History and Homelessness Part 2

-By the 1960s, the shortage of housing still had not gained much publicity, leaving the public largely uninformed on the issue of homelessness (O'Reilly-Fleming, 1993; Finkel, 2006).

-In the 20th century, governments did not fund homeless shelters effectively
(Peressini & Engeland, 2004).

-This lead to a peak in the homeless population by the 1990s (Richter et al, 2011)

-This lead to a change in news coverage of homeless issues

-Between 1997 to 2001, and 2006 to 2007, the issues that the homeless faced were discussed within the media at a much higher rate than seen in previous years (Richter et al, 2011). 

 

 A homeless person (source)

-Societal attitudes toward the homeless have changed due to this increased news coverage.

-In 1998, some Canadian politicians from major cities across the nation declared homelessness as a national disaster (Lenon, 2000).

-However, not all Canadians have compassionate attitudes towards the homeless population. In 2002, Jim Flaherty, a Canadian politician, said that homeless people should be jailed (Nelson, 2013).