Analysing Homelessness And Potential Causes Social Work Essay

Analysing Homelessness And Potential Causes Social Work Essay Homelessness is not a problem of Irish government housing policy; it is a problem of individuals. In order to discuss this statement both structural and individual causes of homelessness will have to be examined. There are a number of personal issues which contribute to the complex issue of homelessness, and how much these contribute to a individual becoming homeless in Ireland will have to be determined. Both statutory and voluntary agencies involved in the area of service provision for the homeless have different views on the definition of homelessness, and both definitions will need to be explored. Over the years in Ireland the government has attempted to address the homeless issue with various acts and strategies and I feel it would be necessary to review the implementation and impact of such interventions on the homeless problem. Finally the impact of government housing policy on homelessness will have to be examined and discussed. Homelessness and its causes cannot be easily explained. Both structural and individual issues interact to contribute to this complex problem. Personal problems such as psychiatric illnesses, domestic violence, poverty, unemployment, addiction and disability are just some of the problems that are believed to contribute to an individuals pathway to homelessness. Leaving state care such as prisons or psychiatric hospitals, without the proper safeguards being put in place can also be a factor in an individual becoming homeless. With regard to the definition of the term homelessness, it wasnt until the 1988 Housing Act that the first legal definition of homelessness was introduced. 1988 Housing Act Unlike a number of countries throughout the European Union, presently a right to housing does not exist in Ireland. However, there has been policy and legislation enacted to assist those who cannot afford housing in acquiring their own home. The 1988 Housing Act obligates local authorities to carry out assessments every three years, of those who are in need of housing or who are homeless. In regard to homelessness this Act cleared up earlier confusion as to which statutory body was responsible for the homeless, by leaving responsibility at the door of the local authority. Prior to this, under the 1953 Health Act, the Health Authority was responsible for providing assistance to those who were incapable of providing shelter for themselves. Although this Act does not oblige local authorities to provide accommodation, it does how ever permit such authorities to assist the homeless. Also prior to this, under the Vagrancy Act, homeless people were often highly criminalised for such offence s as wandering abroad, not being able to give a good account of ones self and not having any visible means of subsistence. The Act changed this by taking such offences off the statute books. Another provision of the Act authorises local authorities to provide assistance to approved voluntary agencies involved in the area of provision of welfare and housing for the homeless. An important part of this act was the first legal definition of homelessness. Under Section Two of the Act a person is classified as homeless if: there is no accommodation available and which, in the opinion of the authority, he, together with any other person who normally resides with him or who might reasonably be expected to reside with him, can reasonably occupy or remain in occupation of, or (b) he is living in a hospital, county home, night shelter or other such institution, and is so living because he has no accommodation of the kind referred to in paragraph (a), and he is, in the opinion of the authority, unable to provide accommodation from his own resources. While voluntary agencies welcomed this first legal definition of homelessness there were some criticisms of the Act. Focus Ireland, a leading voluntary organisation in the provision of services to the homeless, believed the Act failed to go far enough. One of their main criticisms of the Act was its failure to legally oblige local authorities to provide housing for the homeless. As well as this, they believed the act was too narrow and did not provide for those at risk of homelessness. Focus Ireland divides homelessness into three broad categories; the visible homeless, the hidden homeless and those at risk of homelessness. The visible homeless are those sleeping rough or those residing in emergency accommodation such as bbs or shelters. The hidden homeless are families or individuals involuntarily sharing with friends of family, in insecure, inadequate and often sub-standard accommodation. Finally those at risk of being homeless, these are people who have housing but are likely to b ecome homeless due to economic difficulties such as rent being too high, insecure accommodation or health difficulties (Focus Ireland, 2002). Reviews of the impact of the1988 Housing Act on homelessness Follow up reviews of the implementation of 1988 Housing Act painted a bleak picture in regard to its impact on the problem of homelessness. Kellehers (1990) review stated that the Act had minimal affect on the problem and that greater co-ordination needed to exist between statuary and voluntary agencies involved in the delivery of services to the homeless. He also