Sociology Literature Review: County of Santa Clara & Homeless People
The concept homelessness has long existed before it was formally defined. Most countries still make ways to prevent chronic homelessness. An example of this is seen in the County of Santa Clara where there are about 7086 homeless people, and 70% of them are regarded as unsheltered (Destination Home, 2011).
Chronic homelessness refers to individuals who come from the streets and emergency shelters. Emergency shelters are homeless shelters which are found on any owned or leased land (Ting, 2017). Several reasons are responsible for making people to be homeless. The main reason is not easy to point out (Santa Clara County, 2017). However, people get homeless due to losing jobs, drug and physical abuse, divorce and eviction. Houses are also expensive, which also hinder poor people from buying them.
The Santa Clara County (2017) explains that about 76 % of survey respondents confirmed that they were benefiting from government assistance in one form or another. The rest of people who are not receiving it end up poor and homeless. However, Popov (2016) claims that the United States has 415 Continuums of Care programs available. The government also assists by giving out food stamps, medical care and by having benefits for disabled individuals.
The role of the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Clara (HACSC) in the County of Santa Clara is of utmost important. The HACSC performs Housing Quality Standards inspections annually using the relevant regulations. Program participant referrals from the County get their salaries certified by the HACSC when applying for the qualification of housing and continued eligibility.The HACSC uses grant funds from the Continuum Care program to pay rents to host landlords. If changes are made in the HACSC contacts, the provider gets notified. The HACSC also checks grant performances and submit them at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (Housing Authority & Continuum Care. (2013).
People may not receive government assistance due to not having a legit identification, a permanent address, some think that they are not eligible to receive it, some are too proud or fear shame and some people never apply. Homeless individuals are always encouraged to join community based programs so they can have shelter and food. For example, Burt (2015) mentions programs such as the Homeless Prevention and Ra...
