Child Homelessness on the rise

I feel this article ties in a bit with my last editorial about minimum wage. The United States is supposed to be one of the wealthiest nations but one in thirty children is homeless? Something there just isn’t adding up. According to Newsweek there are 2.5 million children who had “lived in shelters, on the streets, in cars, on campgrounds or doubled up with other families in tight quarters” at some point in 2013. Something needs to be done about this immediately, especially with the 8% growth of homelessness in the last year alone.

The U.S. Interagency Council had a plan come out in 2010 to help prevent homelessness among veterans by 2015 and everyone else by 2020. The program, “Opening Doors” is addressing the issues of the homeless veterans and thankfully has taken steps to help this demographic but without the same attention child homelessness has begun to rise. Most of the families are found to be just a mother with usually two children. The children are often under 6 years old.

Reports can link these rates with several causes: “high poverty rates, lack of affordable housing, racial disparities, challenges of single parenting, domestic violence and other traumatic experiences, and the lingering effects of the recession”. The effects of homelessness on children are traumatic. It changes the child’s brain in a way that can interfere with their learning, controlling their emotions, cognitive skills and social relationships. Children who have had to be homeless are more likely to drop out and consistently be homeless as adults.

Fixing this problem isn’t going to be easy but it’s obvious that the government needs to do something as soon as possible. The solution starts with affordable housing, education and employment opportunities for parents, comprehensive assessment of the family’s needs, identification, and education on prevention of homelessness. As well as parenting support and more research to identify “evidence-based programs and services.” It is heart breaking and inexcusable that 1 and 30 children in one of the greatest nations is homeless. It is apparent that not enough is being done about this tragic situation and that we must act soon with the rates rising as they are.