pointed to the need for the development of a housing forum, consisting of both statutory and voluntary agencies to tackle the problem. Two years after this, in 1992, Lawless and Dillon carried out a survey on local authorities throughout the country and found that only five authorities had staff specifically trained to cater for the needs of the homeless. This led to authorities providing basic shelter, with very little services being developed to cater for the needs of the homeless (OSullivan, 2005). These studies were pointing to the need for co-ordination between services, but it wasnt until almost eight years later that the government acknowledged that such an approach was required. Homeless strategies The 2000 Homelessness: An Integrated Strategy, was the first real acknowledgement by government that an integrated approach to the problem of homelessness was required to tackle the problem. The report found that a wide variety of services existed for the homeless, but very little co-ordination existed between these services. Another part of the report suggested that the majority of services focused primarily on emergency needs such as shelter and food and as a result homeless people became stuck in such accommodation. The report suggested that the focus needed to be more on moving people out of homelessness and, in conjunction with this, putting preventative measures in place that would prevent homelessness. An important part of the strategy was to clear up earlier confusion as to who had responsibility for meeting the different needs of the homeless. The strategy clearly states that local authorities are responsible for meeting the accommodation and housing needs of people who are homeless, while health boards are responsible for meeting their health and care needs (www.homelessagency.ie). In 2004 the Simon Community, a voluntary organisation involved in delivering services to the homeless reviewed the Integrated Strategy. They believed that through focusing on the complexities of homelessness, the strategy takes away from the fact that the foremost need of someone who is homeless is housing (www.simoncommunity.com). As part of the overall homeless strategy, in 2002 the government introduced the Homeless Preventative Strategy. The key element in this strategy was to ensure that no one left state care without measures being taken to ensure they had a place to live upon leaving. This included people leaving prisons, hospitals and juvenile centres. While there have been improvements in this area, there is still much to be achieved. These strategies have had an impact on the homeless problem but the recent freeze in funding for homeless services by the HSE has put the achievements of the last 7 years in jeopardy. A new project ran by the De Paul Trust, which was going to provide 30 new homes to those moving from emergency accommodation, could not go ahead due to lack of funding. A number of other services have also being affected by this lack of funding (The Irish Times, 2008). Housing Policy The term Housing policy is used to describe policy implemented by government in regard to the housing market. Blackwell (1988, p75) defined housing policy as any deliberate course of action which is designed to affect housing conditions. Through policy and legislation, the government intervenes to create a well organized housing market. This can be done through direct interventions such as setting minimum standards for housing conditions as well as directly providing housing (local authority housing) to the public. In addition to this government may provide tax relief and state loans to people purchasing their own homes, as well as providing welfare (rent allowance) to those on low incomes who are renting in the private sector. The state can also act to determine which source of tenure will be predominant within society (Quinn et al, 1999). The three types of tenure that exist within Ireland are owner occupied, social housing and the private sector. In Ireland today the type of tenure promoted by government is that of owner occupied. This is shown in figures produced by euro stat () that 82.3 percent of the Irish population are living in owner occupied housing, compared to an EU average of 63.4 percent. Since the 1970s the Irish government have promoted this type of tenure in a number of ways; through tax relief, the waiving of stamp duty on the purchasing of new homes, etc. In addition, the government has also made it possible for low income households who are renting local authority housing to purchase their houses at a lower than normal prices, shared ownership, affordable housing. Although the promotion of this type of tenure appears ideal in theory it has the undesired effect of excluding those who can not afford such housing (www.cori.ie). Housing need Obliged by the 1988 Housing Act in 1991, local authorities carried out a count on those in need of housing and the figure recorded was 23,242 with - of these being homeless. Two years later a further count reported an increase of over 5000 and the figure stood at 28,624 with homeless people making up. Both these counts took into consideration those who were on the waiting list and those who were not. Voluntary agencies working with the homeless challenged the validity of these counts and were highly critical of methods used to conduct the count. In