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Homelessness In America Essay

Decent Essays

When speaking about a person or a family who do not have a place to live are usually referred to as “the homeless”. Homelessness is and has been misconstrued throughout time. “There is no such thing as ‘the homeless’. It’s a group of people just like any other group of people- they’re individuals, they’re families, they’re old, they’re young, they’re sick, they’re healthy” (The History of Homelessness in America, 1640-Present). Some see the issue of homelessness as a new epidemic that has really only started being an issue within the past 30 years but the first reported case of homelessness in the United States dates back to 1640. There is a misconception regarding people who are homeless. People assume that people are homeless because they are drug addicts, alcoholics or they are just lazy and don’t want to work to have the money to support having a place to live. There are actually many different reasons people are homeless. One of the most common factors aiding in people being homeless is poverty. There …show more content…

This is another thing affecting the homelessness in our country. The support that the Federal government would give to the low-income families has fallen tremendously. Without this support large numbers of people suffer and wind up without a home. There are housing assistance programs but the demand for the housing exceedingly outweighs the supply. There isn’t enough housing assistance to help everyone in need. The numbers are shocking “only about one-third of poor renters’ households receive a housing subsidy from the federal, state, or a local government” (Why Are People Homelss?). Since there are too many people seeking this aid from the government people are placed on long waiting lists until someone opens up and they can be helped. Due to these long waiting lists where people can wait up to 35 months they have no other choice but to stay in shelters or some other poor housing

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