Welfare fraud
Welfare fraud refers to various intentional misuses of state welfare systems by withholding information or giving false or inaccurate information. This may be done in small, uncoordinated efforts, or in larger, organized criminal rings. Some common types of welfare fraud are failing to report a household member, failure to report income, or providing false information about the "inability" to work. There have been cases of people feigning illness in conjunction with welfare fraud.
In practice, welfare fraud tends to involve acquiring welfare benefits that are undeserved.
Either the recipient is collecting benefits under her own name but does not actually qualify for the benefits, or she is collecting the benefit on behalf of someone who is not actually going to receive the funds.
Welfare fraud can be quite extensive. As an example, a woman who has four or five children and has spaced the births over the course of a decade could be fraudulently collecting welfare payments for twenty-five years or more. In every U.S. state, the penalty for extensive welfare fraud over a period of years is prison. Some states offer large rewards for reporting those who are guilty of years of welfare fraud.
Religions groups such as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the Peoples Temple have been accused of bringing in a great deal of money by taking the welfare checks of their members.
Welfare fraud is criticized by welfare advocates for making fewer funds available to those who were intended to receive them. Welfare fraud is criticized by opponents of welfare in general for creating situations where taxpayers subsidize instances of middle-class or even lavish living by criminals. The terms welfare queen and welfare Cadillac are pejoratives terms related to welfare fraud.
Welfare fraud has also been criticized for its role in modeling criminal behavior in children, many of whom may act out by taking drugs, becoming sexually abusive, crossing state lines to flee prosecution, engaging in welfare fraud themselves, or committing other crimes and frauds.
The punishment for welfare fraud varies by jurisdiction. In the United States, punishment for the first offense may be as mild as suspension of welfare privileges for a year, but can include fines and jail time.
Ward 49 of the City of Chicago includes most of Rogers Park and parts of West Ridge.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Welfare
Welfare
Welfare is financial assistance paid by taxpayers to people who are unable to support themselves. Some welfare is general, while specific and can only be invoked under certain circumstances, such as a scholarship. Welfare payments can be made to individuals or to companies or entities--these latter payments are often considered corporate welfare.
Individuals may apply for welfare due to disability, lack of education or job training, a low demand for unskilled labor, substance abuse, or an unwillingness to work. Assistance may also take the form of other relief, such as tax credits for working mothers.
Welfare is known by a variety of names in different countries, all with the avowed purpose of providing an economic or social safety net for disadvantaged members of society. Almost all developed nations provide some kind of safety net of this kind; nations where such programs are especially prominent are known as welfare states.
The desired outcome and purpose of welfare varies. For welfare for the non-disabled, the purpose often is to prevent complete destitution. Welfare or assistance for the disabled, in contrast, does not eventually expect non-dependency, and the justification is more philosophical.
"Corporate welfare," usually in the form of favorable tax policy, is sometimes used in order to provide capital to an industry that the government perceives needs financial assistance in order to survive or to expand, or which the government wishes to support for political or economic purposes.
Some of these ideal outcomes and purposes, as well as welfare's effectiveness have been challenged by political lobbies such as those who oppose big government and "forced charity", such as minarchists or libertarians.
The amounts paid to recipients are typically modest, and may fall below the poverty line. Recipients must usually demonstrate a low level of income such as by way of "means testing", or financial hardship, or that they satisfy some other requirement such as childcare responsibilities or disability.
Those receiving unemployment benefits may also have to regularly demonstrate that they are periodically searching for employment. Some countries assign specific jobs to recipients who must work in these roles in order for welfare payments to continue. In the United States and Canada, such programs are known as workfare.
Welfare in the United States
Welfare services in the United States have traditionally been more limited than those in European nations. As one author writes, "compared with most other rich capitalist societies, the American welfare state is more market-conforming."[4]
Welfare assistance of various kinds is provided in the United States partly by the federal government and partly by state governments. Federal welfare and public assistance spending is provided by federal government agencies, such as the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the US Department of Health and Human Services, through special programs to recipients.
