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Meanwhile, Vatican City has no homeless people, and Grenada also had 68 homeless people in 2023.
Causes of homelessness include addiction, domestic violence, mental illness, job loss and underemployment, foreclosure, post-traumatic stress, throw-away teens, relational brokenness, grief, despair, and other causes.
However, we should remember to mention the issue of migration. Migrants from less advantaged, less endowed countries or crisis-ridden countries flee to more peaceful and prosperous countries for succor. But those countries have their own accommodation issues, too. That is why migration is now the most popular campaign topic in Europe and the Americas.
To end homelessness, a community-wide approach is needed. Communities need to address the issue as a body collecting individual programs to a community-wide response that is strategic and data-driven. Elements of a community-driven approach include coordinated entry, planning, collecting and examining local data, a shared data system, performance measurement and evaluation,
Another step is rapid re-housing. This is short-term rental assistance and services. Its goals are to help people obtain housing quickly, increase self-sufficiency, and stay housed. However, it should be offered without preconditions like employment, income, absence of criminal record, or sobriety.
Assistance for the most vulnerable is also essential. Providing permanent supportive housing has proved to be a solution to homelessness for the most vulnerable people. It pairs housing with case management and supportive services.
A crisis response system should be designed to identify those experiencing homelessness, prevent homelessness when possible, connect people with housing quickly and provide services when needed.
The issue of migration should also be tackled holistically. The world is a global village, and we shouldn’t prevent people from travelling from one part of the globe to the other, even if they seek jobs. Let’s make sure Africa, for instance, benefits from the global technological revolution. But we should also encourage the so-called developing countries to be self-sustaining economically and industrially.
For instance, those countries who produce various agricultural items should be encouraged to preserve their products nd add value to them. The advanced world could also do without fanning the embers of discord. The sale of arms and ammunition to non-state actors in the less developed world should also be discouraged. All these steps may reduce the crisis, which is currently a plague in Africa, and thus reduce the number of refugees and even the destruction of houses.
If it is successful in Africa, I see no reason why it should not be successful in other continents.
