Why is Homelessness a Social Problem?

"Homelessness as a Social Problem." "Homelessness as a Social Problem." | In this video, a young woman offers interesting facts and statistics about homelessness and its problems. Load video

Social problems are issues that negatively impact society. They are problems that affect other people. Is homelessness a social problem?

According to Morgan, the young lady in the video above, yes. Homelessness is a social problem because it negatively impacts other people. Four unobvious reasons for this exist.

Here are the 4 top unobvious reasons that homelessness is a social problem:

4) HOMELESSNESS IS A THREAT TO SOCIETAL GOALS

The first reason why homelessness is a social problem is it is a threat to societal goals.

Society is a collection of people working together towards common goals

The common goals that society strives for usually relate to optimizing the lives of all in society. Creating a good life for its members is society's primary goal. Homelessness works against that.

So homelessness is a problem that needs to be solved rather than a way to live a good life. It is unhealthy, ugly, and expensive.

another way to think about the negative impact of homelessness

If an entire society decided to go homeless today, would that society be better or worse than a non-homeless society?

Some good would come from an entire society becoming homeless. With no obligation to pay rent, many members wouldn't work. Not working would free up time to pursue personal hobbies. It would also free up more time for family and the community. As a result, we'd help each other more.

Imagine a large community of people hanging out together. We could help each other through hard times, and provide emotional support to the mentally ill.

the consequences of homelessness to society

The consequence of an entire society not living in homes, however, is that no need would exist to go to jobs. We wouldn't need to pay rent. The result of this is that society would have a surplus of services that are interesting and enjoyable to offer, but a shortage of products and services that are needed but unenjoyable to manufacture.

More specifically, products like large bridges and computer programs would not be built. Products of these kinds require years of education to build. Twelve years of college to a person who doesn't need to work to pay the rent might seem like a waste of time. Why acquire the skills to produce them?

An abundance of products means products are cheaper

The reason why some things are expensive is that they're scarce. Homelessness makes products and services more scarce. Thus, if homelessness did not exist, products would be cheaper.

That's why society is worse off with homelessness. With no obligation to pay rent, many homeless don't work. To society, unemployment contributes nothing. The homeless have no reason to get up in the morning and slave at a toilet paper factory, for example. But society needs toilet paper. Instead, homelessness takes away from societal resources. That is the opposite of what good societies strive for.

So the first way that homelessness is a problem is that it poses a threat to societal goals.

3) HOMELESSNESS IS DESTRUCTIVE TO THE ECONOMY

The next reason why homelessness is a problem is it is destructive to the economy. It is expensive to taxpayers and results in a loss of valuable goods and services.

how homelessness is expensive to taxpayers

Homelessness is destructive to the economy because it is expensive to taxpayers. Tax money goes to food, temporary shelter, and medical. 35,000 to 45,000 is spent each year on the problem of homelessness. This means that for every homeless person, the taxes of at least four working people are needed to support them. Homelessness costs society a lot of money.

This is a problem because good societies need good economies. Good economies improve the lives of their members. With a lot of money flowing around, people can buy what they need. Lives are improved that way. The better the economy, the better the lives of its members. But money is always in short supply. We need all the money we can get.

Homeless individuals take resources rather than contribute. Instead of helping society generate more money, the homeless deplete scarce resources.

Of course, devoting money to homelessness is the reason good societies strive for good economies. It is the kind of life-improving benefit that a good economy can offer. But if people were not homeless, society would have more money for other pursuits. Instead of spending money on homelessness, for example, we could devote millions more to a cure for cancer. So the first reason why homelessness is destructive to the economy is that it costs taxpayers money.

how homelessness results in a loss of goods and services

In addition to burdening taxpayers, the second reason that homelessness is destructive to the economy is that homelessness results in a loss of GDP. GDP is the acronym that economists use for gross domestic product. Gross domestic product is the total amount of valuable goods and services a society produces. The more society produces valuable goods and services, the better off members are. This is because good products and services are never too abundant. The more valuable goods and services society has to flow through it, the cheaper goods and products are to its members.

how homelessness contributes to more scarcity

The price we pay for valuable goods and services is the cost of never having enough of them. High prices exist because goods and services are always in short supply. It would be a different world if we had everything needed and more. Everything would be breathtakingly affordable. We would have more time for other pursuits because no need would exist to waste time producing and offering more goods and services.