In the United States, personal welfare is normally given to households with children, often headed by single mothers. Since the landmark federal welfare reform act in 1996 (the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act), individual recipients are limited to a lifetime maximum of five years cumulative for receiving federal welfare of all types.[5] Before 1997, United States personal welfare for households with children was first named Aid to Dependent Children, which was later called Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).[6]. It was administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
In 1996-97 as part of welfare reform, AFDC was replaced by Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which included more limits on the amount of time an individual or family can receive welfare.[7] Since 1996, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has largely replaced AFDC as the primary anti-poverty program in the United States[8].
While not termed "welfare" in the USA, there are a variety of other personal transfer payments which are financial assistance programs; examples of such transfer payments are unemployment compensation (which, unlike welfare, is not means-tested and is prepaid by employees before job loss) and tobacco taxes, part of which are disbursed for hospital care for the needy (as well as the general public).
With regard to personal welfare for individuals without children, most U.S. states had been providing welfare or assistance benefits to single adults and childless married couples since the Great Depression, but the number of states doing so declined steeply during the 1990s, and many of the states that still provide such benefits use methods other than cash payments to render the assistance. For example, many California counties currently provide only vouchers.
At present, only a few states — New Jersey, Utah and Minnesota among them — still provide cash benefits to poverty-stricken adults who do not have child dependents. These programs were often known officially by such names as Home Relief, General Assistance, or General Relief.
History of welfare
There is relatively little statistical data on welfare transfer payments until at least the High Middle Ages. In the medieval period and until the Industrial Revolution, the function of welfare payments in Europe was principally achieved through private giving or charity. In those early times there was a much broader group considered in poverty compared to the 21st century.
Early welfare programs included the English Poor Law of 1601, which gave parishes the responsibility for providing welfare payments to the poor[9]. This system was substantially modified by the nineteenth-century Poor Law Amendment Act, which introduced the system of workhouses.
It was predominantly in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that an organized system of state welfare provision was introduced in many countries. Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of Germany, introduced one of the first welfare systems for the working classes. In Great Britain the Liberal government of Henry Campbell-Bannerman and David Lloyd George introduced the National Insurance system in 1911[10], a system later expanded by Clement Attlee. The United States did not have an organized welfare system until the Great Depression, when emergency relief measures were introduced under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Even then, Roosevelt's New Deal focused predominantly on a programme of providing work and stimulating the economy through public spending on projects, rather than on cash payments.
In the late twentieth century, a perception grew that existing welfare systems were becoming excessively bureaucratic and inefficient. The United States Social Security system has come under particular criticism, and many political figures, such as George W. Bush, have argued for a more work-based system of welfare provision.
See also
Poverty
Financial aid
Aid
Welfare fraud
Welfare trap
Welfare is financial assistance paid by taxpayers to people who are unable to support themselves. Some welfare is general, while specific and can only be invoked under certain circumstances, such as a scholarship. Welfare payments can be made to individuals or to companies or entities--these latter payments are often considered corporate welfare.
Individuals may apply for welfare due to disability, lack of education or job training, a low demand for unskilled labor, substance abuse, or an unwillingness to work. Assistance may also take the form of other relief, such as tax credits for working mothers.
Welfare is known by a variety of names in different countries, all with the avowed purpose of providing an economic or social safety net for disadvantaged members of society. Almost all developed nations provide some kind of safety net of this kind; nations where such programs are especially prominent are known as welfare states.
The desired outcome and purpose of welfare varies. For welfare for the non-disabled, the purpose often is to prevent complete destitution. Welfare or assistance for the disabled, in contrast, does not eventually expect non-dependency, and the justification is more philosophical.
"Corporate welfare," usually in the form of favorable tax policy, is sometimes used in order to provide capital to an industry that the government perceives needs financial assistance in order to survive or to expand, or which the government wishes to support for political or economic purposes.
Some of these ideal outcomes and purposes, as well as welfare's effectiveness have been challenged by political lobbies such as those who oppose big government and "forced charity", such as minarchists or libertarians.
The amounts paid to recipients are typically modest, and may fall below the poverty line. Recipients must usually demonstrate a low level of income such as by way of "means testing", or financial hardship, or that they satisfy some other requirement such as childcare responsibilities or disability.
