Ending Homelessness

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that the issue of homelessness is one that has been of pre-eminent concern in Canada, and indeed in much of the industrialized world in recent years. This paper attempts a positive or social science analysis of this issue, exploring not only the nature of the problem but also the state of critical debate among both social scientists and policy makers on the best avenues to address this matter. The writer argues that in order to address this problem one must detach homelessness from its historic connotations with anti-social disorder traditionally addressed through police authorities, and recognize the issue as a convergence of economic and social determinants.

From the Paper:

"This fact has led many social scientists studying the problem of homelessness to argue that it is not so much a criminal problem, i.e., associated with drugs or anti-social activities, as primarily a matter of housing economics. While it must be acknowledged that a variety of factors contribute to homelessness - from changing patterns of employment and cyclical economic trends to the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill - the scholarly consensus seem to be that the most important structural cause of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing in urban areas. The current situation represents the culmination of a process that has been ongoing in North America for decades.."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Oberlander, H. and Arthur F. (1988). Homelessness and the homeless: Responses and innovations - A Canadian contribution to IYSH 1987. Vancouver: Centre for Human Settlements, UBC.
• O'Reilly-Fleming, T. (1993). Down and out in Canada: Homeless Canadians. Toronto: Canadian Scholars.
• Ropers, R. (1988). The invisible homeless: A new urban ecology.New York: Insight.
• Yeich, S. (1994). The politics of ending homelessness. New York: University Press of America.

More papers on Ending Homelessness:

• Analytical Essay # 136582 : "Poverty and Homelessness in the United States"
• Research Paper # 94235 : "The Chronic Homeless"
• Essay # 85149 : "Kant's Ethics and the Homeless"

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