Access to Shelter - Essay Sample

Introduction

Accessibility to a shelter means that an individual can stay in a house which is secure has adequate space, the structure is durable and stable and it has appropriate ventilation. Housing is among the essential needs which an individual should have. Shelter tends to be a primary determinant of the living conditions, and it ensures one experiences a nonrecurring expenditure. Due to the continued increase in population in the urban centers, it has become challenging for some people to access shelter. It is estimated that due to overcrowding, people are living in poor quality housing where there is inadequate water, drainage, and sanitation.

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Factors Which Affect the Accessibility to Shelter

The unavailability of sufficiently low-cost housing has led to inaccessibility of shelter to the low income earning families. The individuals from these families are unable to pay for these housing facilities due to their high costs. The overcrowding has facilitated this among the urban centers where the houses available cannot accommodate the continuously growing population (Cova, Drews, Siebeneck & Musters, 2009). Therefore, this situation leads to an increase of people who are unable to access the affordable housing putting them at the risk of insecurity and inability to access appropriate resources.

Internal conflicts also affect peoples' ability to access shelter. Individuals who are always in conflicts among them affect their peace forcing them to live apart. Some people tend to move from one place to another to avoid conflicting hence making it hard for them to access affordable housing. Conflicts lead to unemployment and movement of people to safer areas causing them to be displaced from their current homes (Hoffman, 2008). For example, the immigrants who move to the peaceful countries are unable to access appropriate shelter making them live in tents due to insecurity in their countries.

Steps to Ensure Accessibility to Shelter

Developing policies which are central to the peoples' interest will also promote availability to shelter among the individuals. Policies which do not favor the interest of individuals make them have challenges when accessing shelter in various places. For example, immigrants might be limited to access shelter due to unfavorable policies (Kar & Hodgson, 2008). The homeless individuals in a society are affected by policies set by the government making it difficult for them to accesses affordable and stable housing.

The government can develop policies which promote affordable housing to every resident. Supporting low-cost housing among the individuals will ensure every individual can stay in a secure, affordable and well spacious housing. Also, the allocation of houses to the low income earning individuals will help in ensuring every person has access to affordable housing (Pyne, 2011). The policies set by the government can promote funding to the investors making them build adequate houses that are affordable to every individual.

According to Pyne( 2011), allocation of title deeds to the citizens, and the less fortunate in society would help people to build houses on their pieces of land. The title deeds promote land tenure which ensures individuals build permanent housing. Land tenure among the society will reduce overcrowding in urban centers making shelter in these centers cheap and affordable.

References

Cova, T. J., Drews, F. A., Siebeneck, L. K., & Musters, A. (2009). Protective actions in wildfires: evacuate or shelter-in-place?. Natural Hazards Review, 10(4), 151-162. Retrieved from https://geog.utah.edu/~cova/cova-etal-nhr-2009.pdf

Hoffman, S. (2008). Preparing for disaster: Protecting the most vulnerable in emergencies. UC Davis L. Rev., 42, 1491. Retrieved from https://lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/issues/42/5/articles/42-5_Hoffman.pdf

Kar, B., & Hodgson, M. E. (2008). A GISbased model to determine site suitability of emergency evacuation shelters. Transactions in GIS, 12(2), 227-248. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-9671.2008.01097.x

Pyne, J. (2011). Unsuitable bodies: Trans people and cisnormativity in shelter services. Canadian Social Work Review/Revue Canadienne de service social, 28(1), 129-137. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263124972_Unsuitable_Bodies_Trans_People_and_Cisnormativity_in_Shelter_Services