Causes of Homelessness in New York: A Literature Review

Causes of Homelessness in New York: A Literature Review

Homelessness is a social issue that is currently plaguing New York City among other major cities and towns around the world. An estimate of about sixty thousand people are unable to find a roof under their head, and four thousand people sleep in the street (Reinl 2016). These people sleep in the cold, unsafe, and unhygienic streets since they are unable to afford decent housing. New York is one of the most populous cities in the world, and thus, the issue of homelessness presents a challenge that affects many people in the city.Walking the streets of the Big Apple, it is easy to note how the city has been littered with sleeping bags and cardboard boxes that highlight the intensity of the issue (Taylor, Lapin and Parker 2017).To understand the social issue of homelessness affecting the residents of New York City, this literature review looks into the causes of homelessness as a way to mitigate the rising problem.

Poverty and economic factors make up for the highest number of reasons why many people are currently homeless in the city. Iverac (2017) notes that the high cost of living in the city has led to an increase in house rent, which many people cannot afford. Even though some people live in cheap housing projects, the housing structure is poorly maintained, and the living conditions are so poor that some opt to move into the streets. Stewart writes that poor housing conditions such as poor heat and lack of electricity and water during winter are some of the reasons the number of homeless people in the city has increased (Stewart 2019). Another underlying factor that has led to the increment of the homeless in New York is the high cost of medical services. Many people are left without money after settling their hospital bills, thus becoming unable to pay rent (Salit1998). Although the state government has tried to provide affordable housing units, the criteria of choosing those to benefit from the unit have often discriminated against the homeless, as noted by Stewart, Mays, and Haag (2019). In this literature review, insight into the causes of homelessness is presented by the availability of information..

The pieces of literature reviewed suggest that New York City is highly affected by the social problem of homelessness since it is one of the cities in the country with the highest number of homeless people. The reviewed literature suggests that the high cost of living and rent, poor housing conditions, and the high cost of medical services are some of the causes of homelessness in the city. The state government has tried to mitigate the issue by providing cheap and affordable housing units in the city. However, their selection criteria have been noted to fail to select homeless people who are in need of being settled in the housing units. Extensive research should be conducted to explore further the causes of homelessness to provide a number of possible solutions to counter the problem.

Work Cited

Iverac, Mirela. “More Homeless People Live in New York Than in Any Other City | New York Public Radio, Podcasts, Live Streaming Radio, News.” WNYC, 7 Dec. 2017, www.wnyc.org/story/more-homeless-people-live-new-york-any-other-city/

Reinl, James. “New York’s Homeless Left out in the Cold.” Human Rights | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 13 Jan. 2016, www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/01/york-homeless-left-cold-160109162109960.html.

Salit, Sharon A., et al. “Hospitalization costs associated with homelessness in New YorkCity.” New England Journal of Medicine 338.24 (1998): 1734-1740.

Stewart, Nikita. “They Ended Up in Decrepit Housing in Newark. Is New York to Blame?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 3 Dec. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/12/03/nyregion/nyc-homeless-newark-housing-vouchers.html.

Stewart, Nikita, et al. “Facing Homeless Crisis, New York Aims for 1,000 New Apartments a Year.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Dec. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/12/12/nyregion/homeless-housing-nyc.html?searchResultPosition=2.

Taylor, Alex, et al. “Homelessness in New York City Is on the Rise.” New York Post, New York Post, 24 July 2017, nypost.com/2017/07/23/homelessness-in-new-york-city-is-on-the-rise/.