Those receiving unemployment benefits may also have to regularly demonstrate that they are periodically searching for employment. Some countries assign specific jobs to recipients who must work in these roles in order for welfare payments to continue. In the United States and Canada, such programs are known as workfare.
Welfare in the United States
Welfare services in the United States have traditionally been more limited than those in European nations. As one author writes, "compared with most other rich capitalist societies, the American welfare state is more market-conforming."[4]
Welfare assistance of various kinds is provided in the United States partly by the federal government and partly by state governments. Federal welfare and public assistance spending is provided by federal government agencies, such as the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the US Department of Health and Human Services, through special programs to recipients.
In the United States, personal welfare is normally given to households with children, often headed by single mothers. Since the landmark federal welfare reform act in 1996 (the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act), individual recipients are limited to a lifetime maximum of five years cumulative for receiving federal welfare of all types.[5] Before 1997, United States personal welfare for households with children was first named Aid to Dependent Children, which was later called Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).[6]. It was administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
In 1996-97 as part of welfare reform, AFDC was replaced by Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which included more limits on the amount of time an individual or family can receive welfare.[7] Since 1996, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has largely replaced AFDC as the primary anti-poverty program in the United States[8].
While not termed "welfare" in the USA, there are a variety of other personal transfer payments which are financial assistance programs; examples of such transfer payments are unemployment compensation (which, unlike welfare, is not means-tested and is prepaid by employees before job loss) and tobacco taxes, part of which are disbursed for hospital care for the needy (as well as the general public).
With regard to personal welfare for individuals without children, most U.S. states had been providing welfare or assistance benefits to single adults and childless married couples since the Great Depression, but the number of states doing so declined steeply during the 1990s, and many of the states that still provide such benefits use methods other than cash payments to render the assistance. For example, many California counties currently provide only vouchers.
At present, only a few states — New Jersey, Utah and Minnesota among them — still provide cash benefits to poverty-stricken adults who do not have child dependents. These programs were often known officially by such names as Home Relief, General Assistance, or General Relief.
History of welfare
There is relatively little statistical data on welfare transfer payments until at least the High Middle Ages. In the medieval period and until the Industrial Revolution, the function of welfare payments in Europe was principally achieved through private giving or charity. In those early times there was a much broader group considered in poverty compared to the 21st century.
Early welfare programs included the English Poor Law of 1601, which gave parishes the responsibility for providing welfare payments to the poor[9]. This system was substantially modified by the nineteenth-century Poor Law Amendment Act, which introduced the system of workhouses.
It was predominantly in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that an organized system of state welfare provision was introduced in many countries. Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of Germany, introduced one of the first welfare systems for the working classes. In Great Britain the Liberal government of Henry Campbell-Bannerman and David Lloyd George introduced the National Insurance system in 1911[10], a system later expanded by Clement Attlee. The United States did not have an organized welfare system until the Great Depression, when emergency relief measures were introduced under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Even then, Roosevelt's New Deal focused predominantly on a programme of providing work and stimulating the economy through public spending on projects, rather than on cash payments.
In the late twentieth century, a perception grew that existing welfare systems were becoming excessively bureaucratic and inefficient. The United States Social Security system has come under particular criticism, and many political figures, such as George W. Bush, have argued for a more work-based system of welfare provision.
See also
Poverty
Financial aid
Aid
Welfare fraud
Welfare trap
Bumvertising
Bumvertising
Bumvertising is a trademarked name for a form of informal employment in which a homeless person is paid to display advertising.
A website [1] publicizing this form of advertising was launched in August 2005 by Benjamin Rogovy, a 22-year-old entrepreneur who hired homeless men in the U.S. city of Seattle, Washington, to carry signs with the URL of his poker player match-up site.
Critics accuse Rogovy of exploiting the poor and take particular offense to the use of “bum” which is considered pejorative by many.
Rogovy was parodied during an interview by correspondent Dan Bakkedahl on the September 20, 2005 episode of The Daily Show.
