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Essay about The social issue of homelessness in NC

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The Social Issue of Homelessness in North Carolina
People drive or walk past a homeless person almost every day without thinking twice about the plight of that person or they may even unconsciously turn their heads the other way in disgust. Homelessness simply put, means without a home - therefore homelessness is an equal opportunity state that can happen to anyone. Even though we have seen some economic prosperity over the years, statistics show that the number of homeless remains very high. With this in mind, communities need to come together at the state, city, and individual level to come up with solutions to mitigate the spreading of this problem.
The definition of homelessness varies depending on which organization you ask. The …show more content…

It should be noted that there are different types of homelessness. Homelessness as a result of a natural disaster like Katrina is temporary since those individuals are only displaced for a short period of time. Circumstantial homelessness occurs when someone’s circumstance change – like loss of income, illness, or domestic abuse - that causes them to lose or flee from their home. Finally there is long term homelessness that applies to those individuals who have problems with substance abuse, people who choose to remain homeless because they have become accustomed to that lifestyle, and those individuals with mental health issues. Effects of Homelessness (Bodine, n.d). It is long term homelessness that tends to have a more negative impact on communities.
As of January 1, 2011 a survey by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services found that 12,371 people identified as homeless individuals of which over 25 percent fell into the third type of homelessness (NC Department of Health and Human Services) and there are three major categories that drive this negative impact. The first category is healthcare. The cost of providing healthcare to the homeless is much higher than low income housed population since the homeless are prone to infectious and chronic diseases but do not have regular visits with the doctor

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