The Problem of Homelessness in America Free Essay Example

In the United States, homelessness is a prolonged issue that has been going on for decades. Whether you are in the heart of the country, major cities, or even the capital, you will see the homeless all over. The term homelessness first originated in the 1870’s but it did not have the same definition that it has today. When the term was first used in the 1870’s it was used to describe “ itinerant ‘tramps’ traversing the country in search of work.”(Annotation) Rather than a term used to describe someone without a home, how it’s defined today, it was used to describe people looking for work. Tramps were people who lost their jobs due to the economic depression and were forced to travel the country to look for new jobs. While these people who were traveling and looking for work may have had homes, they were still considered homeless because they did not have a place where they fully resided or a permanent residence. Today, these people wouldn’t be considered homeless, they may have had places where they could stay. Homelessness first became a national issue after the Civil War, also in the 1870’s. Homelessness was “facilitated by the construction of the national railroad system, urbanization, industrialization, and mobility led to the emergence of tramps ‘riding the rails’ in search of jobs.”(Annotation) Due to industrialization after the Civil War, many wanted to travel to cities and urban areas with the hopes of getting jobs. This massive increase in urbanization and industrialization led to “homelessness” in the various thriving cities and urban areas. In the 1880’s, the term “hobo” first came about to “soften public's perceptions of tramps.”(Annotation) These migrant laborers called “hobos”, popularized in the 1920's, were often romanticized in literature and described as people who were oppressed and monotony to factory work. At the start of the 1980’s our now definition of homelessness first came to be. The early 1980’s marked “ the emergence of what now may be considered the modern era of homelessness. Major forces that changed the complexion of homelessness in the modern era include gentrification of the inner city, deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, [and] high unemployment rate…”(Annotation) What we know as homelessness today emerged in the 1980’s. Today, homeless is defined as a person without a home; someone who may live on the street without a residence or place to stay. Even if someone has a place to stay, they may still be considered homeless if they do not have a permanent or fixed and constant residence. Homelessness can be caused by a variety of factors. In the 1980’s some of the factors included unemployment, gentrification, and mental illness, which are both still problems today. Gentrification is known as the process where lower income neighborhoods are turned into and evolved into higher class urban areas where the wealthy can move. Not only is this a problem today, but it was especially a problem in the late 1900’s because many couldn’t afford the new area that was evolving around them. The gentrification of cities not only misplaces families who previously lived in those neighborhoods, but it additionally prevents these low-income families from moving into neighborhoods that they may have been able to afford previously.