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Blog 4: People of Power...How Can They Help?

The coronavirus pandemic has been a unique one, because there are few answers to many questions. It has been the job of people of power and stakeholders to react in a way that makes sense, even when they might not know what that is. As said in the previous post, the CDC has released information specifically in regard to how to guide the helping of the homeless population, which is an extremely pro active step. The difficulty after that is then up to people to set it in place and do what they can to help. In Houston, the Mayor has been very active on the topic. He addressed the situation on April 28th, during his daily briefing. He stated how the majority of Houston's homeless population deals with chronic illness, which makes them more susceptible to the virus. Through Mayor Turner's work, there have been several outreach programs to help the issue. There have been multiple acts to hand out information relating to COVID-19 and there have been 20 hand washing stations in areas...
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Blog 3: Health - The Importance of Health Security

As outlined in the previous blog, security is an important issue in this discussion, but more importantly, health security and the opportunity to stay safe is crucial. With some places doing helpful, effective work towards the issue, not everything is working. In Las Vegas, their solution to the problem was placing people in a parking lot in marked ares six feet apart from each other. No walls, no roof, nothing to really separate each other to stay safe from the virus. I find this especially strange because throughout the whole city and even behind them, as seen in the photo, there are a number of completely empty casinos and hotels. This situation was temporary and they soon moved back to a shelter, but it seems a different plan could have been more effective. The importance of health and safety in a time like this is extreme. The CDC recognizes this and is working towards a "whole community" approach. This includes people from all different areas to stay in communication ...
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Blog 2: Security - Homeless People Moving Into Hotels

In the discussion of homelessness, a commonly talked about aspect is that of security. Alongside every part of this issue, security of homeless people is a struggle normally, but is furthered in the time of COVID-19. Now more than ever, governments are paying closer attention to the homeless population and how those people could be affecting each other and the people that walk the streets of the city. Because of this, parts of the country have already started to tackle the problem, which is the first step. For example, Los Angeles has decided to take advantage of the emptiness of the world. Due to everything being closed, the city decided to place homeless people in hotel rooms to protect them from the virus. This effort to prevent a spike in infections of coronavirus has led to the city setting out to move 15,000 members of the homeless population into hotel rooms. As Sarah Dusseault, chairwoman of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority's oversight said, "Our thought i...
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Blog 1: Poverty - The Never Ending Cycle

Coronavirus swept the world by storm in spring of 2020. Although it had already been affecting areas in Asia, especially China, it was declared a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. The situation is affecting many people and entities. It's taking its toll on the economy, small businesses, and the lives of many global citizens. As a result to help stop it, the world went into social distancing. People were instructed to stay home and limit the places you go or people you see. This led me to wonder what was happening with people who might not have a home to shelter in, thus I researched Coronavirus' affect on the homeless population. Article 25 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that " Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness,...
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Welcome!

In this blog, through these next four posts, I will outline the affect the current Coronavirus pandemic is having on the homeless population. I will look into homelessness during COVID-19 through the lense of human rights as it ties to the key themes of poverty, health, security, and power. This research will dive into the effects nationally and locally in Houston, while considering stakeholders in the situation.
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