About Homelessness Resources

Resources for homeless people are vital. Some resources teach a homeless person how to live and others provide homeless people with services that make life easier. All resources smooth the transition from homeless to housed.

Types

Many types of resources exist to help homeless people. There are emergency and transitional shelters, advocacy coalitions, housing programs, outreach teams, job programs, life skills classes, help for addictions and mental health disorders, community voicemail and street newspapers. Meal sites and transportation services also exist in some areas. The amount of available resources depends on the city or town. Urban areas generally provide a greater number of resources.

Function

Each resource is designed to help a person move out of homelessness into being housed or employed. Life skills classes teach a person about opening a bank account, maintaining a house and landing a stable job. Emergency shelters provide a temporary roof overhead and transitional shelters are more like apartments that transition a person into permanent housing. Community voicemail systems provide people with their own voicemail number to put on job applications or give to social services--or simply to keep in touch with family and friends. Street newspapers are a creative outlet, as well as a means of living. Cleveland's "Homeless Grapevine" newspaper is bought by homeless vendors for 25 cents a piece and sold for $1.00 each. Vendors keep all the profits and must adhere to strict standards to sell the paper. Advocacy coalitions fight behind the scenes for homeless people and outreach teams hand out blankets and sandwiches to people on the street.

Effects

The community voicemail program has served an average of 40,000 people a year through 2,000 agencies in almost 400 cities. Some shelters keep track of their turn-around and results vary for each shelter. Homeless people with access to resources are more likely to escape homelessness for good.

Considerations

Some resources, especially the housing programs, may have extensive waiting lists. Remember that a job and a house aren't immediate cures for a person's homelessness. In order to succeed in being housed, a person must land a steady job that pays above fair market rent, know how to keep a house, and--if she is mentally disabled or suffering from an addiction--have a support system in place to avoid relapsing into homelessness.

Prevention/Solution

According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, access to affordable health care and housing and an abundance of jobs that pay a living wage will prevent homelessness in the first place. People also need a support system, such as family and friends, to rely on when times get tough.

Resources

• North American Street Newspaper Association
• Community Voicemail