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Cause Of Homelessness In America

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Recent studies have shown that approximately 3.5 million Americans are homeless each year. Research tells us that of these Americans, 1 million are children (“Top Causes”). These numbers have increased in recent years, especially for the number of homeless children. Personally, I have noticed that especially downtown, many people are on the streets hungry and it breaks my heart. When I lived in California, I seemed to notice that there were many more people without shelter than in Missouri. When I walked downtown, especially at night, I was almost fearful of the homeless. A lot of the time, it is assumed that the homeless are all alcoholics or drug addicts, but in most cases that is not true. Everyone who is currently homeless has a different story of how they got there, and when I happen to spot an American in the streets, I can not help but happen to wonder what happened to them. Some of the leading factors to chronic homelessness are economic uncertainties, domestic violence, or life-altering events such as a natural disaster.
One of the major contributors to homelessness is economic uncertainties. According to the National Law Center on Poverty and Homelessness, “Insufficient income and lack of affordable housing are the leading causes of homelessness” (“Homelessness in America”). There are many American families who pay their rent and utilities for a small apartment, yet still, lack the funding for necessities such as food and water. The low housing supply has not been

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