impacts of Homelessness Perceived
Society is highly disturbed because of homelessness. Being in a home is highly beneficial to an individual overall. A person who is in the home has more chances to get employment rather than a person who is without a home. It is a rough guess that only 6% of the homeless and 70% of the homeless population are securing good employment.
With respect to mental issues, it can be considered that only 30 of the people who have comfortable accommodation have mental health issues, which include stress, mental illness and an unhealthy brain. In contrast, of the people who are homeless, 72% are facing mental stress, and they don’t even have any comfortable sleeping where they would be able to drain out their stress and mental pains. In a discussion of long-term physical health issues, less than 30% of people living in homes are facing them while more than 50%, are not able to secure comfortable accommodation.
Home is the cause of getting rid of criminal activities, and the families and home environment are the biggest support for keeping away from mental stress. There are barely small and resolvable cases in which teenagers are involved in drug and alcohol use. Sometimes adults also feel mental stress and are found drunk, but the figures never rose all over Britain to 9% or more. Homelessness caused an increase in drug and alcohol abuse by up to 26%, which were also explanatory figures.
In Great Britain, homelessness also increased the individual’s involvement in prostitution, which is considered one of the worst activities for the spread of AIDS and other STDs.
These negative impacts are affecting the homeless as well as other people. There are thousands of tourists on a daily basis visit the United Kingdom and find homelessness on such a larger scale, which is heartbreaking. The teenagers, as discussed above, are unable to regularly do their work efficiently.
Solution
For the citizens of Great Britain, there is a law about to pass, the Homelessness Reduction Act. According to this act, people all over England would be provided with as many loans as possible so that they would not be homeless in the first place. The councils are working hard to overcome this issue, and it is estimated that almost 550 billion pounds are about to be spent on this single issue (the Guardian, 2017).
It is also mentioned by the government that this issue is perceived seriously, and sooner the actions will be taken as required. The main focus of the government is to stop the increase in the homeless population and to help out the families who are currently securing a residence and are unable to sustain it for longer. It will help the government to look for homeless people easily (Butler, 2017).
Conclusion
As per the discussion above, there are a number of causes of homelessness, the top of which are employment and other personal, economic, and social problems. The government is also blamed for the increase in homelessness and responsible for the increase in the population. There are some serious effects on the overall nation because of the homelessness issue. Most of the homeless people are not able to secure employment for their financial survival. The young adult’s daily lives are highly affected by homelessness, and they are not able to do their regular activities. People of every race, ethnicity and community are affected by homelessness. The government has noticed this issue very late but now seems active in completely ending this issue forever till the year 2022. Large amounts of funds have already been allocated for the expenditures of reducing homelessness in England and Great Britain.
References
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