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Homelessness in America

Homelessness in America. Shannon Bacon Joshua Duncan Katie Heid Suzanne Johnson. Homelessness in America. Great Depression Hoovervilles Riding the Rails New Deal Great Society Education Health Care Current Policies, Procedures & Statistics. Homelessness Definitions.

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Homelessness in America

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  1. Homelessness in America Shannon Bacon Joshua Duncan Katie HeidSuzanne Johnson

  2. Homelessness in America • Great Depression • Hoovervilles • Riding the Rails • New Deal • Great Society • Education • Health Care • Current Policies, Procedures & Statistics

  3. Homelessness Definitions • A situation where a person does not have a permanent residence. • The state or condition of having no home • People who lack housing • Person(s) lacking a fixed, regular, adequate nighttime residence • A consequence of globalization, urbanization, political and religious strife, financial restraint and physical disability including psychiatric disease and drug/alcohol addiction. Definitions provided by www.homeless.org

  4. Homelessness During the Great Depression • Great Depression Timeline • 1929 – Stock Market crash • 1930 – Unemployment Rate rises from 3.2% - 8.7% • 1931 – Unemployment rises to 15.9% • 1932 - Unemployment rises to 23.6% • 1932 – FDR defeats Hoover in presidential election • 1933 – Unemployment tops out at 24.9% Statistics provided by www.hyperhistory.com

  5. Homelessness During the Great Depression • Great Depression Timeline (con’t) • 1933 – Economy turns around; Unemployment drops to 21.7% • 1935 – Social Security Act is passed • 1939 – WWII begins • 1941 – U.S. enters WWII Statistics provided by www.hyperhistory.com

  6. Hoovervilles

  7. Hoovervilles • Villages during the Great Depression (1929-1940’s) • Named after President Herbert Hoover (President during beginning of Depression) • Coast to Coast shantytowns (New York –Seattle) • Some of larger Shantytowns were organized (Mayor, sanitary committee, other committees) • First sprung up in Seattle (Where the Kingdome now stands) • Largest Hooverville – Central Park - NYC • 1941 Seattle – shack elimination program (tore down shantytowns)

  8. Why Hoovervilles? • Joblessness due to the Great Depression • A community to keep families together • Between 1929-1933 – 100,000 businesses failed

  9. Riding the Rails Teenagers on the move during the Great Depression By: Errol Lincoln Uys 1931-1941

  10. Who Rode the Rails? • 250,000 homeless teenagers rode throughout America • 10% of riders were female • Teenagers (age 14+) • Some Educated (High school or college) • Girls sometimes dressed as boys to disguise themselves • Married couples (Looking for employment) • Families

  11. Why Ride the Rails? • Unemployment of Parents • Poverty at home • Feeling of being a burden • Seeking jobs (that didn’t exist) • School closings (1933-1934) • Couldn’t afford college • No jobs for college graduates • Looking for great adventure

  12. Job Opportunities • Rumors of where jobs were available • Following the harvests: California Midwest Pacific Northwest Texas or Southwest • Some found work on farms • Many box car children were exploited by their employers.

  13. African Americans on the Rails • Faced a greater challenge • Given Less food • Resided in barns as opposed to houses • On the road for an average of 6 months as opposed to 3 months of white riders • 95% of African Americans stated they were looking for work

  14. Dangers on the Rails • From 1929-1939: • 24,647 trespassers were killed on railroad property • 27,171 people were injured on railroad property • 1/3 of these people were minors • Youths caught trespassing were treated brutally or sent to prison • Railroad Bulls (or Detectives) • Patrolled railroads for illegal riders • Demanded riders to jump off • Beat riders with clubs or batons • Shot riders who remained on the train Wyoming & Texas Detectives: “Texas Slim” “Big Red” “Denver Bob”

  15. Health Risks • Hospitals treated boxcar children only if they were seriously ill • Many Diseases from: • Exposure • Lack of Cleanliness • Vermin • Infection • Malnourishment

  16. Jungles • Hobo Camps • Located near railroad tracks • Clearings for a campfire & provided a place for railroad kids to stay for the night • Well established Jungles (run by “old buzzards” – people who lived at the jungle)

