Is Homelessness due to Social or Individual factors?

Answer 1

Homelessness is actually due to not having a place of your own to sleep in. It is neither Social nor Individual. Been there done that!

Answer 2

It depends on why the person is homeless. Some people are mentally ill and they have no place to go. Some people lose their jobs and the can't find another in time to pay their rent. They can end up in their car. Some people run from bad home situations and think they can start a new life...it's not always so easy.

If I had to choose, I'd say social factors because society could help people with these issues, but we choose to turn away and say that it's the homeless person's fault that they're in the situation. "Why don't they just get a job?" is the usual remark.

I know that there are some people who simply choose this type of life. Some people would rather be on the move or free from any obligations, but they are certainly in the minority when you are speaking of the homeless.

It's the shame of our nation in my opinion.

Answer 3

Most homeless individuals got that way due to one bad break. Many people in the United States are just one check away from being homeless -- that is, if they suddenly missed one pay check, they would lose their house, possessions, credit, etc. There are, of course, individuals who create their homelessness, but they are the exception, not the norm.
Social factors that influence homelessness are lack of access to resources like adequate housing and mental health providers, inadequate employment opportunities, too many restrictions on government aid, to name a few.

Answer 4

It is due to political factors. If the minimum wage was higher - there would less poverty and less homelessness. If national and local government improved the infrastructure - and released land it would provide new homes and help to stabilise property prices. They could even build a new town somewhere. It has been done before with Telford and Milton Keynes. In some countries they could even plan a new city or cities. Las Vegas was built in the desert and was a success. Why not build a cyber city with in built techology where people would want to go and leave homes free in over populated cities. A city with it's own intranet would be good.

Answer 5

Both. There are so many factors top being homeless ranging to mental illness to drugs to having a hard time finding a job because of felony(ies) to losing the job they had and simply not poaying rent. On the flip, at least in Dallas, society tends to care so little about the problem and there is so much corruption involved with the people charged to solve it that society tends to turn a blind eye to the real issues and therefore nothing ever gets solved.

Homelessness is such a big problem I doubt it will ever be fully solved. However; us as a society could do MUCH better than we do.

Answer 6

Both...Individuals ultimately make choices about how they are going to live. However, society can make these choices difficult. It is not fully the fault of the person that they're in this situation. You can be homeless for several reasons and getting out of homelessness may be due to the resources available, your mental state, your ties to the street....

Answer 7

Social factors are mainly finding affordable housing. Poor people tend to rent more often than buy a house, however rental properties are taxed at a higher rate than owner occuppied plus carry insurance and a profit to the owner. This makes renting cost more than buying, because those costs are not absorbed by the owner, but passed to the renter.
Personal factors include pper money management leading to poor credit so these people can't get loans to buy.
The social factor associated with it is lack of education in schools on money management.
There are certainly people who have mental illness or addiction problems, but most work hard but don't make enough to pay their bills. They have to choose between food, medicine or rent.

Answer 8

it can be both... some people have external factors that lead to homelessness such as natural disasters or financial collapse due to the sudden loss of job or something like that. then there are cases of people who are careless with their money who bring homelessness on themselves... these people "deserve" it, because it is a consequence of their actions, whereas someone who was unable to control the factor of their homelessness can't do anything about it right away. and so its a fine line in society whether to bail people out who are careless and bail people out who just need a hand up you know? so i think that its a middle ground between the two.

Answer 9

A combination of both social and individual factors, not to mention political factors as well.

Cheers!

Answer 10

good question, when i go out on nights out there are always beggars and homeless people on the streets. probably because i am drunk i nearly always give them some money, but my partner says that i am only putting towards there next fix. i try to picture myself in there situation ,but because i have a lot of family i could i could not ever see myself as having to live on the street. different peoples lives are so complicated i think we should not judge.i think it is down to individual factors and situations