Why Are Poverty And Homelessness Social Issues?

"Poverty is a SOCIAL Problem." "Poverty is a SOCIAL Problem." | In this video, Dr. Dan discusses how and why poverty is a social issue. Load video

Poverty is the state of lacking enough resources to sustain a life free of suffering and death.

Homelessness is the state of lacking a place to remain.

A social issue is a problem that relates to other people. It is also an obstacle that must be overcome by more than one individual.

So to puzzle, "why is poverty and homelessness a social issue?" is to wonder...

Why is the state of lacking the resources necessary for a life free of death and suffering, and the state of lacking a place to remain, an obstacle that relates to a collection of individuals?

To fully understand the answer then, we need need to focus on at least 4 key questions:

1. Why is poverty a problem?
2. How does poverty relate to a collection of individuals?
3. Why is homelessness an issue?
4. How does it relate to society?

With those key questions in mind...

Here are the 4 most significant reasons why poverty and homelessness are social issues:

4) POVERTY IS A PROBLEM THAT AFFECTS ENTIRE SOCIETIES

At its core, poverty is a social issue because it affects more than one individual. It has been estimated that about 685 million people are impoverished in the world today (✓1).

While the origins of poverty can usually be traced back to the effects of a bad economy, poverty is not an entirely unsolvable issue. It needs only a collection of altruistic, like-minded individuals like you and me to discover and implement new ways to boost economies in regions where residents lack the resources necessary for maintaining a life that is free from death and suffering.

Poverty causes death and suffering by way of starvation...

It also causes death and suffering by way of lacking access to clean water and proper medical treatment.

Since human death and suffering are obstacles that must be overcome because they are unacceptable, and to be overcome it will likely take a collection of individuals working towards solving them rather than only one individual, poverty is a social issue because it causes death and suffering to collections of people.

3) HOMELESSNESS IS AN ISSUE THAT AFFECTS ENTIRE SOCIETIES

Homelessness too is a problem that affects many more than just one individual's well-being. The latest statistics on the number of people who are homeless today suggest that a whopping 150 million people are homeless in the world right now.

Homelessness causes death and suffering by way of hypothermia . It causes it too by lacking a place to remain to retreat to, to retreat from the cold, rain, and snow.

About 700 homeless individuals die from hypothermia each year (✓2).

For those who are fortunate enough to survive, the cold, rain, and snow make being homeless miserable.

Like poverty, homelessness, too, is a social issue because it involves more than one person. When a person is impoverished it can be difficult to pay the rent. So when poverty is abundant homelessness usually is as well.

Because both poverty and homelessness involve a collection of individuals rather than a single one or none, poverty and homelessness are social. The reason why they are issues is that they both cause death and suffering.

So another reason why poverty and homelessness are social issues is that homelessness involves a collection of individuals dying and suffering.

2) ENDING POVERTY WILL REQUIRE MORE THAN ONE PERSON

"Poverty is about more than a lack of income. It has a range of different socioeconomic dimensions, including: the ability to access services and social protection measures and to express opinions and choice; the power to negotiate; and social status, decent work and opportunities." - The United Nations Global Impact

Because poverty is such a complex, widespread issue, more than one individual, likely, will be required to reverse its devastating effects.

The world is desperately in need of altruistic people who will make it their life mission to solve poverty for regions in which death and suffering are tragically abundant.

If that sounds like something that you would be interested in, make it one of your top priorities to read voraciously. Learn as much about poverty and homelessness as you can. Make it your mission to arrive at novel solutions.

Of course, you may not be able to solve poverty on your own entirely.

But with enough like-minded individuals working on bettering the lives of all those who are affected by the devastating effects of poverty, we can each potentially make a noteworthy difference in the world.

Because it's unlikely that any individual will solve poverty on their own, poverty is a social issue because it requires more than one person to solve it.

So other than the fact that poverty affects more than one individual, another reason why poverty is a social issue is that it likely requires more than one individual to solve.

1) ENDING HOMELESSNESS WILL REQUIRE A SOCIETY

The same goes for homelessness.

Because homelessness is such a complex and multifaceted issue, a solution to homelessness will likely not arrive by any one single individual, but it will arrive instead by a collection of individuals working together towards solving its problems.

Since I have been working on the issue as part of my career, I've uncovered numerous subproblems that make homelessness difficult to solve. Many of these sub-problems require a solution in themselves to even have it make sense to work on other problems.

One such subproblem of homelessness is a public misconception.

Society seems to not want to shelter the homeless because we believe that it is too expensive to or that the homeless ought to be accountable for their shortcomings and thus figure out a solution to their homelessness on their own.

But the more I looked into the matter I'm convinced that many homeless people are effectively unable to provide shelter for themselves. Many of them have a mental illness which makes it difficult for them to maintain employment. Others have physical disabilities that also make it difficult to work.

But if you listen to what people say on the worldwide web, you'll find that many believe that the homeless as a whole are homeless due to their own faults. Many people observed on the internet seem to overemphasize personal shortcomings like laziness and employment adversity, and underemphasize the portion of the unsheltered who are unable to regain shelter due to disabilities.

About one-third of homeless individuals have a mental illness (✓4).

Many of the homeless are what is referred to as the chronically homeless, meaning that they have been homeless many times in the last 7 years or have remained homeless for a long time.

If we are to solve homelessness is going to take a collection of individuals, perhaps even the majority of individuals, believing in helping the unsheltered regain housing. Until that day comes however homelessness will probably always be an issue.

If any of us is ever going to solve poverty, we are going to need to get a majority of society also on board with helping the poor gain or regain necessary wealth.

So the final reason why homelessness and poverty are social issues is that both issues require an entire society to solve.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It might be said, however, that homelessness poverty are not social issues. It might be pointed out that both homelessness and poverty are, at least in part, the responsibility of the individual.

If a person has no money, for example, and the reason why they are so broke is that they live in a region that is so poor, then they ought to move out of that region. They ought to get a passport and move to a richer country.

As for homelessness, as another example, if a person is living a life unsheltered, and that person wants to no longer be homeless, then he or she ought to get a job or do whatever is necessary to get back on their feet. People can't rely on society to help them out of their problems. People ought to take personal responsibility for the problems that they face.

And to that, I'd say it is correct. Individuals should take personal responsibility for breaking down the barriers that stand between them and the life they'd like to realize.

But for some, that's entirely impossible. Many of the impoverished do not have the money to move to richer countries. Many of the homeless do not have the physical or mental well-being necessary for getting back on their feet.

If poverty and homelessness are to ever be solved entirely, it is going to take the goodwill of society to help the people who need help. There's no other way around it.

So poverty and homelessness are social issues. They are because it requires a large number of people to overcome each issue. They also are because they affect many more than just one individual.

summary

Poverty and homelessness are social issues for four main reasons.

First, poverty is a problem that affects entire societies. Anytime an obstacle is faced that involves more than one individual, it is often referred to as a social problem.

Next, homelessness is an issue that affects more than one person. More than a million people are homeless in the world right now.

For poverty to ever end, it will also take a collection of individuals to solve. Anytime a problem requires more than one individual for it to arrive at a solution, It can be said to be socially related.

Finally, homelessness is a social issue for the same reason as poverty as well. It is a very complex and multifaceted issue that will require more than one individual to end.