My capstone
PRESENTED AND CREATED BY; LEAH POTTIE
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
What I will Be Covering...
Essential question and reasoning
Types of Homelessness
Why are people homeless and the causes
Statistics
Stigma around Homelessness
Employment issues
Interviews
Volunteering
What you can do to help
Finished outlook
WHAT CAN I DO TO ETHICALLY HELP PEOPLE
SUFFERING FROM HOMELESSNESS IN MY
COMMUNITY?
Essential question...
WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS QUESTION?
I chose this question because I've always taken an interest in
humanitarian-style work and helping others. Homelessness is something
that really sticks out to me. Not having a place to call home and sleeping
in the cold should be something that nobody ever should experience.
I really want to learn about how I can help them long-term, and risk-free.
Giving them spare change or some excess food is great, but does it help
fix the issue or help them long term? Not really. So I want to explore what I
can do to help that will last.
I've been volunteering at The Gateway Of Hope and doing extra research
to answer my question and get hands-on experience along with facts to
back up my opinions as this can be a controversial topic.
Section 1
RESEARCH, FACTS,
AND STATISTICS
Some facts on the homeless community and reasoning behind it. Stigma and
assumptions are very common around this topic so let's get to the bottom of it.
GETTING INTO THE FACTS...
TYPES OF HOMELESSNESS
CONCEALED ABSOLUTE CHRONIC EPISODIC
Individuals who are
Things like couch
currently homeless
surfing, living in your Sleeping or staying
An unaccompanied and have experienced
car, or friends' houses.
in shelters provided at least three periods
This is because they homeless individual
by welfare or other of homelessness in the
have nowhere else to with a disabling
institutions or in the previous year.
live, but do not sleep condition.
street/public areas. Common for people
on the streets or in
who suffer from drug
shelters.
use.
THE TOTAL NUMBER OF PEOPLE EXPERIENCING
HOMELESSNESS PER YEAR FROM 2007-2020.
Data collected from [Link]
600,000
400,000
200,000
0
Overall Individuals People in families Chronically Veterans Youth
HOMELESSNESS IN TYPES OF PEOPLE
Counts by race/ethnicity 2020 Counts by gender 2020
Pacific Islander Transgender
Multi-racial 1.2% 0.5%
5%
Hispanic White Female
18.3% 39.5% 38.5%
Male
60.7%
Black
32.2% Data collected from [Link]
WHY ARE PEOPLE HOMELESS?
Homelessness can arise from many things. There is a
big stigma around homelessness when it really is
caused by common things we all know about
including;
Poverty
Expensive housing
Domestic violence in relationships
Unemployment
Coming out of prison
After serving in the army/veteran
Mental health issues
Physical disabilities
Substance abuse
Family issues/ huge life changes
REASONING
These things can all obviously affect housing and the housing crisis, but why
is it so hard to get back on your feet after becoming homeless?
One main reason is jobs/working. People can say "Oh you're homeless, well,
get a job" and this does not really work because there are so many other
factors that go into getting a job and overall getting back on your feet.
These are just a few basic reasons why it is much harder and almost
impossible for homeless people to just 'go get jobs.'
EMPLOYMENT Sex Worker
1%
Though not given the same media coverage,
Panhandling
many people experiencing homelessness in 4%
Canada are in fact employed, so the excuse
of "get a job" is really untrue.
According to a study done in 2016 in Binning
Vancouver, many people in Vancouver are 4%
suffering from homelessness but are still
making money.
Overall
Overall 23% of the homeless community in 23%
Vancouver are employed/earn money.
IS MONEY THE ANSWER?
A study was conducted by the charity Foundations for Social Change and UBC. It identified 50
people in the Vancouver area who had become homeless in the past two years. In spring 2018, it
gave them each one sum of $7,500 and told them to do whatever they wanted with the cash.
A homeless man named Ray who received this money went with one of the program
representatives to open a bank account!
The results showed that people who received the cash moved into stable housing and saved
enough money to maintain financial security over the year of follow-up. They decreased
spending on substances by 39 percent on average, and increased spending on food, clothes,
and rent, according to self-reports.
“Counter to really harmful stereotypes, we saw that people made wise financial choices,” Claire
Williams, the CEO of Foundations for Social Change, told me. -[Link]
STIGMA AROUND HOMELESSNESS
I've never really understood why there is such a
stigma around homelessness.
You never know someone's story until you walk in
their shoes. Many people are homeless because of
life events or disabilities that lead them to live on the
streets and then later turn to drugs and substances
if any.
Why do we judge people just for struggling? Why do
we judge people who need a helping hand? Nobody
would ever CHOOSE to be in this position so why look
down on them?
WHY IS THERE A STIGMA?
"Homeless people are dirty/unhygienic."
"Homeless people are socially deviant."
"Homeless people are potentially violent or sexual predators."
"Homeless people are threatening, violent, and/or engage in criminal
behaviour."
These are a few things that are thought and said about homeless
people in communities, but why are we placing these ideas on
people we don't even know?
Not only does this anger represent a serious social problem, but it
also increases the risk of homeless people being targeted for
violence or worse. Such widespread anger also makes enacting
social problems to help the homeless that much harder to
implement.
HOW CAN WE BREAK THIS STIGMA?
We can work towards breaking this stigma by not
judging and recognizing that we do not know
everyone's story!
We can all work towards helping others and doing
things like;
Knowing the facts
Educate yourself about mental illness including
substance use and disorders.
Be aware of your attitudes and behaviour
Choose your words carefully
Educate others
Focus on the positive
Support people
Include everyone.