Given the controversial name, “bumvertising” may be designed for publicity, rather than as a legitimate advertising system. Most media attention has focused on the controversial practice and terminology. When media cover the bumvertising story, they typically also mention Pokerfacebook.com, the company that trademarked the term and pioneered the practice. This puts the company’s URL before a large audience for free. After a segment on The Daily Show, Pokerfacebook.com and bumvertising.com’s servers responded slowly, likely under the strain of site traffic.
See also
Frank Chu
Homelessness
Bumfights
Bumvertising is a trademarked name for a form of informal employment in which a homeless person is paid to display advertising.
A website [1] publicizing this form of advertising was launched in August 2005 by Benjamin Rogovy, a 22-year-old entrepreneur who hired homeless men in the U.S. city of Seattle, Washington, to carry signs with the URL of his poker player match-up site.
Critics accuse Rogovy of exploiting the poor and take particular offense to the use of “bum” which is considered pejorative by many.
Rogovy was parodied during an interview by correspondent Dan Bakkedahl on the September 20, 2005 episode of The Daily Show.
Given the controversial name, “bumvertising” may be designed for publicity, rather than as a legitimate advertising system. Most media attention has focused on the controversial practice and terminology. When media cover the bumvertising story, they typically also mention Pokerfacebook.com, the company that trademarked the term and pioneered the practice. This puts the company’s URL before a large audience for free. After a segment on The Daily Show, Pokerfacebook.com and bumvertising.com’s servers responded slowly, likely under the strain of site traffic.
See also
Frank Chu
Homelessness
Bumfights
Begging
Begging
Begging is the practice whereby a person obtains money, food, shelter or other things from people they encounter by request. It is also referred to as sponging, spanging (short for "spare-changing") or (in American English) panhandling.
In larger cities, it is common to see beggars asking for money, food, or other items. Typically, beggars often beg for spare change equipped with coffee cups, mugs, small boxes, hats, or other items into which monies can be placed and sometimes display signs with messages such as "Help me. I'm homeless." Another popular form of begging is to imply, that by giving money you help an entire cause, or humanity.
Forms of begging
Beggars will often share successful approaches or '"spange lines" which seem to attract more attention or to entice or entertain passersby. Examples include:
Aggressive panhandling
Aggressive panhandling involves the solicitation of donations in an inappropriate and intimidating manner. This is not mugging, but rather a "borderline" activity which is often prohibited by law. Examples include:
Restriction of beggars
In many larger cities, such as Chicago, Illinois, peddling has been banned. In Chicago, there are a number of signs at regular intervals reminding people that peddling is banned. This rarely dissuades the beggar, and the constitutionality of such bans is questionable. In 2004, the city of Orlando, Florida passed an ordinance (Orlando Municipal Code section 43.86) requiring panhandlers to obtain a permit from the municipal police department. The ordinance further makes it a crime to panhandle in the commercial core of downtown Orlando, as well as within 50 feet of any bank or automated teller machine. It is also considered a crime in Orlando for panhandlers to make false or untrue statements, or to disguise themselves, to solicit money, and to use money obtained for a claim of a specific purpose (e.g. food) to be spent on anything else (e.g. drugs). The potential for these latter restrictions to be enforced is minimal.
In Santa Cruz, CA, there are regulations for panhandlers on where they can and cannot "Spange". For example, they must be a certain distance away from the door of any business.
The Atlanta, Georgia, city council approved a ban on panhandling on August 16, 2005, and
Mayor Shirley Franklin is expected to sign the ban into law.
History of Begging
There are few, if any, current techniques for begging which have not been used for hundreds of years, or are not based on older techniques, adapted to modern technology. Beggars rarely recorded their techniques, and often used Thieves' cant to disguise their own communication.
What is known of them is largely from records of law enforcement, penitential or rogue literature. From early modern England the best examples are Thomas Harman, and Robert Greene in his coney-catching pamphlets. There is no reason to suppose that what he recorded was new. There are similar writers for many European countries in the early modern period.
