![]() Some of the problems that can be seen in the systemic web of urbanization include poverty, lack of access to social welfare services, and high population growth rate. However, it is the onset and the existence of urbanism and the systemic problems that are brought about by this that makes it hard for the people to acquire decent homes. In this particular argument, it can not be said that the conditions upon which the people live in are the ones that cause them to be homeless. Likewise, in the studies with regard to the health of the population in the urban areas, it is not the living conditions per se that are seen to be determinants of homelessness but is actually urbanism and urbanization (Galea & Vlahov, 2005). Likewise, the concept of the “household” is lost among the individuals who are considered as homeless. There are several opportunities today that have become associated with the permanence of an address such as the ability to receive correspondence and traceability for the provision of services. It is more than the loss of a structure but also the things that are associated with a permanent address. This is because of the uncertainty that is brought about by the permanence of a home. As argued by Bell, Greene, Fisher, and Baum (2005), the condition of the absence of a home is tantamount to “the loss of security and social or economic support” (p. There are several implications of this that affects the other aspects of the individual. The condition of being homeless can not be attributed alone to the lack of a roof under which a person can live. This phenomenon has no distinction for the developing and developed countries and that it is something that occurs in the urban territories regardless of the level of development (Green, 2003). This has led to the rise of problems related to housing as the shelter capacity of the urban areas is not able to keep up with the number of warm bodies that choose to dwell within these urban areas (Green, 2003). In the last decade, 80% of the total population growth in the world belongs to the urban areas (Green, 2003). ![]() Likewise, it is estimated that around 26 million people experienced being homeless at some point in their lives and that most of these people are in the urban areas. With the difficulties faced in categorizing people who are homeless and those who are not, an estimate of homeless individuals are considered to be around 3.5 million people, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless 2002 (Shi & Sing, 2004). ![]() It should be added that there are also the “hidden homeless” and the “invisible homeless” with the former to include the people who has the chance of having temporary shelters with homes of friends and families and the latter are those who simply are not included in the count (Altman, Wohlwill, & Everett, 1981). McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, the homeless are those “who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence or a person who resides in a shelter, welfare hotel, transitional program or place not ordinarily used as regular sleeping accommodations, such as streets, cars, movie theatres, abandoned buildings, etc.” (as cited in Chesnay & Anderson, 2007, p. While it is seen that defining who the homeless are, a clear understanding of the concept is still required because of the implications that this has over addressing the issue. In a video uploaded at YouTube that presents an interview with Chris Gardner, he mentions that when they needed to choose whether to eat or have shelter, they chose to eat and that led them with no permanent residence for a certain period of their lives (Litehammers, 2006). It is a movie that revolved around the life of Chris Gardner and his son Christopher, who is played by Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, as they constantly move from one shelter to another with the feeling of uncertainty as to where the two would live next. ![]() Homelessness is a sociological problem that is strongly and creatively presented throughout the movie “Pursuit of Happyness,” which narrates the inspirational story of Chris Gardner as played by Will Smith. ![]()
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