HOMELESS POPULATIONS

by David Nuttle

To help solve the growing problem of sheltering homeless populations, public policy is needed to support provision of shelters and services needed by these populations, The added requirement is to fund relevant sheltering programs with tax dollars and/or grant funds from foundations and corporations.

Helping the homeless is not a simple task, Added to the problems of poverty and few

if any resources, they are often poorly educated with few job skills and usually have health problems caused by medical conditions, alcohol, illegal drugs creating negative mental conditions. Some of these populations may be involved in criminal activities to support bad habits they do not want to change. These populations typically need health care, extensive counseling, financial coaching, job training and placement, food and basic essentials as well as temporary shelter.

NGOs, like the Salvation Army, may assist with temporary shelter. There are shelter-type navigation services to help the homeless provide housing. Rental assistance programs are

available in most areas. Transformative efforts typically have service centers where they can meet all the above-named needs for homeless populations. There are three experimental tiny-house communities for the homeless offering therapeutic services to meet needs plus adjusting mental attitudes to help the homeless better help themselves. A few cities destroy the tent-camps of the homeless in the false belief that forcing them to move will thus require those populations to somehow solve their own problems. There are a few cities that provide each and every homeless person they find with a bus ticket to another city where they promise help will be available. Avoidance of the problem has never been a solution.

Homeless tent encampments I have visited overseas have major issues with crimes, security, lack of potable water and foods, health as well as sanitation while lacking any and all services. They are poor beyond belief, and the homeless numbers are high; e. g. two million displaced persons made homeless by the armed conflicts in the Darfur region of Sudan. New and creative ways aere needed to help solve the U. S. and global problems of adequate assistance for the homeless.