Homelessness and Unemployment

Table of Contents

- podcast

- background info

- statistics

- causes

- challenges

- references

- resources

This wiki page will be talking about homelessness, and unemployment. This wiki page will explore how homelessness and unemployment are related and how they differ in different parts of Illinois. If reading isn't really your thing then you can listen to this podcast instead. Homeless Podcast 7 2.mp3

Background information on homelessness and unemployment

Bloomington Illinois

As of January 2020 there are estimated to be 226 homeless people living in Bloomington. Including 199 sheltered and 27 unsheltered. (WGLT 2020) Bloomington currently has three homeless shelters.

Chicago Illinois

According to the Chicago Coalition there are 65,000 people experiencing homelessness in the city in the year 2020. There are 16 homeless shelters in Chicago, Illinois.

Unemployment

Being mental ill is one of the many reasons why someone could become homeless and become unemployed. These two things are very closely connected and you can't have one and not experience the other at some point or another. In June of 2022 the unemployment rate in Bloomington-Normal was 4.0%. Which is way closer to the national average than when COVID was really bad during 2020-2021. During COVID the highest unemployment rate in Bloomington-Normal was 12.4%. Which means that Bloomington-Normal is recovering from COVID. Time will tell how the unemployment rate will change in the future.

Here is the Unemployment Rate graph from 1990-2022. To go to the FRED website to learn more about this graph visit the Resources section of this page.

Statistics

Some statistics that we see about homelessness in Chicago is that as of 2019 there is an estimated 58,273 people experiencing homelessness and around 138,471 people at risk of homelessness. Now these numbers are obviously going to be higher then anywhere else in Illinois because Chicago is one of the biggest Cities in our Country but it is a little bit ridiculous that our cities and organizations can't come together and figure out a better solution

Causes

One thing that can cause homelessness is you loosing your job. The reason this can cause homelessness is because when people loose their jobs they don't get paid. When they don't get paid they can't pay their bills and then they can't afford to stay in their home. So because of all of this they become homeless. Depending on their situation they might not be able to find another job because a lot of places don't offer homeless people jobs for many reasons including the fact that they might be a convicted felon, and because of a policy they might have that says no hiring homeless people.

Just as unemployment can cause homelessness, homelessness can cause unemployment. Not having a permanent home can affect whether or not a employer will give you a job. This is due to the fact that not having a permanent home looks unreliable, it makes employers wonder why you don't have a home and in turn a job. Do you not have a home because you can't keep a job and pay the bills? Why have you not had a job to where you can't have a house? Is it because you have mental illness and can't work? All of these questions come up and are the reason why homeless people have such a hard time finding jobs.

Another reason that people become homeless is because they may have a criminal record from the past and that is what is holding them back from getting a stable job to support themselves. I think that the past should not be held against them forever and if they are qualified and able to do a job their past should not matter. If we don't give them an opportunity to prove that they have truly changed they will never be able to live without having to worry.

Challenges

Some challenges homeless people face are life threats, and sickness because of the cold weather. The life threats they face include murder, hit and run, and kidnaping. They can also get sick from the cold and that can ruin their health and then they can eventually die from the sicknesses. To solve these problems more shelters should be built and the homeless should be kept inside them in safe and healthy conditions and with good care. The homeless shelters should have good and well trained staff to provide the homeless what they need and make them feel comfortable. More challenges that homeless people face is obtaining food and water. This can lead to them dying from starvation or dehydration.

Many of the same challenges also affects unemployment. The people that are unemployed for long periods of time will most likely become homeless at some point or another.