Notable beggars
Bampfylde Moore Carew self styled King of the Beggars
Nicholas Jennings in Thomas Harman's "Caveat for Common Cursitors"
Ryan Larkin
Lazarus
Omar
See also
Bumvertising
Fundraising
Homelessness
Internet begging
Poor law
Vagrancy
Mendicant Orders
Begging is the practice whereby a person obtains money, food, shelter or other things from people they encounter by request. It is also referred to as sponging, spanging (short for "spare-changing") or (in American English) panhandling.
In larger cities, it is common to see beggars asking for money, food, or other items. Typically, beggars often beg for spare change equipped with coffee cups, mugs, small boxes, hats, or other items into which monies can be placed and sometimes display signs with messages such as "Help me. I'm homeless." Another popular form of begging is to imply, that by giving money you help an entire cause, or humanity.
Forms of begging
Beggars will often share successful approaches or '"spange lines" which seem to attract more attention or to entice or entertain passersby. Examples include:
- Long stories of the mendicant's plight or some task they are trying to accomplish, such as obtaining money "for the bus," traveling cross-country, being stranded with an empty automobile fuel tank and needing to return home, etc.
- Approaching automobile fuel station customers with an empty, 15L or 20L portable fuel can and asking them to fill it or part of it. The gas is then converted to cash by being resold at a discount below the fuel pump price. In many cases, despite the appearance suggested by the fuel container, the beggar in this situation doesn't actually own or have use of an automobile by which she or he would consume the fuel.
- A direct request for money for alcohol or drugs, in the hopes that honesty will gain sympathy.
- Colorful approaches such as "I'll bet you a dollar I have your name tattooed on my ass" (where the beggar has the actual words "Your Name" tattooed), or lines like "Do you have change for a dollar?" (since people are more likely to trade change than give it away) followed by "Can I have it?" when the solicited shows he or she does in fact have change.
- Humorous requests for something other than expected, such as "Can you spare a kidney?"
- Stationing oneself either in or near vehicle traffic in order to peddle goods or solicit donations, for example walking between lanes at a red light; when this is done with a sign, it is often referred to as "flying". In these cases, beggars run the risk of being struck by passing vehicles.
- Requests or behaviors deemed as ostentatious or audacious, such as "I'll lick my tit for a dollar."
- Some beggars will pose as someone famous to beg. For instance, some innovative beggars in India paint themselves as Mahatma Gandhi in tableaux color.
- Speaking very softly so that the solicited needs to stop to listen to what the beggar has to say.
- Beggars can build a relationship with those they solicit by remembering their faces and greeting them when they pass. Ostensibly, this makes it harder for the solicited to walk away without giving anything.
- Setting up a "Free Information" booth or sign with tip jar, and then answering questions to the best of one's ability regarding information nearby, such as directions, amenities, etc.
- To maintain cover and inconspicuousness, the beggar remains in an area for hours at a time selling newspaper subscriptions, or other such items, to sidewalk passerby, when offer is refused the beggar then asks: "Then how about a donation instead."
- Psychological manipulation: when a request for money is refused by passerby, the beggar makes a strong statement intended to induce shame and reproach in the passerby, and a possible future donation, such as "Thanks a lot."
- Subliminal psychological interrogatories such as "do you have any change." While the beggar may in fact be asking if the passerby has "any change" for him, the beggar may also be challenging the passerby to confirm or deny that he has any change in pocket.
- Many passersby are morally resistant to lying about coins in pocket, or resistant to stating "not for you," then decide to give their money to the beggar.
- Stationing oneself outside of a cash intensive retail market and using an entry/exit strategy: the passerby stating "I have no change" is then suggested by the beggar that the passerby might have change and give money "maybe on the way out" of the store.
- Youthful appearing or child beggars or their parents produce and print legitimate looking materials or posters related to a "little league" or youth sports program and ask for money "to buy equipment." The money, often from an entire family of children, is then funneled to a parent or other family member and not to the youth organization.
- Fraudulent adult beggars produce similar materials for a legitimate religious or charitable organization or program and solicit money for such an organization on the spot.
- Subsequent investigations in telephone directories, internet searches, revenue authority records, and other public records of charitable organizations reveal the organization is non-existent or disbanded. The beggar then moves on to another area of the city or region, only to return with the same operation months or years later.
