Problems & Concerns Caused by Homelessness on Law Enforcement & Community - Term Paper Example

HOMELESSNESS Scope and Definition of Homelessness: A homeless person as defined by the HUD (Housing and Urban Development) would be a person living on the street or in an emergency shelter without the assistance of HUD. A person is said to be homeless only when he is living in one of the following described places: Places not designated for human residence, like parks, cars, pavements, old abdicated buildings, and the roads. Emergency shelters. Temporary housing schemes for homeless people that previously resided on the roads or in emergency shelters. Any of the places mentioned above but is residing temporarily in a hospital or an institution. (Driscoll, 2007) People facing the following situations are also regarded as homeless by the HUD: If someone is being evacuated from the present residence and he does not have any other place to live, nor does he have the resources to buy or rent another house, or his house has been rendered inappropriate by the housing officials and is no longer designated to be used for dwelling purposes. If someone is being discharged from an institution such as a hospital, where he has been living for the last month or more, and has neither a house to live after his discharge nor the required resources to buy or rent one. If someone is running away from the present residence on the basis of domestic violence and has neither a second home, nor the resources to obtain one. (Driscoll, 2007) Recently, volunteers spent a whole night trying to calculate the number of homeless people living in Syracuse. The Homeless and Housing Vulnerable Task Force traveled around the whole city counting the number of people spending the night on streets. They also checked emergency shelters, parks, playgrounds, bus stands, and all other possible areas where the homeless might spend the night. This year, it was the first time the Firefighting Department also helped in locating old and confiscated buildings where the homeless might find shelter. They counted out a total of 700 homeless people, which was a decrease by 37% since last year. At least the same rate of decrease is expected next year. (WTVH, 2008) Problems & Concerns caused by Homelessness on Law Enforcement & Community: Homelessness has been a major cause of problems occurring in a society on a daily basis. Businessmen are especially not happy with homeless people straying on the streets as it creates a bad image of their businesses, and also they are often subjected to petty crimes committed by the homeless. Other people living in the society are also often frightened by the presence of panhandlers and complain the destruction of the society's beauty brought about by the homeless. Due to the problems mentioned above, law enforcement agencies like the police department receive regular calls from angry businessmen complaining about the bad impact of homeless people on their businesses and ability to attract new business projects, and the crimes committed by them. In areas where large numbers of homeless reside, theft occurs at a regular basis. Businesses are robbed and theft of easily tradable accessories like tools and metal scraps has widely spread. Therefore, the police have to be extremely active in relation to the activities of the homeless. (Holderness, 1998) Along with the preceding problems, the community also faces the problem of large amounts of homeless people living and spending nights on subway stations. The up gradation and renovation of trains and subway stations done in order to attract people who lost hope in subway, also attracts helpless people who have no place else to go and wish to avoid crime and humiliation of public emergency shelters. Installation of air-conditioners has increased the number of homeless people on trains too. (Johnson, 1988) The problems caused by these homeless people include the constant accumulation of feces and urine in the trains making it necessary for regular servicing. Even on the stations, filth caused by permanent living homeless people cannot be removed without an extra number of janitors. Moreover, removal of extremely sick and feeble homeless from the trains often causes delays mistiming the whole schedule. The matter of concern is that do we keep the trains hygienic to lure more passengers, or continue our aid to the homeless. (Johnson, 1988) Programs and Tactics developed around the Country involving Law Enforcement: Many law enforcement agencies, like the police departments, are uselessly being used due to increasing number of homeless people in the whole country. Therefore, several projects are launched and strategies are devised in order to reduce the number of homeless people and raise the standards of living in the society. This would also decrease the extent of police resources being unnecessarily consumed to deal with matters of the homeless. Numerous tactics have been designed to cope with the ever-increasing problem of homelessness. Some of these are pointed out below: Construct a place where the homeless can eat, change, take a shower, and look for permanent housing. Combine the efforts of the overall resources provided by the society, the police department, and the various community service groups in order to aid the homeless. Create rehabilitation centers for proper guidance to the homeless so that they can easily adjust back into the community. Choose a proper location for the homeless centers, an area that is more heavily effected by the problem. Assign a team of experts to establish the methodology of bringing these programs into action. (Holderness, 1998) Other plans made for the control of homelessness can be demonstrated by observing the city of Seattle. The government is providing stable housing services to provide proper living for the homeless. The measures taken include: eviction prevention programs, rent assistance programs, housing for AIDS-effected people, and provision of bus tickets and furniture. (McInturff, 2008) Summation: Homelessness has been a major problem of the country since the last many years. Although it is not an easy problem to solve, combined efforts of the government, various health and social services, businessmen, neighboring communities, and churches can reduce the scope of this matter by a large scale. This problem of long-term homelessness features lack of appropriate houses at rates within their means, appearance of psychological symptoms, abuse of certain materials such as drugs, and unavailability of jobs, or skills needed for self-employment. The need to end this problem should be realized, and acted upon at all governmental levels, without which there would not be any significant success. Works Cited 1. Driscoll, Matthew J. (2007). City of Syracuse. Retrieved February 24, 2008, from Department of Community Development. Web site: http://64.233.169.104/searchq=cache:bm7NOV467h4J:www.syracuse.ny.us/pdfs/12/Year_34_ESG_RFP.pdf+homelessness+in+syracuse+city&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=us&client=firefox-a 2. Holderness, Terry. (1998). Fontana Police Department Submission for the 1998 Herman Goldstein Award for Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing. Retrieved February 24, 2008, from Fontana Police Department. Web site: http://64.233.169.104/searchq=cache:j2ktqHPS5jcJ:www.popcenter.org/Library/Goldstein/1998/98-20(F).pdf+problems+caused+by+homelessness&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=20&gl=pk 3. Homeless Count In Syracuse. (January 30, 2008). Retrieved February 24, 2008, from 5WTVH. Web site: http://www.wtvh.com/home/related/14895481.html 4. Johnson, Kirk. (September 5, 1988). Officials Debate how to get Homeless out of Subways. Retrieved February 25, 2008, from The New York Times. Web site: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.htmlres=940DE2DD143FF936A3575AC0A96E948260 5. McInturff, Patricia. (2008). Shelter and Housing. Retrieved February 26, 2008, from Seattle Human Services Departments. Web site: http://www.seattle.gov/humanservices/emergencyservices/shelter/default.htm Read More