Ending Homelessness One Country at a Time

Abstract

Homelessness is a socially indiscriminate crisis affecting nearly half a million individuals in the US at any given time at a taxpayer cost of $20 billion each year (Moorehead, 2012). The homeless head count varies and is sensitive to external factors such as socio-economic fluctuations (housing market and unemployment volatility), as well as individual factors (alcoholism and mental illness). The difficulty in addressing homelessness is not without its challenges, as articulated in this Capstone Project. While our proposed approach in alleviating and preventing homelessness may sound simple, its implementation can be shadowed by nuanced deficiencies and systemic failures in addressing the problem from a governance and humanitarian standpoint. Before we attempt to address the problem of homelessness and proceed any further, we must first ask ourselves if the root cause and deficient resolution are based on ulterior motives in perpetuating homelessness, ignorance or indifference. We will demonstrate that the answer to this question is more complex, but in no way is the problem in addressing homelessness attributed to a lack of caring by many self-sacrificing individuals representing various industry sectors and walks of life.