Aggressive panhandling
Aggressive panhandling involves the solicitation of donations in an inappropriate and intimidating manner. This is not mugging, but rather a "borderline" activity which is often prohibited by law. Examples include:
- Soliciting near ATM banking machines.
- Soliciting from customers inside a store or restaurant.
- Soliciting near or at religious or holy sites (such as in the Old City of Jerusalem or the Vatican City).
- Extending a hand, or even the head and both arms, into a car window to solicit.
- Soliciting after dark, in a secluded area.
- Approaching individuals from behind, as they are exiting their vehicles, to solicit.
- Soliciting in a loud voice, often accompanied with wild gesticulations.
- The use of insults, profanity, or veiled threats.
- Refusing to take "No" for an answer, and following an individual.
- Demanding more money after a donation has been given.
- Invasion of personal space, cornering, blocking, or inappropriate touching.
- A "team" of several beggars approaching an individual at once, often surrounding the person.
- "Camping out" in a spot where begging negatively influences some other business (such as in front of a store or restaurant) in the hope that the business owner will give money to make the beggar go away.
- There have been reports of beggars who will attempt to have their limbs amputated in the hope that they can solicit more out of sympathy.[1]
Restriction of beggars
In many larger cities, such as Chicago, Illinois, peddling has been banned. In Chicago, there are a number of signs at regular intervals reminding people that peddling is banned. This rarely dissuades the beggar, and the constitutionality of such bans is questionable. In 2004, the city of Orlando, Florida passed an ordinance (Orlando Municipal Code section 43.86) requiring panhandlers to obtain a permit from the municipal police department. The ordinance further makes it a crime to panhandle in the commercial core of downtown Orlando, as well as within 50 feet of any bank or automated teller machine. It is also considered a crime in Orlando for panhandlers to make false or untrue statements, or to disguise themselves, to solicit money, and to use money obtained for a claim of a specific purpose (e.g. food) to be spent on anything else (e.g. drugs). The potential for these latter restrictions to be enforced is minimal.
In Santa Cruz, CA, there are regulations for panhandlers on where they can and cannot "Spange". For example, they must be a certain distance away from the door of any business.
The Atlanta, Georgia, city council approved a ban on panhandling on August 16, 2005, and
Mayor Shirley Franklin is expected to sign the ban into law.
History of Begging
There are few, if any, current techniques for begging which have not been used for hundreds of years, or are not based on older techniques, adapted to modern technology. Beggars rarely recorded their techniques, and often used Thieves' cant to disguise their own communication.
What is known of them is largely from records of law enforcement, penitential or rogue literature. From early modern England the best examples are Thomas Harman, and Robert Greene in his coney-catching pamphlets. There is no reason to suppose that what he recorded was new. There are similar writers for many European countries in the early modern period.
Notable beggars
Bampfylde Moore Carew self styled King of the Beggars
Nicholas Jennings in Thomas Harman's "Caveat for Common Cursitors"
Ryan Larkin
Lazarus
Omar
See also
Bumvertising
Fundraising
Homelessness
Internet begging
Poor law
Vagrancy
Mendicant Orders
Soup kitchen
Soup kitchen
A soup kitchen or a bread line is a place where food is offered to the poor for free or at a reasonably low price. Frequently located in lower-income neighborhoods, they are often staffed by volunteer organizations, such as church groups. Soup kitchens sometimes obtain food from a food bank for free or at a low price, because they are considered a charity.
See also
Thrift store
Freegan
Food Not Bombs
Soup Kitchen International, a well-known soup restaurant in New York City, New York, run by Al Yeganeh
Masbia, a humanitarian organization located in the Boro Park section of Brooklyn NY, whose stated mission is to feed the hungry in a respectful and dignified manner.
So Others Might Eat
A soup kitchen or a bread line is a place where food is offered to the poor for free or at a reasonably low price. Frequently located in lower-income neighborhoods, they are often staffed by volunteer organizations, such as church groups. Soup kitchens sometimes obtain food from a food bank for free or at a low price, because they are considered a charity.
