Analysis of Poverty and Homelessness: A Sociology Perspective

This essay delves into the multifaceted causes of poverty and homelessness in the United States, highlighting the interconnectedness of these issues. The analysis identifies the rise in housing costs, drug abuse and mental illness, disorganized societies, and societal changes as key contributing factors. The essay explores the impact of stagnant wages, housing market forces, and discriminatory housing policies on affordable housing availability. It also examines the role of drug culture, mental illness, and single-female-headed households in exacerbating poverty. The essay concludes that poverty and homelessness are the result of long-standing societal inefficiencies and economic factors. References are provided for further research and understanding.

SOCIOLOGY
Cause-Effect Essay: Poverty and Homelessness

Introduction
Poverty and Homelessness can undermine the economy of any country, including the
United States and both the issues are interlinked to each other. In order to develop and
implement the solutions to address the issue, it is first imperative to understand the causes of
the poverty and homelessness. The following report would shed light on the causes of
poverty and homelessness in the American society. The key causes identified are the rise in
cost of housing, drug abuse and mental illness, disorganized societies and societal changes
over the years. The causes are elaborated in detail along with the conclusions.
Causes of poverty and homelessness
The existence of poverty in the American Society dates back to the late eighteenth
century, when the country was formed. Various researches over the years have led to the
identification of three major factors that have contributed to the issues of poverty and
homelessness in the American society, as elaborated below.
The first key reason is the consistent rise in the cost of housing and changes in the
national housing market. The issue of the affordable houses is a major crisis in the country
prevailing since the mid-1970s. It is essential to note that while the growth of the wages have
become stagnant over the years, the median rent and the cost of the properties have increased
sharply, as depicted from the graph below.

(Source: Slsson, Andrews & Bazeley, 2020)
The various market factors in the form of the market forces, demographic changes,
policy decisions have collectively led to the difficulty in the availability of the affordable
houses. It would not be wrong to state that the long standing racist, redlining housing policy
in the country has also led to the issues in the availability of the home owners. This is
because the same are focused on the preference of the single-family homes as the means of
the accumulation of wealth and the differences between the white and black Americans.
Additionally, the cost of building homes have been on a rise in terms of the cost of labor and
materials specially after the housing crisis in the year 2008.
The next key reason for the prevailing homelessness and poverty is the drug culture in
the American society which is deep rooted, and is a major cause of other issues like mental
illness. It would not be wrong to state that the mental illness is the new definition of the
society of America. As per the recent statistics around 20% to 25% of the population of the
country is suffering from the some or the form of severe mental illness (Solutions Center,
2020). The outcomes of such illness are the interference in the relationships, inability to carry
out the employment work and household management, and avoidance of self-care. In
addition, the drug culture in the country undermine the capability of youth and leads to
serious health issues like skin diseases, tuberculosis, HIV and others. The combination of all
of these factors result in the instability in management of home and continue employment and
thus cuts off the monetary support from the society leading to poverty.
Apart from the above, the yet another key reason is increase in the single female
headed households in the society that are dysfunctional. The population of women and
children is growing at a relatively fast pace in the country, which highlights the society is
composed of unstable relationships, stressed and alienated individuals, and an overall
disorganization (Abro, 2014). The decline in public assistance is additionally widespread.
The state and federal cuts makes it more difficult for the lower income class groups to sustain
the competition, the rise in the prices of the basic necessities and thus, affordable living
becomes is a far distant dream. Some of the other reasons are that of global recession,
unstable stock markets, difficult norms of obtaining financial assistance and tough policy
decisions on the part of the regulators.
The discussions conducted in the previous parts lead to the conclusions that a number
of factors have led to the poverty and homelessness in the country. It is concluded that the

poverty and homelessness did not prevail overnight, rather the same is the product of the
varied inefficiencies in the society for over four decades, the result of which are evident in
the present times.

References
Abro, J. (2014). Poverty and Homelessness are Human and Civil Rights Issues. Retrieved
from: https://talkpoverty.org/2014/10/09/poverty-and-homelessness/
Slsson, P., Andrews, J. & Bazeley, A. (2020). The affordable housing crisis, explained.
Retrieved from: https://www.curbed.com/2019/5/15/18617763/affordable-housing-
policy-rent-real-estate-apartment
Solutions Center (2020). What causes homelessness? Retrieved from:
https://www.solutionsfdl.com/resources/what-causes-homelessness/