Homelessness in America is a persistent, complex, and widely-occurring problem that incorporates many economic, social, and psychological dimensions. After years of war and economic decline, the ranks of the homelessness have grown to include families with children (35%), military veterans (23%), children (25%), persons fleeing domestic violence (30%), and the mentally ill (20-25%) (National Student Campaign, 2012). Additionally, the number of homeless young adults, aged 18 to 24, is growing, giving homelessness a new face (Saulny, 2012).

With regard to the problem of homelessness, some people perceive a call for greater human compassion, while others demand more effective social policy and more comprehensive public health services. Still others insist on greater individual responsibility and more respect for the needs of business, reinforced by aggressive criminal justice responses.

Your paper will examine a broad range of private and public responses (e.g., laws, policies, programs, and individual behaviors) to the problem of homelessness in America.

You will examine five to seven such responses in depth from the perspectives of virtue ethics and distributive, commutative, and retributive justice.

You will summarize the responses and identify the consequences of each response for the problem of homelessness.

You will evaluate competing and conflicting views about the appropriateness of private and public responses to the problem of homelessness and present a balanced conclusion about the justness of each response.

Finally, you will draw an overall conclusion about whether, 30 years from now, the next generation of Americans will view today’s responses to homelessness as just.

Start your research by reviewing the PDF document, Recommended Resources for the Final Paper. Use these resources to gain familiarity with various aspects of the homelessness problem and a range of responses to it. Some of the websites list other research based resources that contain in-depth information that can also be utilized in your paper. Also, use the Ashford University Library to find scholarly articles that are relevant to the specific responses to homelessness that are the focus of your paper.

The paper must be eight to ten pages in length (excluding the title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA style. You must use at least five scholarly resources (at least two of which can be found in the Ashford University Library) other than the textbook to support your claims. Cite your sources within the text of your paper and on the reference page. For information regarding APA, including samples and tutorials, visit the Ashford Writing Center, located within the Learning Resources tab on the left navigation toolbar.