  17. Relief Programs • Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) - 1933 • For 18-25 year old unemployed, unmarried men • Paid $30/month ($25 sent directly to families) • Tens of thousands of minors continued to ride the trains • Federal Transient Relief Service – 1933 • For people of all ages • Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA) – 1933 • Funded college work-study programs • Extended in 1935 to the National Youth Administration to help high school, college and graduate school students age 16-25

  18. The End of Riding the Rails • WWII and the end of the Great Depression ended the era of boxcar boys and girls • Jobs became available through the CCC • Many boxcar boys joined the military

  19. End of the Great Depression • FDR’s New Deal (many programs developed) • Inflating the money supply • Deficit Spending • World War II (creation of more jobs)

  20. New Deal • Franklin Roosevelt established programs between 1933-1937 (relief, recovery, and reform) • Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) – work relief program • Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) • Public Works Administration (PWA) • Works Progress Administration (WPA) • Social Security Act • Unemployment Insurance • Resettlement Administration & Farm Security Administration – relief for rural America

  21. Other Programs • Food Stamp Program – 1st developed in 1939 • Food Stamp Act – 1964 – (To be continued) • Medicare – (To be continued) • Medicaid - (To be continued) • Head Start – (To be continued) • Recovery Act of 1983 – (To be continued) • Hud Reform Act -1989 – (To be continued) • Many other programs designed to fight poverty and homelessness

  22. The Great Society Waging War on Poverty

  23. The 1950’s Fairytale • Post World War II • Booming economy, high employment • The forgotten ones: Skid Row

  24. Great Society Concepts • Provide a hand up, not a hand out • Opportunity • Give the voiceless a voice • Prevent poverty & homelessness

  25. War on Poverty • 12 programs • 11 still exist • Focus Areas for Presentation: • Education • Health Care

  26. Education • Head Start • Give opportunity • OEO summer program • Controversy in Mississippi • Today: serves 800,000/year

  27. Education • Higher Education Legislation • Scholarships, grants, work-study • Students today benefit • Elementary and Secondary Education Act • Help local schools

  28. Health Care • Medicare • 1963: Elderly lacked health insurance • Served 79 million since 1965 • Medicaid • Served 200 million since 1966

  29. Health Care • Health Professions Educational Assistance Act • Reducing Hunger • Food Stamp Program • School Breakfast Program • Funding Research • Impact • Life Expectancy

  30. Dwindling Support:1967 • Threatening the Powerful • Giving power to the poor • Vietnam • Congress threatened to cut programs

  31. Was the Great Society Really Great? • Controversial • Sparked more of a movement than intended • Helped middle class African Americans • Not as much change for the severely poor • Today

  32. Homelessness Today

  33. Homelessness Today • 3.5 Million people will experience homelessness in a given year • 1.35 million children are homeless on any given night • 41% of children are under the age of 5 • Families are fastest growing population of homelessness (2000 census – 39% of Nation’s Homelessness)

  34. Additional Problems of Homelessness • 25% of single adult population of homelessness suffers from persistent mental illness • Homeless spend more time in hospitals and jails than the housed poor • ¼ lack medical care • Homeless children do worse in school (low attendance & learning disabilities) • Majority of homeless have experienced hate crime • 1999-2005 – 472 acts of violence against homeless (169 murders while in shelter care)

  35. Measuring the Homeless • Point in time count – counts all people who are homeless on a give day or a given week • Period prevalence counts – examines the number of people who are homeless over a given period of time “Hidden Homelessness” not counted (59.2% former homeless report periodically living in cars or other homes)

  36. Increases in Homelessness • Since 1980 homelessness seems to be rising • Growth in shelter beds and low income housing is at less than ½ the growth of homelessness • In 182 cities in the US with population over 100,000 – rates tripled in the 1980’s • From 1987-1997 – 11 of these cities doubled in rates

  37. New U.S. Research • Largest group of homeless – 80% transitional • 10% stay and return in response to assistance efforts • Third Group – chronic homeless

  38. Reasons for Homelessness • Lack of affordable housing • Working families struggle to keep up • Declining federal support • Low profit margins bring neglect • Fraud and waste • Factors that inhibit construction

  39. Policies and Laws • 1981 – Housing and community development Amendments • Recovery Act of 1983 • Stewart B. McKinney Homelessness Assistance Act • 1989 – HUD Reform Act • Subsidized housing and voucher programs • NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard)

  40. Has Anything Changed?

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