{"id":14897,"date":"2020-08-02T14:01:42","date_gmt":"2020-08-02T12:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.humanrightscareers.com\/?p=14897"},"modified":"2020-08-02T14:08:51","modified_gmt":"2020-08-02T12:08:51","slug":"essays-about-homelessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.humanrightscareers.com\/issues\/essays-about-homelessness\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Essays About Homelessness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Around the world, people experience homelessness. According to a 2005 survey by the United Nations, 1.6 billion people lack adequate housing. The causes vary depending on the place and person. Common reasons include a lack of affordable housing, poverty, a lack of mental health services, and more. Homelessness is rooted in systemic failures that fail to protect those who are most vulnerable. Here are five essays that shine a light on the issue of homelessness:<\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kqed.org\/news\/11801176\/what-would-housing-as-a-human-right-look-like-in-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>What Would &#8216;Housing as a Human Right&#8217; Look Like in California? (2020) &#8211; Molly Solomon<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n<p>For some time, activists and organizations have proclaimed that housing is a human right. This essay explores what that means and that it isn\u2019t a new idea. Housing as a human right was part of federal policy following the Great Depression. In a 1944 speech introducing what he called the \u201cSecond Bill of Rights,\u201d President Roosevelt attempted to address poverty and income equality. The right to have a \u201cdecent home\u201d was included in his proposals. Article 25 of the Universal Declaration also recognizes housing as a human right. It describes the right to an \u201cadequate standard of living.\u201d Other countries such as France and Scotland include the right to housing in their constitutions. In the US, small local governments have adopted resolutions on housing. How would it work in California?<\/p>\n<p>At KQED, Molly Solomon covers housing affordability. Her stories have aired on NPR\u2019s All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and other places. She\u2019s won three national Edward R. Murrow awards.<\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/talkpoverty.org\/2017\/06\/20\/people-get-wrong-try-end-homelessness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>\u201cWhat People Get Wrong When They Try To End Homelessness\u201d &#8211; James Abro<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n<p>In his essay, James Abro explains what led up to six weeks of homelessness and his experiences helping people through social services. Following the death of his mother and eviction, Abro found himself unhoused. He describes himself as \u201cfortunate\u201d and feeling motivated to teach people how social services worked. However, he learned that his experience was somewhat unique. The system is complicated and those involved don\u2019t understand homelessness. Abro believes investing in affordable housing is critical to truly ending homelessness.<\/p>\n<p>James Abro is the founder of Advocate for Economic Fairness and 32 Beach Productions. He works as an advocate for homeless rights locally and nationally. Besides TalkPoverty, he contributes to Rebelle Society and is an active member of the New Jersey Coalition to End Homelessness.<\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/china\/2019\/11\/14\/homelessness-has-become-a-problem-in-chinas-cities\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cNo Shelter For Some: Street-Sleepers\u201d (2019)<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>This piece (by an unknown author) introduces the reader to homelessness in urban China. In the past decades, a person wouldn\u2019t see many homeless people. This was because of strict rules on internal migration and government-supplied housing. Now, the rules have changed. People from rural areas can travel more and most urban housing is privatized. People who are homeless &#8211; known as \u201cstreet-sleepers\u201d are more visible. This essay is a good summary of the system (which includes a shift from police management of homelessness to the Ministry of Civil Affairs) and how street-sleepers are treated.<\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2020\/06\/01\/a-window-onto-an-american-nightmare\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>\u201cA Window Onto An American Nightmare\u201d (2020) &#8211; Nathan Heller<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n<p>This essay from the New Yorker focuses on San Francisco\u2019s history with homelessness, the issue\u2019s complexities, and various efforts to address it. It also touches on how the pandemic has affected homelessness. One of the most intriguing parts of this essay is Heller\u2019s description of becoming homeless. He says people \u201cslide\u201d into it, as opposed to plunging. As an example, someone could be staying with friends while looking for a job, but then the friends decide to stop helping. Maybe someone is jumping in and out of Airbnbs, looking for an apartment. Heller\u2019s point is that the line between only needing a place to stay for a night or two and true \u201chomelessness\u201d is very thin.<\/p>\n<p>Nathan Heller joined the New Yorker\u2019s writing staff in 2013. He writes about technology, higher education, the Bay Area, socioeconomics, and more. He\u2019s also a contributing editor at Vogue, a former columnist for Slate, and contributor to other publications.<\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newstatesman.com\/politics\/welfare\/2020\/02\/homelessness-ireland-crisis-point-and-vitriol-shown-towards-homeless-people\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>\u201cHomelessness in Ireland is at crisis point, and the vitriol shown towards homeless people is just as shocking\u201d (2020)#- Megan Nolan<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n<p>In Ireland, the housing crisis has been a big issue for years. Recently, it\u2019s come to a head in part due to a few high-profile incidents, such as the death of a young woman in emergency accommodation. The number of children experiencing homelessness (around 4,000) has also shone a light on the severity of the issue. In this essay, Megan Nolan explores homelessness in Ireland as well as the contempt that society has for those who are unhoused.<\/p>\n<p>Megan Nolan writes a column for the New Statesman. She also writes essays, criticism, and fiction. She\u2019s from Ireland but based in London.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":14915,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8805],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-issues","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v26.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>5 Essays About Homelessness | Human Rights Careers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.humanrightscareers.com\/issues\/essays-about-homelessness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Essays About Homelessness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.humanrightscareers.com\/issues\/essays-about-homelessness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Human Rights Careers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HumanRightsCareers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-02T12:01:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-02T12:08:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.humanrightscareers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/homeless-212591_1280.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emmaline Soken-Huberty\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@HuRiCareers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@HuRiCareers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emmaline Soken-Huberty\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanrightscareers.com\/issues\/essays-about-homelessness\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanrightscareers.com\/issues\/essays-about-homelessness\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Emmaline Soken-Huberty\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.humanrightscareers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6f1a5aa6d77a682162b2d76bcf1628e4\"},\"headline\":\"5 Essays About 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