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Persuasive Essay On Homelessness

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The lack of affordable housing has been an issue in this country for many years. Affordable housing in short is housing that does not exceed over 30% of a person or families income. Unfortunately there are several thousand individuals and families that do not have housing at all. On any given night in the United States there are roughly 564,708 people that experience homelessness (National Alliance to End Homelessness). In my opinion this number is low. I believe that the Point In Time (PIT) count is the primary means by which these numbers are calculated. The PIT has been conducted once every two years up until this year, which will now be done annually. During the PIT count several agencies and volunteers from across the country go …show more content…

According to the National Housing Alliance, these individuals make up about 46% of the population. Another demographic group largely impacted is veterans. According to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans about 11% of the adult homeless population is veterans. Most of these individuals suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse. Families are another demographic group that struggle with housing issues, according to the 2015 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress, there are 206,286 homeless people in families with children that are homeless. People of color are impacted significantly by homelessness or the inability to sustain affordable housing. Hispanics or Latinos comprise 20 percent of the homeless population, regardless of sheltered status, with the African American population making up 40 % (AHAR, 2015). According to statistics there are less women that are homeless than there are men, I would again question these statistics. In my experience both personally and professionally, women are more likely to be homeless or at risk and may be staying with family, friends, or with others, so it would be much more difficult to count this demographic group. However, the 2015 Annual Homeless Assessment Report indicates that out of the 564,708 individuals that are homeless, 224,344 are women and 1,289 are

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