Google Drive Groupwork entry #1

Gold Dust

4. play the rap again, and look at the lyrics while listening. if you wish, you can mouth the words silently.

• Can you identify words that rhyme?

yes we can identify  word that rhyme, for example in the line 9 and 10 wi-fi and why try?

• How is the setting of a modern, western world created?

an environment of people with a modern house and many electronic devices

• imagine going back 50 years in time and playing this rap to someone living in the past. how would they react to the language and the ideas presented?

if they are for the same country they can be familiarized with the language, but they can be surprise with the ideas presented because that ideas are a kind of joke.

"Mayor de Blasio’s Budget Commits $100 Million to Combat Homelessness in New York" NY Times

Mayor Bill de Blasio began his Wednesday morning discussing income inequality on MSNBC and ended it with the publication of an op-ed in The Washington Post. In between, a largely sympathetic profile landed in Rolling Stone, outlining his push for a national platform.

Yet as Mr. de Blasio moves to bolster his stature as a leader of the Democratic Party’s liberal wing, at least one signpost of inequality has remained persistently dire on his watch at home: Homelessness in New York City has reached its highest levels since the Great Depression, according to advocates, with shelter populations in December exceeding 59,000 people, including about 23,000 children.

On Thursday, Mr. de Blasio is expected to detail plans aimed at combating the problem as part of his executive budget presentation. Officials said Wednesday that the city would commit $100 million in annual spending, including funding for rental assistance to more than 7,000 new households, anti-eviction efforts and other measures.

In a statement, Mr. de Blasio said his administration was “using every resource we have to combat homelessness.”

The number of homeless people sleeping in municipal shelters has grown almost 70 percent in the last decade, according to the Coalition for the Homeless. The street presence of unsheltered homeless people in the city has prompted advocates to draw unfavorable comparisons to decades past, though city officials disputed this notion, calling the perception a function of the weather, among other factors.

The specter of a rising shelter population has received additional attention since last month, when the director of a Bronx homeless shelter was abducted and killed by one of its former residents, according to the authorities.

The mayor’s budget plans come on the heels of an agreement, reached last year by state and city officials, to provide rental assistance to homeless families in which at least one person holds a full-time job. Officials have also begun a subsidy program, aimed at chronically homeless families, and a pilot program subsidizing the rent of domestic violence victims with children.

Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, deputy mayor for health and human services, said the city had seen some positive trends amid the increases in rental assistance. Since October, the city said, more than 6,300 people have left shelters for permanent housing. The administration said its “diversion rate” — the number of people on the cusp of entering shelters, before receiving help to remain in their homes — had also improved in recent months.

Aides to the mayor and advocates for homeless people disagreed on the current number of unsheltered homeless people in New York City. The administration, citing a survey conducted in February by the Department of Homeless Services, said the figure had decreased 5 percent in the past year, to 3,182.

The Coalition for the Homeless has long cast doubt on the survey’s accuracy, citing the cold weather during the count and the efforts of homeless people to conceal themselves from any authorities.

 “It just flies in the face of common sense,” Mary Brosnahan, the group’s president, said of the supposed decrease in unsheltered homelessness. “Across the board, New Yorkers are seeing more homeless people.”

In general, advocates have compared Mr. de Blasio favorably to his predecessor, Michael R. Bloomberg. Ms. Brosnahan, who was briefed on the budget proposal on Wednesday, praised the plans, which include new federally funded rental assistance for more than 1,200 households and additional money for legal assistance in housing court.

Last week, several elected officials and an advocacy group, Homes for Every New Yorker, called on the city to allocate 2,500 New York City Housing Authority apartments each year to families in shelters.

“The city is choosing to do less than what it can do,” said Ritchie Torres, chairman of the City Council’s public housing committee. “We should make the best possible use of every tool that we have, including public housing.”

The city allocates some housing authority units for homeless people, but officials have balked at setting aside thousands, citing extensive wait lists.

Is Homeless and Houselessness the same thing?

Houseless and Homeless Same?  Not exactly.

Many think so, but they are different and overlap.   Many think that if you have a roof over your head – housed that is (shelter, rooming house, somebody’s couch) then you are not homeless.   They think you are homeless only if you live outside, on the streets.  They are wrong.

If you don’t get the difference, think about it until you do.  Read the words of the homeless veteran below and see if anything clicks.   The old saying, “home  is where the heart is” is quite valid and true.  Just because a homeless person is in shelter or sleeping on a friend’s couch, or living in a cheap motel, doesn’t mean he or she is not still homeless.