response to these criticisms, government commissioned the Economic and Social Research Institute to investigate the criticisms of the count, and it was concluded that an undercount had taking place. One of the main concerns of this report was that local authorities lacked the skills and knowledge required to respond effectively to issues that often accompanied homelessness, such as addiction or mental health problems. It recommended greate r co-ordination between voluntary agencies and the health board and highlighted the need for clarification concerning policy in relation to the housing of one-person households by local authorities. Due to the shortage of social housing being provided and the continuing growth in numbers of households on the waiting list, there was very little provision for the housing of one- person households (OSullivan, 2005). Lack of social housing One of the effects of government promoting the tenure of home ownership is the lack of resources being allocated to the tenure of social housing. In 1996 there were 27,427 households on the local authority housing waiting list and by 2002 this had grown to 48,400. The 2005 count saw a slight decrease at 43, 684. At this rate it would take until 2033 to eliminate the current waiting list and this is providing there are no new entrants to the waiting list (www.cori.ie). Naturally families are given priority when it comes to the order of selecting those on the waiting list for local authority housing. Its interesting to note that () % of the homeless are individual households and this very fact means that they are inevitably not a priority for local authority housing. In an article written by McVerry Carrol (2007) they believed one of the main obstacles to addressing the homeless issue was the failure by government in the provision of long term accommodation. An interesting fact in thi s article was expenditure on homeless services in Dublin, the budget which stands at 54 million a year is the equivalent of spending à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬74 a day per homeless person, with the price of a mortgage for 1st time buyers standing at à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬46,22 (assuming an average house price of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬270,000). They felt the key instrument in addressing homelessness was firstly providing suitable long term accommodation and then provide a service which would support the individual or family in maintaining such accommodation. This approach, they believed would greatly diminish the need for the web of services that currently exist to address the homeless issue (www.cfj.ie). Conclusion In conclusion, it can be seen that there are a vast amount of circumstances that contribute to an individual or families becoming homeless. Stating that homelessness is a problem of individuals seems to be too simplistic a view and fails to allow for the failure of Irish government to provide housing for one of the most vulnerable groups in society. Although the government has increased funding in tackling the problem of homelessness, the question has to be asked, has this funding being used wisely? It seems as if the cart has been put before the horse as far as addressing the issue of homelessness is concerned. If theres to be any substantial progress made in addressing the homeless issue, providing housing has to be the primary objective. After addressing this very basic need, services need to be developed to assist people in maintaining such accomodation. http://www.simoncommunity.com/uploads/File/position/Taking%20the%20Integrated%20Strategy%20Forward%20Feb%2004.pdf The Irish times, February, 28, 2008 http://www.homelessagency.ie/about_homelessness/integratedStrategy.html http://www.cfj.ie/content/view/152/96/ 614781157279

Love in twelfth night Essay -- essays research papers

Love in twelfth night In the play twelfth night, Shakespeare covered three types of love : Lust, true love and brotherly love. Love is one of the most confusing and most misunderstood emotions that we as humans posses. Love is an extremely diverse emotion which is why it was used as the main topic in twelfth night. Lust, which is probably one of the most confusing types of love was an apparent subject in twelfth night.There are many reasons why one would lust, one could be because you are attracted to a specific quality of a person or could maybe only like there looks or even just thing like there charisma. Shakespeare showed lust between Orsino and Olivia. Even though Orsino had not met or even seen Olivia, he was still madly in love with her. Lust is defined as an intense but temporary wanting of a persons attention or love. Orsino tried to capture the heart of Olivia through out the play, and lusted for her because he was attracted by her grieving for her family. It was thought by Orsino that She would have an intense love for him if she loved her family so much. As the play moves forward, Orsino actually meets Olivia but he loses his lust for her, and instead loves Viola ( formerly Cesario). Shakespeare also used lust between Malvolio and Olivia. Malvolio thought that Olivia had fallen in l ove with him (as the reader knows this was a joke being played on Malvolio). This grew a larger ego bubble on Malvolio. He thought that she truly wanted his love, and thusly his ego ...

