Why Don't Homeless People Just Get Jobs and Stop Being Homeless?

Many people believe that homelessness is a choice, that all a person needs to do is get a job to stop being homeless. The fact is that it isn't that simple, either to get a job when homeless or to get out of homelessness even with a job. For one thing, getting a job while homeless presents a set of difficulties a homed person might not suspect. For another, a job isn't always enough to get a person off the street.

Unemployment rates are high and jobs are scarce. Even for those who have homes, it's hard to find a job. As to why homeless people have more difficulty getting jobs, there are multiple reasons.

Many people become homeless due to unemployment or illness, both of which create gaps in job history many employers find unacceptable. Homeless people lack regular addresses and may not even have cell phones, making them too much trouble for prospective employers to contact. Homelessness makes staying clean and tidy enough for job interviews nearly impossible. Transportation is also a major issue for homeless people. Many job listings specify - dependable transportation required. While some homeless people have cars, not all of them do.

In some areas, homelessness itself is illegal, resulting in jail time and a criminal record which tends to look bad on a job application. Even without a criminal record, the stereotype of homeless people as drug using criminals prevents many employers from even considering anyone they suspect might be homeless.

On top of those problems, there's another barrier to employment that many homeless people face when looking for work - credit checks. Many employers perform credit checks now in their employee screening process. As you can imagine, not having an address nor recent income, and probably past evictions and medical bankruptcies or past due bills on your record destroys your credit rating.

That covers reasons why homeless people who are capable of working may not have jobs - there are also those who are not able to hold a job due to illness, mental or physical.

Many homeless people are physically disabled by illness or age. That's right, some homeless people are senior citizens who someone ought to be caring for and others are very sick people unable to support themselves.

Then there is another category, a surprisingly large one - employed homeless people, often called the working poor. Anywhere from one third to one half of homeless Americans have jobs. They simply do not earn enough to get off the streets due to excessive debts such as medical bills, student loans, alimony or child support or due to the lack of a living wage.

You can learn more about these issues at the link in the sources below.

Sources:
Personal experience and contact with homeless people.
http://www.squidoo.com/why-homeless-people-dont-just-get-a-job