family homelessness
...s and their strong economy have caused rents to increase, putting housing out of reach for the poorest Americans. The struggling for housing gets worse. Many families who can not afford to pay their rent are forced to put their trust in the government public housing assistance. The public housing assistance can also be a problem. One of the biggest problems that concern families has to deal with the waiting periods. A family’s average time on a waiting list can be up to 33 months. The average waiting period for a section 8 rental assistance increased from 26 months to 28 months. With the heavy increase in waiting for public housing, many families are forced to remain in the shelters, or live on the streets. The connection of family homelessness and lack of affordable housing has to deal with the low wages an inadequate work supports. Most of the new jobs pay below the poverty line. A full time worker at the minimum wage of 5.15/hr. earns an annual income of $10,300 before taxes. Minimum wage jobs generally provide no benefits such as health insurance, or daycare, nor do they provide opportunity for advancement. A person must work fulltime and earn at least 8.29/hr to reach the federal poverty level for a family of four. Domestic violence can also contribute to homelessness among families. When a woman leaves an abusive relationship, she often has nowhere to go. With the lack of affordable housing, many women are forced to choose between the abuse and the streets. Homelessness severely impacts the health and well being of all family members. Homeless children experienced the worse health, more developmental delays, anxiety, depression and behavioral problems. Homeless children are also at risk by gaining inadequate nutrition, environmental toxins, lower quality childcare and middle ear infections. Homelessness also effects a child’s education. One of the reasons is because it makes it hard on the child to concentrate on school work. For instance:...