Drinking and Driving Essay -- essays papers, drunk driving, alcohol

Drinking and Driving Should Blood Alcohol Percentages for Drunken Driving Be Lowered? Driving a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol is one of the most dangerous things you can do. Alcohol causes varying degrees of the following side effects in everyone who uses it; dullness of sensation, lowered sensory motor skills, lowered reactive or reflexive motor responses, impaired thought processes, impaired memory, impaired judgement, sleep or sleeplessness, and in extreme cases can cause coma and death.†(Hardcastle 1). Would anyone want a person on the road with these side affects. Alcoholics have even worse side affects to alcohol. Look at the picture above. How many times have you watched the news and seen a reporter reporting at the scene of a drinking and driving accident like this. How sad it is to think of one man who died in such a accident. When he realized that he was going to die, he asked his Mother "Please take care of my babies. Keep them together as a family!" What if that was a family member or friend or even you? What would you do if you lost any of these people? To lower the number of drinking and driving death and accidents in this country we should lower the blood alcohol percentage. People die everyday in this country, but did you know that â€Å"Every 30 minutes someone in this country dies in an alcohol related crash.†(Stone 1) If we lowered the blood alcohol level from .10 to 0.08 there would be fewer drinking and driving accidents. People do not realize that a blood alcohol level of .10 makes you at high risk for getting in an accident. At this level you will have â€Å"Slowed reaction times, impaired motor functions, recklessness and "dare devil" behavior.†(Hardcastl... ... keep the roads safe. This step in society will impact the whole country and will thereby define what is legal and reasonable drinking. Lowering the blood alcohol level might not change how people drink but it may in fact safe their life. People will never understand the devastating effects it will have on a person until they lose someone they love. Bibliography: Berman, Rick. â€Å"Should Blood Alcohol Percentages for Drunk Driving Be Lowered?.† Reading and Writing Short Arguments. Ed. William Vesterman. California, Mountain View:, 2000. 48-50. HardCastle, John. â€Å"Impacts of Drinking and Driving.† (1999): Abstract. 4 Dec. 2000 . 1-4. Stone Lee, Judith. â€Å"Should Blood Alcohol Percentages for Drunk Driving Be Lowered?.† Reading and Writing Short Arguments. Ed. William Vesterman. California, Mountain View:, 2000. 46-47.

Public school vs. cyber school Essay

Did you know you have more choices today about where your children attend public school? There is more to public schools than just the traditional â€Å"brick and mortar† schools you attended in past decades. Cyber schools are essentially public schools where students attend school full-time online at home or where ever they have an internet connection. Technology has made it easier than ever before to educate your child at home. According to NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS (2013). â€Å"From school year 1999-2000 to 2010-2011, the number of students enrolled in public charter schools increased from 0.3 million to 1. 8 million students. During this period, the percentage of all public schools that were public charter schools increased from 2 to 5 percent, comprising 5,300 schools in 2010-2011. † (Charter School Enrollment). Students have started to attend Cyber School because of a variety of reasons including: social anxieties, peer pressure, students who are under stimulated with curriculum, students behind in classes, and bullying. If you are saying to yourself that stuff like this only happens in middle and high school, you are kidding yourself. Bullying and Peer Pressure also happen at the elementary level. At third grade the main reason my nephew left public school was because of being bullied. He was the subject of humiliation, when an older student forcefully made him take chewing tobacco and put it in his mouth and keep it there until he got sick in front of other kids. This instance alone was enough for my sister and brother-in-law to pull their son out of public school and begin to Cyber School him at home. It is something like this that makes parents stop and think if traditional public education is the right choice. Families deciding the best option of a public education or cyber school for elementary children need to carefully consider the learning environment, their parental involvement and the academic benefits. The learning environment in which children learn is a determining factor as to whether a child should attend Cyber School or be sent to a traditional brick and mortar school. Public school teachers have classrooms full of fifteen to twenty-five students to provide attention to, which means your child is not getting the proper instruction they need to learn at their best and could lead to your child falling behind. I have seen this with my son who is in first grade, when he comes home I ask him what he learned. His response is â€Å"I don’t know. † Every night we work on homework and he struggles to do simple math facts and with reading sight words (words that students are expected to know in the grade they are in). After the first marking period my husband and I had a parent teacher conference with his teacher and I asked how he was doing in class and was concerned with