Homeless individuals often don't work, so they don't produce anything. They need not work because rent is free.

The cellphone or computer you are interacting with right now, for example, probably wasn't produced by a homeless person. Valuable goods and services are produced by people who need money for rent.

Therefore, another reason homelessness is a problem is it costs society money.

2) HOMELESSNESS IS INCONVENIENT TO SOCIETY

In addition to posing a threat to societal goals and the economy, homelessness is also inconvenient for society.

Not only are the homeless expensive to society because they often rely on charity, but the homeless also tend to be messy. Walk around the city, and we will know where a homeless person sleeps. Plastic milk containers with urine are left behind of grocery stores. Food wrappers fill the indent of the earth in which they slept. I sometimes see items left behind that don't make sense, like dirty boxers and socks on top of pizza boxes.

The trash that is often left behind by the homeless is a burden to society. It is a burden because people have to clean up after them. While homelessness usually is not the reason people with no home are messy, cleaning up after the homeless drains precious time that could be spent elsewhere. That is why society holds such a grudge against the homeless.

Many people who go homeless for the first time are surprised at how opposed society is to their situation. Business owners call the police if the homeless find shelter behind the store. Police wake the homeless and hand out tickets when they sleep at the park. The society holds such a grudge because many of the homeless are messy. Cleaning after them is inconvenient.

Thus, homelessness is also a social problem because it is inconvenient to society.

1) HOMELESSNESS BREEDS ILLNESS

Finally, homelessness is a social problem because it breeds sickness. Studies suggest that the homeless are twenty times more likely to suffer from hepatitis C and HIV. This poses a problem to society because both of them are transmittable. Due to poor health homeless live, on average, over a decade less than the housed.

In addition, as a result of not having a home, the homeless are sometimes forced to defecate in public. Public defecation can spread hepatitis C and even HIV in some cases. In addition, fecal matter contains bacteria. Some bacteria can be dangerous to us.

Not only that, but public defecation can spread fungal and parasitic infections. If the homeless only had a home, public defecation would not occur. Public defecation puts society at risk for illness.

So the final reason why homelessness is a social problem is that it breeds sickness in society.

FINAL THOUGHTS

While homelessness doesn't harm society by taking away scarce resources, instead of helping the homeless is one of the reasons why society needs more resources. The problem with that way of thinking however is that it feels too acknowledged that if homelessness were not a problem we would have more resources for something else important like putting more money towards saving the dolphins. While we must remember that homelessness is often not a choice but a misfortune, we must also acknowledge that homelessness is a problem, it is an obstacle that needs to be overcome, and the problem affects people and society. So homelessness without a doubt is a social problem.

conclusion

Homelessness is a social problem for four reasons. First, it is a threat to societal goals. A good society aims to make the lives of each member in its as good as possible. Homelessness works against those aims by requiring a vast amount of resources that could be spent on other important things.

Homelessness is also destructive to the economy because homeless individuals cost taxpayers a lot of money and they do not contribute to gross domestic product.

Also, homelessness is a problem because it is inconvenient to society. The homeless, while it is often not their fault, our messy people. Society spends valuable time picking up after them. That causes hostility.

Finally, homelessness is a social problem because it breeds disease. The homeless are 20 times more likely to carry HIV and hepatitis C both of which are transmittable to other members of society.

In short, homelessness is a social problem because it negatively impacts society.

If we are to finally acknowledge that homelessness is not only a problem of the individual but a social problem as well, meaning that it negatively impacts people around them rather than only themselves, then we can finally work towards solving the problem of homelessness for what it is: nuanced and complex.

Too often is it easy to get distracted by the severe sadness that overcomes us from seeing the homeless that way. Too often does the sadness of seeing the problem to the individual blind us from seeing the social problems that exist in homelessness. Social problems need solutions too.

So the next time you see a homeless person, "think homelessness is a social problem because not only is it destructive to the individual, but it is destructive to society."