Austin Yaeger
Mrs. Jank
English 2
9 February 2018
Homeless people in America
In some circumstances, the American people choose to see homeless people as disposable. There are many types of people who are homeless and reasons why they are where they ended up. Some reasons are out of there control, and some are just because of poor decision making. This can easily be seen through how homelessness has changed, poor health / mental illnesses, employment, how it impacts them and how America needs to step up and help. Who knows; maybe one day someone you know could end up like one of these people and see what they really go through on a daily basis.
Homelessness has changed throughout the years and shows why homeless people today are considered disposable to some. In “Citizen Hobo: How a Century of Homelessness Shaped America” by John Baranski, he shows how homeless people were back then, and how they have changed. In his book, he says that the homeless people back then were “Mostly young, single, and male, these hobos by necessity and choice hopped the rails in search of seasonal jobs and relief, using their wits, each other, and labor as their primary means of survival.” (Baranski 271). This goes to say that these homeless men became homeless on purpose so that they could hitch a ride on trains to find a new life. Nowadays, people can become homeless on purpose, but it’s not a good choice to. People today become homeless from losing money and other problems relating to that. Pertaining to them being considered disposable, Baranski also states that “…hobos at many turns faced public hostility and the gaze of reformers.” (Baranski 271). Baranski is saying that back then, people were still treated as “disposable” as they were being looked down upon for what they were doing. Just like today, the homeless people back then were being perceived as disposable. The people didn’t want them in their towns trashing everything up, sort of like today with some people in America.
It’s important to realize that how homeless people were back then isn’t the only example that can show how people think of them as disposable. Poor health can also cause homelessness, which then leads to more and more major issues down the road. Poor health associating with homeless people has always been a major concern when dealing with the homeless. In “Homelessness and the Public’s Health: Legal Responses” by Barbara DiPietro, she also says that “Poor health is simultaneously a cause and consequence of homelessness.” (DiPietro 28). This quote further explains that having poor health can get someone wound up in terrible situations. Having major health issues and not being able to pay hospital bills can get people homeless very fast. Homeless people also lack health insurance, so they have no one to back them up if they end up sick or injured and have a massive bill to pay. DiPietro responds to that problem by saying how “Lack of health insurance and access to basic health services lead homeless populations to frequent emergency rooms and hospitals more often than general public.” (28). Like DiPietro said, homeless people with poor health wind up in emergency rooms more often than the non homeless people do. That’s because homeless people live on the street with no protection or shelter. Homeless people sometimes can’t pay for medicine or other remedies, so they rely on trust that their body can overcome whatever they have. Society may see sick homeless people on the street and think that they are useless because they can’t provide for themselves or get some help from a professional.
However, poor health is not the only reason society sees homeless people as disposable.
Unemployment in homeless people is a deep concern in how they will make money and get back on their feet. Some employers don’t want homeless people because they can’t trust what they can do because of their past life. They would rather have someone that can support themselves and show up to work everyday. In the journal “Barriers to obtaining employment for people with severe mental illness experiencing homelessness” by Daniel Poremski, he talks about how getting a job when you’re homeless is nearly impossible, and how when they have mental disorders, it’s pretty much impossible. Criminal records can scare employers into not hiring homeless people as well. In Poremski’s journal, he talks about how “Unemployment among homeless people as been estimated to be around 80-90%.” (Poremski 181). These numbers are scary high, and to some people living in America, it can show how they think homeless people are disposable because they aren’t working or doing much to help themselves get out of where they are. Back to the criminal record problems, Poremski states that “Having a criminal record, physical illness or substance abuse and poor employment appear to impede employment for both housed people with a mental illness and people who are homeless.” (181). Poremski says that having physical problems, criminal records, substance abuse and poor past employment can cause employers to not hire these people who are in need of work. Employers need to be concerned with these problems, but instead of putting a hand in their face, they should lend a hand of help to these people who are in dire straits. Now poor health isn’t the only eye opener to show how homeless people are not disposable. How homelessness affects the actual person who is homeless is truly painful to look at.
In a magazine article written by an anonymous author, she says that “sure we didn’t have much to eat – I got most of my meals at school, and we scrounged up what we could at the dollar store. But we were actually happy.” (62).What the author is saying is that these people literally almost have nothing. They eat from school and that’s about the only food they get. The fact that these people were “actually happy” is astonishing. They were blessed by what they could get and weren’t greedy for what they didn’t get. The author then goes and talks about how “In other words, you learn to deal with hardship by having the right attitude. It’s one of the biggest things I’ve taken away from this whole experience.” (62) The author is saying how staying positive through it all is the key. Having the right attitude in anything you do in life will help you succeed. The author of this magazine article was actually homeless at one point. She eventually made it through the process and went to college. This proves how even in the worst times, there is always a chance to make it right. Some people don’t look at it that way though. For some, they see that they have no chance in life and they are disposable to society. After looking over all of these reasons why homeless people are considered disposable, America needs to turn around and see how they need our help.
Kimberly Aiken won Miss America in 1993. She wanted to make a change in how everyone around the world should help the homeless. Aiken wrote a message to the people and titled it “Hope for the Homeless”. In her message, she says that for her “Not long afterward, homelessness “hit home” for me when, for more than a year and a half, drug and alcohol abuse left my uncle without a place to call his own.” (HTML). Aiken saw her own uncle struggling to find hope, so she wanted to be that source of hope. She wants us all to be that source of hope for others in the same situation as her uncle. Aiken states that she went on a field trip to Washington DC and “There I saw people sleeping on street grates for warmth, bundling up on the steps of federal buildings pushing carts with everything they owned.” This is when she really started to see how it was affecting these people. They didn’t have much at all, and what they did have wasn’t much. Even though these people look like they are down on life, she dedicated her time to help these people get back on their feet.
Homeless people are still people, but to some, they are considered disposable and useless. Homelessness has changed a little bit throughout the years, but the same mindset still stands. It’s true that poor health associating with homeless people can cause some people to see them as disposable. Even though unemployment among homeless people is between 80-90%, employers should do the right thing and give them a chance. While being homeless is not the ideal situation for anyone, having the right attitude and mindset can get you through anything. Finally, people need to wake up and see that these people are in serious trouble, and God wants us to help them. Everyone is created equal in God’s eyes, so everyone should treat people the same and no one should ever think of another person as disposable.

Works Cited

Aiken, Kimberly. “Hope for the Homeless.” Essence, vol. 25, no. 6, 1995. EBSCO HOST.
Baranski, John. “Citizen Hobo: How a Century of Homelessness Shaped America.” Journal of Social History, vol. 39, no. 1, 2005, pp. 271–273. EBSCO HOST.
DiPietro, Barbara. “ Homelessness and the Public’s Health: Legal Responses.” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, vol. 45, 2017, pp. 28–32. EBSCO HOST.
Poremski, Daniel. “Barriers to obtaining employment for people with severe mental illness experiencing homelessness.” Journal of Mental Health, vol. 23, no. 4, Aug. 2014, pp. 181–185. EBSCO HOST.
“The 3 W’s of homelessness in America.” Girl’s Life, 2015, pp. 69–69.