They may be housed and homeless at the same time.  This is a big issue and a terribly sore spot with the homeless.  To them there is a world of difference; almost fighting words!   There are homeless veterans and houseless veterans, two different levels of homeless, but don’t say that someone housed cannot be homeless.  The houseless veteran is one that sleeps in a doorway or back alley or along some creek bank somewhere.   The homeless veteran covers that and also the housed that cannot make a home out of their accomidations.

DEFINITION

From Wikipedia:  The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines the term “homeless” or “homeless individual or homeless person” as — (1) an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; and (2) an individual who has a primary nighttime residence that is: A) supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill); B) an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or C) a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodations for human beings.

Definition 1) covers the unhoused homeless and 2) covers the housed homeless.  There are others, including those living in cars, campers, paid motel rooms/flop houses, rooming houses, bus terminals, transit cars, and couch surfing that kind of blur whether they are covered at all or included in C).

Most homeless census counts do not count the homeless that are able to score time in a motel or hotel as homeless, although usually they get that brief stay for only a few days or a week.  Most homeless census counts also do not count homeless in transit (those at bus or train stations or actually in transit), even though some live in the metro transit systems for years.   The result is an undercount.

Real definition of Homelessness?

There is more than one “official” definition of homelessness. Health centers funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) use the following:

A homeless individual is defined in section 330(h)(5)(A) as “an individual who lacks housing (without regard to whether the individual is a member of a family), including an individual whose primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private facility (e.g., shelters) that provides temporary living accommodations, and an individual who is a resident in transitional housing.” A homeless person is an individual without permanent housing who may live on the streets; stay in a shelter, mission, single room occupancy facilities, abandoned building or vehicle; or in any other unstable or non-permanent situation. [Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C., 254b)]

An individual may be considered to be homeless if that person is “doubled up,” a term that refers to a situation where individuals are unable to maintain their housing situation and are forced to stay with a series of friends and/or extended family members. In addition, previously homeless individuals who are to be released from a prison or a hospital may be considered homeless if they do not have a stable housing situation to which they can return. A recognition of the instability of an individual’s living arrangements is critical to the definition of homelessness. (HRSA/Bureau of Primary Health Care, Program Assistance Letter 99-12, Health Care for the Homeless Principles of Practice)

Programs funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) use a different, more limited definition of homelessness [found in the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-22, Section 1003)].

An individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence;

An individual who has a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings, including a car, park, abandoned building, bus or train station, airport, or camping ground;

An individual or family living in a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangements (including hotels and motels paid for by Federal, State or local government programs for low-income individuals or by charitable organizations, congregate shelters, and transitional housing);

An individual who resided in a shelter or place not meant for human habitation and who is exiting an institution where he or she temporarily resided;

An individual or family who will imminently lose their housing [as evidenced by a court order resulting from an eviction action that notifies the individual or family that they must leave within 14 days, having a primary nighttime residence that is a room in a hotel or motel and where they lack the resources necessary to reside there for more than 14 days, or credible evidence indicating that the owner or renter of the housing will not allow the individual or family to stay for more than 14 days, and any oral statement from an individual or family seeking homeless assistance that is found to be credible shall be considered credible evidence for purposes of this clause]; has no subsequent residence identified; and lacks the resources or support networks needed to obtain other permanent housing; and

Unaccompanied youth and homeless families with children and youth defined as homeless under other Federal statutes who have experienced a long-term period without living independently in permanent housing, have experienced persistent instability as measured by frequent moves over such period, and can be expected to continue in such status for an extended period of time because of chronic disabilities, chronic physical health or mental health conditions, substance addiction, histories of domestic violence or childhood abuse, the presence of a child or youth with a disability, or multiple barriers to employment.

Hence different agencies use different definitions of homelessness, which affect how various programs determine eligibility for individuals and families at the state and local level. Health centers use the HHS definition in providing services.

Causes of Homelessness

Relationship breakdown is the main reason people give for losing their home but is there more to the story?

The most common reasons people give for losing their accommodation is that a friend or relatives  are no longer able to provide support or because of relationship breakdown.

However, there are often a wide number of factors at play. Individuals can arrive at the point of homelessness after a long chain of other life events.

Individual circumstances

Some factors and experiences can make people more vulnerable to homelessness: these include poor physical health, mental health problems, alcohol and drugs issues, bereavement, experience of care, and experience of the criminal justice system.

Wider forces

Structural factors can include poverty, inequality, housing supply and affordability, unemployment, welfare and income policies.

Complex interplay

Structural and individual factors are often interrelated; individual issues can arise from structural disadvantages such as poverty or lack of education. While personal factors, such as family and social relationships, can also be put under pressure by structural forces such as poverty.

