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- How many homeless people are there currently in NY?
Homelessness is when a person, an individual, or a community cannot acquire a stable, safe, or permanent house. Several reasons cause people to be homeless, and they include; when the house is out of reach, many low-income people have been left homeless as they cannot afford it. Most people run away from domestic violence and thus making them homeless. Racism has been a major problem as mostly in the US, and thus, blacks are experiencing a higher rate of homelessness than whites. Unemployment also is one of the major causes of homeless. And lastly, psychological illness.
Currently, New York City is experiencing more homeless people than in the previous. The data shows that in every 8.5 million people, every one of 100 New Yorkers is homeless, and that shows that more than 70,000 people, both male, female, and teenagers, are homeless, according to (Welsh 2019). Every night around 5000 people sleep on the street, at the subway system, and in the communal spaces.
- What special problems do the homeless now have b/c of the pandemic?
Many homeless people have lost hope after the crisis of the pandemic. Before the pandemic, the homes people were allowed to sleep in the subway systems, they were offered high security, and they felt safe every time they were in there. The strangers also gave them food, and they would interact with them freely, but this changed after the pandemic. When the pandemic hit us last year, the researchers said at least 1500 of the countries experienced 549,000 homeless people could have perished of COVID-19. The subway was ordered to be closed overnight by the government for disinfection. These people have nowhere to go, and they at high risk of contracting the virus.
The health sector decided to apply general public health recommendations to homeless people. As stated by (Conway et al. 2020), This seemed difficult as it is hard to recommend people who lack adequate housing to keep social distance, wash hands, and disinfect surfaces. Besides, these are also what homeless people have experienced during the pandemic. Homeless people always find it hard to stick to public health advice such as social distancing and handwashing due to lack of shelter situations. Closing of the often services may place people who are experiencing homelessness to other harmful risks. However, different capitals and areas are taking measures on how to provide space for individuals who are homeless to ensure they follow the rules and also the pandemic (Perri, 2020), has emphasized the essential of housing as a social determinant of health and raises questions of whether the current approaches to address homelessness would be discussed again.
Reference
Blint-Welsh, T. (2019). Federal data show nearly 80,000 homeless in New York City. Wall Street Journal October 24.
Conway, B., Truong, D., & Wuerth, K. (2020). COVID-19 in homeless populations: unique challenges and opportunities.
Perri, M., Dosani, N., & Hwang, S. W. (2020). COVID-19 and people experiencing homelessness: challenges and mitigation strategies. CMAJ, 192(26), E716-E719.