This presentation is by a student in the University of Illinois Great Cities Institute Certificate of Nonprofit Management Program class on nonprofits and civic engagement. Tom Tresser is the instructor.

1. Anja Van Ostrand

2.  Definition
 In my communities
 Root causes
 Analysis
 What I can do?

3. My definition:
No matter what
the situation, it
is one of the Condition where
most visible
forms of people live in
poverty and it shelters designed
exists
everywhere in for the homeless or
the world! any unconventional
living situation or
places unintended
for dwellings.
Defining "homelessness" is
Often countries do a complex and difficult
not allow their adult thing to do. (click to see
homeless population UN, ETHOS, and HUD
to vote. definitions)

4.  Why does this issue persists?
 How can we cure this matter that continues to
affect hundreds of thousands of people?

5. I’ll phone Skokie’s Human Services
Division responsible for housing
resources on Monday to learn more!
 located 16 miles from Chicago (residents’ feedback)
 “provides high-quality government services to
the over 64,000 residents” and “the
opportunity to join together in building a
stronger more caring community.” Skokie website
 celebrates multi-culturalism Ask about official
(Festival of Cultures… what about those housing programs,
stats about homeless,
marginalized immigrants lacking a social network?)
non-existence of
 unofficially, 3 homeless persons shelters, clean-up of
McCormick bridges,
 no homeless shelter etc.
(the most appalling story – students raise funds for substitute teacher
whose wages are not enough for shelter then withdraw help… why?)

6. For a variety of reasons; primarily an
economic problem; affected by social and
political factors… (click to read more)
 includes people from all walks of life
 more than 3.5 million people each year
 35% are families with children
(the fastest growing segment)  25% are under
 23% are U.S. military 18 years old
homelessness exploded
veterans in the 80s when federal
“Nickel and Dimed” provides funds were withdrawn
a self-study on the experience from low-income
of the working poor housing and social
assistance programs for
low-income families
 30% experienced domestic violence and the mentally ill
(currently less than 50%
 20-25% suffer from mental illness of 1976 spending levels)

7.  Watch this
„Gibt es echte Obdachlosigkeit in Deutschland?“
(= Are there really any homeless in Germany?) Yes!
Although Germany has a strong social safety
read about the net, approx. 248,000 are homeless
vicious cycle (incl. homeless immigrants every 2nd homeless
European lives in Germany)
 officially they do not exist.
 their # isn’t registered in governmental stats
 independent institutions offering social
services e.g. BAG provide estimates

8.  difficult to determine how many homeless
people there are in the world
 countries have different legal definitions
 Complicated by natural disasters, civil unrest
 U.N. estimates 100 million
(Not including those who lived in semi-permanent places e.g.
abandoned buildings, tents, vehicles, hastily put together
shelters, or the “hidden homeless” who bounce from shelter to
shelter or from friend’s house to friend’s house)
(Click to read more)
(World Habitat Day)

9. Click to read more
 lack of affordable
 inadequate education housing, health
 divorce
care, and safe
child care
 drugs
 high cost of living, low-wage jobs, and high
unemployment rates force people to choose
between food, housing, and other expenses
 structurally perpetuated

10.  the public has many
different ways to view
homelessness and how it
affects individuals,
economies, societies
 fact: it’s a worldwide
problem
 Sociologists look at it in
different ways

11.  a concept of classification of people into
groups based on shared socio-economic
conditions
 a relational set of inequalities with economic,
social, political and ideological dimensions
 differences lead to greater status, power or
privilege for some groups over the other
 a system by which society ranks categories of
people in a hierarchy
Click to
read more
 based on four basic principles:
a) trait of society, not simply a reflection of individual differences;
b) carries over from generation to generation;
c) universal but variable;
d) involves inequality and beliefs

12.  social stratification exists in most societies
 a hierarchy is beneficial in stabilizing their
existence
 Talcott Parsons: stability and social order are
achieved by means of a universal value
consensus
 functionalists indicate that stratification exists
solely to satisfy the functional prerequisites
necessary for a functional proficiency in any
society

13.  inaccessibility of resources and lack of social mobility
 Karl Marx: distinguished social classes by their
connection to the means of production; stratification
means that working class people are not likely to advance
socioeconomically, while the wealthy may continue to
exploit the proletariat generation after generation; the
bourgeoisie/ruling class and proletarians/working class
maintain their social positions by maintaining their
relationship with the means of production; maintenance of
system is achieved by methods of social control e.g.
ideologies
 Max Weber: social stratification is not based purely upon
economic inequalities, but also equally on status and
power differentials; presence of four social classes: the
propertied upper class, the property-less white-collar
workers, the petty bourgeoisie, and the working class

14.  Max Weber’s theory of social action
 Emil Durkheim’s collective consciousness
 the homeless population is ostracized from
higher socio-economic groups because of
actual exchanges that occur between them
and those in other economic classes
 Example: discouraging, offending,
stigmatizing, or stereotyping a homeless
person as substance abuser and employers’
reluctance to hire individuals who do not
possess a physical address. It dissuades
some homeless people from seeking out
employment.

15. There are countless ways to help the homeless,
both directly and indirectly without spending any
money.
1. Understand who the homeless are
Watch a clip about 2. Respond with kindness
poverty in Chicago 3. Respect the homeless as individuals
4. Bring food
5. Give recyclables
6. Donate clothing and toys
7.Volunteer at a shelter, battered women’s shelter,
or your professional services
8.Tutor and mentor homeless children
9. Play with children in a shelter
9.Teach about the homeless
10. Educate your children about the homeless