Salley, Kim. “Preventing Shelternization: Alleviating The Struggles Of Homeless Individuals And Families In New York City.” Fordham Urban Law Journal 42.4 (2015): 1019-1062. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Feb. 2016.
In the article, “Preventing Shelternization: Alleviating The Struggles Of Homeless Individuals And Families In New York City”, author, Kim Salley, discusses the problems that the homeless man and women of New York City face. While the article has several points and is broken up into four sections that also contain sub-sections, I am primarily focusing on the second section titled: “Sate of the Homeless: Factors Contributing to Homelessness and Failed Legislative Policies. Upon acknowledging the growing homeless population and a lack of preventative measures, Salley sought to provide New York with potential solutions to the problem, such as implementing more preventative programs, closing the gap between the minimum wage and the housing wage and establishing a better public assistance to help them get health care and food. Although the article discusses the struggles facing homeless individuals in New York City and my research topic is Downtown, Atlanta, it is still a reputable source because it was acquired through Georgia State University’s library database. Additionally, both places are popular urban cities and it is possible that some of those problems may also be applicable to the homeless population in Atlanta.
Sparks, Sarah D. “Homeless Student Population Still Rising.” Education Week 33.11 (2013): 1-15. MasterFILE Elite. Web. 3 Feb. 2016.
In the article, “Homeless Student Population Still Rising”, author, Sarah Sparks, discusses how the 2008 recession in the United States has impacted the homeless student population. Sparks considers the factors that contribute to the problem, such as the recession itself, a lack of shelter, children being displaced and family need being unmet. In the shelter section, Sparks talks about how these students often have nowhere to go for shelter because the families that would have taken them in were struggling themselves and could not afford to take in anyone else. The section titled “Reasons for Leaving” points out the circumstances encouraging the students to leave such as domestic violence, problems in at home. Another section about family needs labeled transportation as a huge problem for the homeless students. Without transportation, they are unable to get to and from work, which makes it difficult for them to meet their needs. They could not make enough money to pay for transportation, food, shelter, and their education. Due to the fact that Sparks discusses the United States as a whole instead of just one location, the article is applicable to my research topic of Downtown, Atlanta. Given that I got the article through Georgia State University’s library database and Sparks uses statistics to back up her claim that the homeless student population is still rising, I consider it to be reputable source.
“It’s drugs that make people live on streets.” Daily Mail 18 Dec. 2014: 39. Regional Business News. Web. 3 Feb. 2016.
In this news article from Daily Mail titled “It’s drugs that make people live on streets” by Regional Business News, the author claims that the homeless population faces homelessness due to drug addiction. The author acknowledges that there is a need for more affordable housing; however, he believes that no matter how many houses are built, the homeless population will still exist due to the number of homeless men and women who are addicts. He, the author, also points out the problem as predominantly one of the urban areas. The author concludes by stating, “as long as we fail to acknowledge that heroin is still eating away at the very heart of our society, not only will homelessness continue to grow, but it will be the least of our problems” (Daily Mail). This article came from the Georgia State University library database, which provides it with a little bit of credibility, but not entirely. The article fails to recognize the numerous factors other than drugs and affordable housing that also contribute to homelessness. It also labels many of the people on the streets as drug addicts, which discredit those who are on the streets and not on drugs. This article acts as an example for how people often look down on the homeless population, which makes it harder for them to progress.