Advocating for the Homeless

Those in the human services field work to meet the needs of human beings through interdisciplinary knowledge and focus on preventing and remediating the problems of human beings as they maintain a commitment to improve the overall quality of life of those people they help (What is, 2009).Those in the field of human services include work in many different areas and with many different populations. For example, human services workers include probation officers, case workers, family support workers, youth workers, social services liaisons, residential counselors, case managers, alcohol or drug counselors, and many, many others. The field often requires workers to act not only to help members of their specific populations but to also advocate for them.

Advocacy is defined as working to influence the decisions that impact the welfare or interests of others (Barsky, 2000, p. 219). Those who advocate, therefore, act to help benefit others and to support them. Because human services workers are engaged in helping others they naturally act as advocates for them. A population in America that is in constant need of assistance and advocacy is the homeless. The U.S. Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act of 2009 defines the homeless as those persons or families who lack "a fixed, regular, and adequatenighttime residence" (Homeless, 2011). There are many reasons people are homeless. These reasons include poverty, abuse, mental illness, disability, substance abuse, and many other factors. Those who are homeless need advocacy designed to help them gain emergency housing, gain permanent housing, find reliable sources of food and nutrition, help them overcome the problems that led them to become homeless, help them improve medical conditions, help them obtain reliable sources of health care and medication if needed, help them find safety, and help them build better lives (Homelessness advocacy, n.d.).

As should be clear, advocating for the homeless will involve working with multiple agencies and groups. It will require one to first understand what the main problems of the homeless population are and then work to make connections with the majority of those groups and agencies that work with those issues. For example, the "Great Recession" that began in 2007 caused some 1 in every 200 Americans, a large portion of these being low to middle income families in which adults lost their jobs due to the economy, to become homeless (Lunby, 2010). This means that an advocate for those in the homeless population that are families will need to consider not only the needs of adults but of the children with them. This can add factors such as education, toys for holidays, and clothing for growing children, and other considerations for children. One can easily see, therefore, that even while a population may share a single problem, such as not having a home in which to rest for the night, the actual people in that population have many unique needs. Advocating for them requires an advocate to not only know the general problems involved with the population but to also consider the individual needs of each member of that population that he or she is working with.

One of the first things I would do is to speak to members of this population as they are so rarely spoken to - as individuals. So often populations such as the homeless are treated as a mass that shares the same issues. By first getting to know the individuals and then asking them what they need or want help with I would act to identify with them those things that are most important to them. This would help me develop a priority list for my advocacy work. I would then identify the other agencies or experts who can help with those priorities, be they finding permanent housing, getting medical care, getting treatment, or simply finding a safe place for the night. This would be the best advocacy I could provide.

References

Barsky, A. E. (2000). Conflict resolution for the helping professions. Thomson Learning.

Homeless emergency assistance and rapid transition to housing (HEARTH): Defining “homeless” final rule. (2011). Homelessness Resource Exchange. Retrieved January 8, 2012 from

Homelessness advocacy service. (n.d.). Council to Homeless Persons. Retrieved January 8, 2012 from

Lunby, T. (2010). More families are homeless and on the streets, CNN.com. Retrieved January 8, 2012 from

What is human services? (2009). National Organization for Human Services. Retrieved January 8, 2012 from

Of all of these roles that of advocacy may be the one most familiar to most people. As you mention, advocating for children is a part of being a parent. Negotiating can often be difficult, however, and so can mediation because many people are often rarely in these situations. It will take more time for people to become familiar with those roles.

I think the role of the advocate goes beyond that of just a communicator. One who communicates is simply one who talks. An advocate, however, does much more than that. An advocate takes on the role of acting for the benefit of someone, not just acting as one who speaks for them. Barsky's role, therefore, is too limited to be accurate.

The fact that funding constraints and services work against each other is so often forgotten. So many times the general public complains about how many homeless, mental patients, or drug addicts are out on the street "getting into trouble" but then they fight against increased taxes. It is a shame that people cry over how homeless, mental patients, or drug addicts make communities unsafe or "ugly" yet refuse to pay for the services these people need so their neighborhoods can improve.

The frustration faced by human services professionals is a serious problem and funding shortages do greatly increase their frustrations. Those who care the most often become the most frustrated and the industry loses those who most want to help others. It is such a shame and it is another issue that human services agencies will need to increasingly manage.

This is true. Expensive surroundings cost money and that money could be much better spent on services and populations that need them. One thing the public should be informed about is how much of every dollar they donate to an agency or group goes to services and how much to maintain salaries and staff. While staff is necessary, the better groups are those that provide the majority of donations to the people they help, not to their beautiful facilities.