Homelessness in America has been a major issue for centuries now, and although the efforts put towards assisting our fellow Americans in need have been prevalent, the success of these efforts is simply not seen. The methods used to this day haven't changed much in over 50 years and Arizona needs to adopt more modern concepts if we want to properly help these people get off the streets. Since 1870 the horrifying issue of homelessness has been taking Arizona by storm, with the sides of every major highway turned into camps for American citizens failed by society. “After declining briefly after the Civil War, homelessness first became a national issue in the 1870s. Facilitated by the construction of the national railroad system, urbanization, industrialization, and mobility” (National Academy Of Sciences, 2018). 

A direct cause of homelessness is the issue of industrialization, jobs that force hours of manual labor without much pay end up overworking and putting down people who get sucked into the system. After this point, once the individual is incapable of feeding into the workforce they are cast aside and given scraps to help them survive. The unfortunate reality of these people’s lives isn't just the system that failed them but also the society that shuns and shames them. Society seems to see homeless individuals as clutter in the streets and treats them as such, with homeless people being common receptors of hate crimes and violence. In 2016 there were about 83 reported violent acts against homeless people among which 37 souls were lost. These crimes against humanity aren’t even mentioned in major media and more often than naught these horrible situations are ignored simply due to their depressing nature. Not only are these people suffering but they are also looked down upon for their suffering. 

But who are these people? Statistically, minority groups such as native and black Americans are more at risk of falling into homelessness. “Although homelessness can touch all areas of the country, as we’ve seen in the Great Depression and the financial crisis of 2008, it often impacts minority and marginalized populations in underserved communities more predominantly” (Sheppard, 2021). Racial minorities aren't the only ones susceptible to homelessness, other minorities such as the LGBTQ+ youth are also susceptible but for a different reason. While racial minorities have years of oppression holding them to the failing system LGBTQ+ youth is a different case. Due to the controversial stigma surrounding the concept of homosexuality society ends up holding down LGBT Q+ youth. Although nowadays major progress has been made in terms of making sure they won't struggle as much in society, a large part of queer youth is still on the streets. This is typically due to family troubles and a general unacceptance in domestic homes. 

Now the issue of homelessness hasn’t been completely brushed under the rug, with multiple programs and organizations being created to help homeless people. Among these is the integration of health care into homeless populations, homeless shelters and education have also been established in attempts to help the homeless population, although they aren't popular with homeless people. Due to a lack of careful attention and care put into these programs, the programs have a lot of flaws, such as the homeless shelters. Homeless shelters are well known among homeless people as items to avoid. With shelters having a lack of close attention cases of thievery, sexual assault, and disease are well known to be prevalent in these shelters. The concept itself although well-meaning was flawed, cramming a hundred desperate people in a cramped area was destined to fail.

Now the idea that was destined to fail had 2 key flaws that led to its failure. 1. It was too widespread and didn’t allow for attention put into individuals. 2. It did not provide any support beyond helping them stay alive. There is a way to twist the concept of homeless shelters and establish a renewed version of it, which could severely reduce some of the number of homeless people in Arizona. This renewed concept is called “Permanent Supportive Housing”, as the name suggests it gives small houses to 2-3 people along with assistance. Assistance such as medical programs, outreach, and health care. These programs would involve cycling people in and out and would be more focused on getting people on their feet in a safer way. With simple health care programs which include regular visits from volunteers we can ensure the safety of homeless people in this program, if given a measly 300k we can establish a community here in Arizona on a state-owned property to implement this program into our homeless population and maybe at some point further pursue options such as this. Programs like this have a history of reducing homeless populations by significant amounts. “ This model has been demonstrated to permanently keep the majority of persons who enter the program from ever becoming homeless again. Communities, utilizing this approach, realize better than 90% success rate in avoiding a return to homelessness.” (Jamboree, 2019). The effectiveness of these programs has been evident and has even worked for Arizona in the past, with homeless populations on the rise especially post covid it’s so necessary to do what we can to get our fellow Americans off the streets. 

Work cited 

Sciences, N. A. of, Engineering, & Medicine, and. (2018, July 11). The history of homelessness in the United States. Permanent Supportive Housing: Evaluating the Evidence for Improving Health Outcomes Among People Experiencing Chronic Homelessness. Retrieved March 4, 2022, from ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519584/ 

Sheppard, S. (2021, March 21). An overview of homelessness. Verywell Mind. Retrieved March 4, 2022, from verywellmind.com/an-overview-of-homelessness-5079448 

What is permanent supportive housing? Jamboree Housing Corporation. (2019, January 6). Retrieved March 4, 2022, from affordablehousingpipeline.com/blogs/california-affordable-housing/what-is-permanent-supportive-housing