美国无家可归问题研究

A Study of Homelessness in the United States

无家可归问题已成为当代美国社会的一大顽疾。20世纪80年代,美国现代意义上的无家可归问题正式出现。无家可归问题的愈演愈烈容易引发广泛的社会影响,加剧美国社会的不稳定、经济负担和政治极化。无家可归问题的恶化是美国贫富差距不断扩大、种族歧视根深蒂固、社会救济持续缺位、公共政策存在弊端、流浪文化内在影响等主客观因素交互作用的结果。围绕如何应对该问题,美国各级政府,尤其是联邦政府在立法和行政维度上出台了各种举措,并一度达成了“住房优先”的某种共识。然而,随着近年来美国政治极化的加剧,无家可归问题的应对共识开始逐渐瓦解。特别是特朗普上台后,联邦政府的角色和定位发生了重大变化,导致无家可归者数量再次上升。美国民主、共和两党在无家可归问题治理理念上的差异和对立,使得美国无家可归问题积重难返,解决遥遥无期。

Homelessness has become a major problem in contemporary American society.In the 1980s,homelessness,in the modern sense of the word,officially emerged in the United States.The growing problem of homelessness is likely to cause widespread social impact,exacerbating social instability,economic burden and political polarization in the United States.The worsening of the homeless problem is the result of the interaction of subjective and objective factors such as the widening gap between the rich and the poor,deeply-rooted racial discrimination,continuous absence of social relief,flaws of public policy operation,and the internal influence of homeless culture.Revolving around how to deal with this problem,the governments at all levels in the United States,especially the federal government,have introduced various measures in the legislative and administrative dimensions,and once reached a certain consensus of"housing first".However,as political polarization has increased in the United States in recent years,the consensus on how to deal with homelessness has begun to break down.In particular,the role and positioning of the federal government have changed significantly since Donald Trump took office,leading to another rise of homelessness.Because of the differences and contradictions in the governance concepts of the two parties in the United States regarding this issue,the problem of homelessness can be described as a persistent problem,with no solution in sight.