Public Policy: Homelessness

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Table of Contents

Importance of the Topic
Key Stakeholders
Evaluated Policies
Literature Review
Important Legislations
Instrument Problems
Conclusion
References

The US government has been trying to fight the problem of homelessness but in vain. This is mainly because of lack of clear policymaking processes. This paper analyses previous policies made by the state and how they were applied.

Importance of the Topic

Many people in the US are dispossessed to an extent of lacking basic commodities such as food, shelter, education and clothing. Confirmed reports suggest that some individuals practically compete with rodents for food in streets, which give stakeholders and government a great responsibility of formulating policies to end the ugly situation. Homelessness is a very important concept because of several reasons.

One is that shelter is a basic need and turns up to be a human right. Any government that fails to protect its citizens against hazardous conditions should cease to exist. The major role of any government is to provide security, safety and create opportunities for self-fulfillment in the society.

Even though the government cannot offer shelter to its citizens directly, it must come up with well-placed policies that guarantee individual development (Kusmer, 2003).

A good regime must cater for people’s needs since it exists to serve citizens. Public servants are people’s employees because they earn their living through public money. They have a responsibility of assisting citizens to sustain their lives by providing better policies. This topic is important because many governments have failed or tumbled due to negligence.

People cannot be suffering while they pay taxes to the government. Homelessness creates a bad picture to the state’s image abroad. A state cannot achieve its interests abroad because of the poor status of its citizens. In other words, solving the problem of homelessness puts the state in an advantaged position both within and abroad.

Key Stakeholders

The major stakeholder in the issue of homelessness is the government. The government encounters many problems including rising cases of crime and difficulty in planning. Resources cannot be allocated adequately because of the unknown people who stay in the streets. Resources such as education, health services and security are not utilized or allocated efficiently.

Homeless individuals are susceptible to diseases and natural catastrophes such as hunger. The government from time to time is forced to relocate resources from other places to assist street children and the elderly who cannot provide for themselves.

Furthermore, the issue of security is of concern to the government. The homeless have no stable jobs, which forces them sometimes to engage in illegal businesses to sustain themselves (Baumohl, 1996).

Another stakeholder is the society in general that is, societal institutions involved in correction of behavior, childcare, street programs and rehabilitation. Such organizations are very important because homeless individuals are more willing to reveal their problems to non-government officials. Others risk deportation in case they engage a public officer in a housing debate.

The government alone cannot solve the problem of homelessness. Public officials must realize this and engage private/charitable organizations in solving the matter. Some institutions have stood firm to help the homeless even without government help. Charitable organizations adopt street children and promise to provide everything to them, including quality education and health care.

Fight against homeless demands the action of the whole society not specific institutions or individuals. Mental problems and other factors related to communal living are the leading causes of homelessness. The policy makers in government should acknowledge this and move forward to consult community based organizations in order to arrive at sound policies.

Evaluated Policies

The US need to address the problem of homelessness by reviewing the existing policies. Some of the policies are not favorable to the homeless. For instance, the rate of taxation is too high in that the low wage laborers cannot manage to pay as well as sustain themselves.

The government should subsidize the cost of housing for the poor and come up with incentives to encourage them to develop their own homes. The US economy is purely capitalistic, which does not make it easy for the poor to own property.

The rich become too rich while the poor continue languishing in great poverty. Unless the government comes up with measures to check on this, no substantial achievements can be made (Kraft, & Furlong, 2010).

Lending institutions do not entertain the poor or rather the homeless hence they cannot access funds to construct houses for themselves. The requirements for mortgage qualification are too many, most of which are out of reach for the poor.

The policy makers must come up with suitable strategies to force lending institutions to accept the pledges of the poor. The government needs to collaborate with private lending institutions to assist the homeless.

Literature Review

Ever since 1980s, the US government has been active and willing to help the homeless. In 1985, the government increased funding to homeless services even though correct policies were not put in place. In 1987, the government stepped up to eradicate homelessness by endorsing McKinney Homeless Assistance bill. The bill was one of the major congressional actions aimed at doing away with poverty.

The bill did little because of its tenets. It required local states to match federal dollars with a particular fraction. The bill only created an opportunity for funding but had no affirmative action. The houses built through McKinney funding were temporary since they never belonged to the homeless.

The department of Housing and Urban Development brought in some major changes in 1995 since it allowed the homeless to own houses for some time.

The new program advocated for continuity and provision of coordinated services such as admission of the homeless and evaluation of their lives, offering shelter on either temporary or permanent basis, as well as recognizing the rights of the homeless by providing recreational facilities.

There was another affirmative action in 1990 where the government attempted to uplift the lives of the poor. In 1995, the Rural Economic and Community Development department was put in place by the ministry of agriculture to advance the lives of the rural poor.

Important Legislations

The intention of homelessness legislation is to facilitate eradication of homelessness and reduce the load that lead to homelessness. For instance, the “No Child Left behind Act”, which was approved in 2001 ensures that schools do not discriminate homeless children by coming up separate classes.

In fact, it is a criminal offence to exercise discrimination against homelessness. Besides, one of the key aims of the McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance Act was to put off schools from keeping out learners who could not provide contacts of their houses.

The Chronic Homelessness Initiative Act created by Bush aimed at ending persistent homelessness by the year 2012. To help in realizing this objective, the head of state collaborated with the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to form a plan that helps homeless persons obtain shelter and employment in quite a few communities.

Instrument Problems

Unfortunately, nothing substantial has been achieved as far as homelessness is concerned. The policies formulated by the legislature and the executive never succeeded mainly because they never complied with the policymaking processes. The need was there, the policy was made and implemented but proper evaluation of the same policy was never undertaken.

Policy making process involves some important processes that must not be neglected. They include agenda building, formulation and adoption, implementation and finally evaluation and termination. Evaluation implies identifying how well a strategy is functioning and it is not a simple job. Individuals in government normally employ cost-benefit scrutiny in attempting to unearth the problem.

The government needs to discover whether the resources being spent in resettlement of homeless are worth the process (Smith, 2002). Government policies have failed simply because of neglecting one process of policymaking, that is, evaluation.

Conclusion

The problem of homelessness should be addressed immediately because it causes many problems. The state spends a lot of money in treating the homeless people, as well offering security to the victims of homelessness. The society is not safe at all. More legislative action is required to reinforce other existing policies in solving the problem.

Again, the state must reach out to other stakeholders in order to gain more insight as regards to the problem. More importantly, policy makers must always abide by the processes of policymaking and follow them to the later in case they are to succeed in solving the problem.

Solving homelessness is inevitable since it is a human right. It is laughable for citizens of the great nation to stay in the cold. It taints the image of the superpower and lowers the dignity of Americans who should be enjoying good life. The US cannot be providing aid to the third world countries yet its own people spend their nights in the cold.

References

Baumohl, J. (1996). Homelessness in America. Phoenix: Oryx Press.

Kraft, M., & Furlong, R. (2010). Public Policy: Politics, Analysis, and Alternatives (3rd ed.). New York, NY: CQ Press.

Kusmer, K. (2003). Down and Out, On the Road: The Homeless in American History. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Smith, K. (2002). “Typologies, Taxonomies, and the Benefits of Policy Classification”. Policy Studies Journal, 30(3).

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