the blame and shame of homelessness

the blame and shame of homelessness. This changing impression of the homeless condition is slow in evolving, however. The level of public awareness is still too low to effectively create a situation in which much of the country’s homeless children, who do not have access to necessary services, are less rather than more likely than others to repeat this cycle when they become parents themselves. In America, an estimated 500,000 children are homeless at any one given time and their mothers embody the fastest increasing constituent of the homeless population. Veterans returning from war are in second place in this dismal contest. Single, childless men comprise nearly half of homeless center residents while 15 percent are single childless females according to research performed within homeless shelters. Families make up 40 percent of the homeless populace with a third of this demographic is single parents with their children. (Martijn & Sharpe, 2006). As these facts demonstrate, it is a common misconception that the majority of homeless persons prefers the appalling lifestyle or somehow become adjusted to it or prefers it to live in the mainstream much as prisoners become institutionalized after being incarcerated for many years. &nbsp.“Studies show that ninety-four percent of those without a home certainly would not choose to live this way another day if they had an alternative.” (Hopper, 2003) &nbsp.Another common myth concerning the homeless is that they are responsible for their own pitiful fate because they made bad decisions. In other words, they are getting what they deserve. Homeless largely is a condition beyond the control of most, children certainly but other segments of the homeless population are no more or less culpable in their situation.