his math and reading skills not being at the appropriate level. Her response was â€Å"Well he is slow at processing information and it takes a long time for him to get his worksheets done, we have to move on. † At this point in the conference I am thinking I could do a better job teaching him at home. I do not want my son to go unnoticed and fall through the cracks of the public education system and be promoted through grade levels because the teachers are too busy to stop and make sure every child understands the material before moving on. Students who stay at home to learn are in their home where it is a primarily safe and secure environment. Children do not have to deal with the peer pressure, bullying, worry about what clothes to wear or being in the right cliques. With Cyber School your child focuses on doing school work and advancing their education. A child enrolled in Cyber School can be just that- a child, and this alone will give your child the opportunity to focus on what he or she is learning that day. Some children are more productive and have better learning experiences when in the right environment; whether it be at home where they can get individual attention or in a large classroom full of noisy children trying to get the teachers attention. Parents have a choice in how involved they want to be with their child’s education. A public school teacher oversees the daily efforts of the students and parents get reports only if the student is failing or at report card time. Public school parents can be involved in other ways like: helping with homework or help study for a test; be there for plays, concerts and activities; and talk to the teacher and see what areas you can help your child achieve. While some parents want and need to work, making it so they have less time to spend being involved in their children’s education; other parent’s want that hands on approach to ensure their child’s success. Parents’ involvement in their child’s education is crucial in Cyber School while in public education you are leaving your child’s education up to the teacher. A parent would need to manage their child’s schedule, ensure child is completing work at a reasonable pace, while leaving the instructional experience to the teacher. Parents who decide to home school their children should find a way to integrate social aspects into their child’s daily structure; such as, signing him up for sports teams or community clubs like: Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts with other children his age. This way students will be able to benefit from the social aspects, which are needed at every age. Parental involvement is important for the success in any child’s education whether in public school or in Cyber School. There are academic benefits to both public school and Cyber School; where public school students learn valuable social skills by attending classes with others their own age. The social interaction between children and between children and teachers give children the ability to learn to socialize well with other students and make friends. Children are taught at an early age to work together and problem-solve in groups with other children. Public education is a one-size-fits-all approach to education, teachers are to slow down the pace of their instruction to cater to the slowest students in the classroom, even though these are the ones that are sometimes overlooked. My neighbors’ son was overlooked, because when they tested him for Cyber School, they found he was actually not performing well in math. His test score was a whole grade level below where he should have been. With enrolling him in Agora Cyber Charter School he is able to get more help in the subject areas he needs to improve upon. By enrolling your child in Cyber School you are your child’s learning coach, by partnering with the teacher to ensure daily progress and academic achievement. Having your child learn at home with Cyber School will give him/her the individualized attention that the large class sizes in public schools fail to offer. An individualized curriculum will be one that is tailored to your child’s needs, learning style, and strengths and weaknesses. According to Agora Cyber Charter School (2014), â€Å"Agora’s individualized approach means your child can go as fast or slow as he needs to†. Cyber school students move at their own pace and have the ability to focus more time on harder subjects where needed. If a student has problems in addition facts but excels in telling time and counting money then the student can devote as much time as needed to develop those skills; therefore, the benefits of Cyber School leave no weak points in the child’s education. A decision whether to enroll your child in a cyber school or a traditional â€Å"brick and mortar† school involves many factors. Parents must carefully weigh these benefits and decide how important each of these points is to them when making their decision. Both public schools and Cyber schools hold specific and helpful opportunities for children to learn. Every parent should decide what is best for their child’s education; as each child is a unique individual, and their education should be just as unique as them. Works Cited NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS. (2013). The Condition of Education. Retrieved from http://nces. ed. gov/programs/coe/indicator_cgb. asp Agora Cyber Charter School. (2014). K-8 Curriculum. Retrieved from http://www. k12. com/agora/curriculum/k-8#. UxorwDiPLnM.