See also
Thrift store
Freegan
Food Not Bombs
Soup Kitchen International, a well-known soup restaurant in New York City, New York, run by Al Yeganeh
Masbia, a humanitarian organization located in the Boro Park section of Brooklyn NY, whose stated mission is to feed the hungry in a respectful and dignified manner.
So Others Might Eat
Homeless shelter
Homeless shelter
Homeless shelters are temporary residences for homeless people. Usually located in urban neighborhoods, they are similar to emergency shelters. The primary difference is that homeless shelters are usually open to anyone, without regard to the reason for need. Some shelters limit their clientele by gender or age.
Conditions of use
In the United States, most homeless shelters expect clients to stay elsewhere during the day, returning only to sleep, or if the shelter also provides meals, to eat; people in emergency shelters are more likely to stay all day, except for work, school, or errands. Some homeless shelters, however, are open 24 hours a day.
There are daytime-only homeless shelters, where the homeless can go when they cannot stay inside at their night-time sleeping shelter during the day. Such an early model of a daytime homeless shelter providing multi-faceted services is Saint Francis House in Boston, Massachusetts.
Management and funding
Homeless shelters are usually operated by a non-profit agency, a municipal agency, or associated with a church. Many get at least part of their funding from local government entities. Shelters can sometimes be referred to as "human warehouses".
Services
Homeless shelters sometimes also provide other services, such as a soup kitchen, job seeking skills training, job training, job placement, support groups, and/or substance (i.e., drugs and/or alcohol) abuse treatment. If they do not offer any of these services, they can usually refer their clients to agencies that do.
Controversy
There has been concern about the transmission of diseases in the homeless population housed in shelters, and the people who work there, especially with Tuberculosis. [1]
A question has been raised as to just how much money donated to the charities which run the shelters actually gets to the homeless person and the needed services. In many cases, there is a large overhead in administrative costs which compromise the money for their homeless clients.[2]
Different models
An example of a homeless shelter which does not fit the usual model is Raphael House, a shelter for homeless parents and children, which has been operating in the Tenderloin, San Francisco, California since 1971 and was the first such shelter in that city.
See also
Penny sit-up
External links
Directory of homeless shelter directories from Information Resources for the Homeless (in the U.S.)
Homeless shelters are temporary residences for homeless people. Usually located in urban neighborhoods, they are similar to emergency shelters. The primary difference is that homeless shelters are usually open to anyone, without regard to the reason for need. Some shelters limit their clientele by gender or age.
Conditions of use
In the United States, most homeless shelters expect clients to stay elsewhere during the day, returning only to sleep, or if the shelter also provides meals, to eat; people in emergency shelters are more likely to stay all day, except for work, school, or errands. Some homeless shelters, however, are open 24 hours a day.
There are daytime-only homeless shelters, where the homeless can go when they cannot stay inside at their night-time sleeping shelter during the day. Such an early model of a daytime homeless shelter providing multi-faceted services is Saint Francis House in Boston, Massachusetts.
Management and funding
Homeless shelters are usually operated by a non-profit agency, a municipal agency, or associated with a church. Many get at least part of their funding from local government entities. Shelters can sometimes be referred to as "human warehouses".
Services
Homeless shelters sometimes also provide other services, such as a soup kitchen, job seeking skills training, job training, job placement, support groups, and/or substance (i.e., drugs and/or alcohol) abuse treatment. If they do not offer any of these services, they can usually refer their clients to agencies that do.
Controversy
There has been concern about the transmission of diseases in the homeless population housed in shelters, and the people who work there, especially with Tuberculosis. [1]
A question has been raised as to just how much money donated to the charities which run the shelters actually gets to the homeless person and the needed services. In many cases, there is a large overhead in administrative costs which compromise the money for their homeless clients.[2]
Different models
An example of a homeless shelter which does not fit the usual model is Raphael House, a shelter for homeless parents and children, which has been operating in the Tenderloin, San Francisco, California since 1971 and was the first such shelter in that city.
See also
Penny sit-up
External links
Directory of homeless shelter directories from Information Resources for the Homeless (in the U.S.)
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