- See more at: http://www.homeless.org.uk/facts/understanding-homelessness/causes-of-homelessness#sthash.EwsUJKFZ.dpuf

Homelessness: Definition

Homelessness is the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are most often unable to acquire and maintain regular, safe, secure and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence."[1] The legal definition of homeless varies from country to country, or among different jurisdictions in the same country or region.[dubious – discuss][2] The term homeless may also include people whose primary night-time residence is in a homeless shelter, a warming center, a domestic violence shelter, a vehicle (including recreational vehicles and campers), squatting, cardboard boxes, a tent, tarpaulins, or other ad hoc housing situations. American government homeless enumeration studies[3][4] also include persons who sleep in a public or private place not designed for use as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.[5][6] There are a number of organizations who provide provisions for the homeless for example, The Salvation Army.

An estimated 100 million people worldwide were homeless in 2005.[7] In western countries, the large majority of homeless are men (75–80%), with single males particularly overrepresented.[8][9][10]

Most countries provide a variety of services to assist homeless people. They often provide food, shelter and clothing and may be organized and run by community organizations (often with the help of volunteers) or by government departments. These programs may be supported by government, charities, churches and individual donors. Many cities also have street newspapers, which are publications designed to provide employment opportunity to homeless people. While some homeless have jobs, some must seek other methods to make a living. Begging or panhandling is one option, but is becoming increasingly illegal in many cities.

Common troubles for Common Runaways

Common problems

What happens to runaway children?

Young people who run away and do not return home may remain on the street, go to a shelter, or be placed in foster homes by welfare agencies. Some eventually join the armed services or take jobs that keep them on the road, such as carnival or sales work. Others end up in jails or mental institutions. Those who remain on the streets have few options that would provide them with decent living conditions. Their age, lack of work experience, and uncompleted education make it difficult for them to find a job, especially one that pays more than minimum wage. It is common for both male and female runaways living on the streets to steal, panhandle, deal and abuse drugs, engage in prostitution, and pose for pornographic pictures. For shelter they may stay with strangers, spend nights in bus stations, all-night coffee shops, and other public places, or stow away in empty or abandoned buildings or even in stairwells. Many never get off the streets, becoming part of the adult homeless population.

There are an estimated 750 runaway shelters and youth crisis centers in the United States. These offer safe shelter, food, counseling, and advocacy services to help young people deal with parents, police, and the courts. Many also provide educational and vocational assistance. However, shelters do set certain conditions for accepting runaways, the most common being parental notification. This is an obstacle for some young people who do not want their parents contacted, even though the shelter does not press them to return home. One problem that has occurred at some shelters is sexual molestation by other runaways and staff members. Nevertheless, many young people have had positive experiences at shelters, which they either find on their own or are sent to by the legal or welfare systems.

Since the 1970s, hotlines have been available to help runaways and their families. The Runaway Hotline and the National Runaway Switchboard (1–800–621–4000) have become widely used 24-hour help lines that offer crisis counseling and referrals to service agencies that can provide food, shelter, medical aid, and other types of help. The National Runaway Switchboard will put runaways and their parents in touch without revealing the location from which the teenager is calling.

Parental concerns

Parents are often emotionally devastated when their child runs away. Their fluctuating emotions may include anger, grief, guilt, and fear . Sometimes they are not sure if their child has run away or been abducted. A parent's first concern is to find his or her child and/or make sure he or she is in a safe environment. To help achieve this, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children recommends these steps for parents.

They should check with friends and relatives to try to locate the child and enlist their help in thinking about where the child might be.

They should check diaries and e-mails for clues about the child's plans. They can ask the child's friends if they know the child's online passwords.

They should report to local law enforcement immediately that the child has run away or is missing. There is no waiting period to report a missing or runaway minor or to enter their information into the FBI NCIC database.

They should provide a description and photograph of the child to law officers.

They should check local places where the child may be hanging out.

They should check again with the child's friends. They may know something but initially be reluctant to tell the parents.

They should call the National Runaway Switchboard (1–800–621–4000) and see if the child has left a message for them. They can leave a message for the child here in case the child calls the hotline.

If the child contacts the parents and refuses to return home, the parents should encourage him or her to contact the National Runaway Switchboard and ask for assistance or encourage the child to go to a friend or relative. Parents can ask their child to stay in touch and make a plan about when the child will call again. If the child returns home, parents need to try to respond with concern and love, rather than anger. Children who have been away for more than a few days should have a complete medical examination. They also can benefit from seeing a mental health practitioner for help dealing with the distress that drove them away from home. Family therapy to help resolve whatever family problems may have driven the child away from home initially can also be beneficial in preventing a repeat running away incident.

Info Taken from: http://www.healthofchildren.com/R/Running-Away.html#ixzz3a7tTOsUG