Clayton Clark
English Composition 2
Professor Hammett
October 13, 2023
Essay 1 Argument proposal
Word count: 1191
Homelessness: The Pandemic Gripping America
Around the globe there is an ever growing social pandemic that is gripping the population, and government and outreach agencies are wondering if there will ever be an end in sight. With multiple organizations trying to come up with a solution, what is being done? Some of the ways that they are trying to fight this issue is by establishing outreach services that can assist people coping with homelessness, and trying new programs that can help with housing. Then we have on the other hand people in seats of power that want this issue to just disappear by enacting laws that make the day to day habits people need in order to survive illegal.
When people start to think about those who are homeless, the first image that may come to mind is someone standing in an intersection holding a sign that states “Anything helps” or “Will work for food” while these are some of the most common things a person may see, the one thing that may not come to mind are the people that aren’t visibly struggling with this issue. In the 2022 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress it states (Desusa, 2022) “ On a single night in 2022 four hundred and twenty one thousand three hundred and ninety two people experienced homelessness as individuals, that is people in households that were not composed of both adults and children. Individuals made up 72 percent of the total population of people experiencing homelessness in 2022” (p 24). With this being said, there is an entire 28 percent that we don’t see that are trying to survive their day to day hassles without being out in the open.
Throughout history people have had a hard time looking at difficult situations and feel comfortable with having to live with them around. Most people’s way of coping with these kinds of issues are by turning a blind eye and it seems that a great majority of the government would like to do the same by implementing laws that prohibit the very acts that people going through these tough times need just to be able to get by. For instance, out of the 50 states 48 of them have some kind of law against the acts that a homeless person may do to survive (Housing, 2019). Every year there is a state law supplement provided by the National Homelessness Law Center called Housing Not Handcuffs and in this document they state:
Unsheltered homelessness is a vast and growing national problem primarily caused by the dearth of available affordable housing compounded by lack of adequate healthcare and other social safety nets and exacerbated by criminal law enforcement policies. Due to structural racial discrimination in each of the above systems Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color disproportionately experience homelessness and its collateral and intergenerational consequences. In recent years, commensurate with the increase in unsheltered homelessness, states and municipalities have increasingly enacted laws criminalizing activities engaged in largely by people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity. (housing, 2019 p 5).
When we begin to look at what is being done to these people it can cause someone to have a lack of faith that there will ever be a light at the end of the tunnel, but there are other people and agencies trying to do something different rather than look the other way. There are programs being developed to reach out to people and help them out of the situation they have found themselves in. One such program is called Positive Tomorrows and their mission is to help the younger generation who are afflicted by being homeless attend school without the negative stigma of being homeless deter or prevent them from gaining the education they need to move forward in life (Our School 2022). At the positive tomorrow school they provide free lunches, transportation to and from school and help children with basic needs like clothing and shoes in order to keep them from being distracted from their education (Our School 2022). Not only do they help the children, but they also provide support for their families by helping them meet basic needs such as food and shelter; they also help them find ways to find jobs and learn skills that can help them find their way out as well. Even though there are laws being placed to prevent the actions of a homeless person, there are also programs within the government that are trying to battle this pandemic like the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that help people by giving them vouchers for emergency housing and the United States Interagency on Homelessness that partners with state and local agencies who urge them “To join a national partnership to use this historic investment to address the homelessness crisis” (10 Strategies, 2021 p 1). The USICH has also sent out a memorandum called 10 Strategies to Reduce Homelessness which lists (10 Strategies, 2021) “ Lay the groundwork 1. Set Community Specific Goals 2. Cultivate Political Will and Partnerships 3. Ensure Racial Equity in All Decision Making 4. Reduce Administrative and Regulatory Barriers Strengthen the Rehousing System 5. Reduce Waiting Periods for Housing Placements 6. Guarantee Paths to Housing From Unsheltered Homelessness 7. Recruit Support, and Retain Landlords 8. Leverage Support Services Expand the Affordable Housing Supply 9. Support Innovation in Development 10. Coordinate Federal, State, and Local Housing Resources” (p 1-2) as ways to begin battling the homelessness issue.
Even though there are many of these programs higher up in the government, the one sure way to make a difference is by having local outreach programs and charities that can help in a more localized manner. For instance, there are many night shelters such as The Salvation Army that help with a safe place to stay off the streets at night. Not only do they have the night shelters they also have rehab programs that can help someone with substance abuse issues and lay the groundwork to be able to become self-sufficient. There are also many soup kitchens in different towns and cities that provide hot meals to people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to feed themselves in a safe manner.
Every year there are countless people being thrust into a life that they would have never dreamed they would be living. Many of these people are alone but for some they find themselves bringing their family into this life that they would have never wanted for them. This pandemic doesn’t discriminate and can happen to both the young and old, and at times it can feel as if the world is against them. The stigma of being labeled “Homeless” can cause these people to believe that there is nobody on their side due to the prejudice from other people and law enforcement, but there is hope in the form of new outreach programs, local shelters, and charities that can give them the feeling of being important and heard. The place to start to battle this pandemic is by reaching out to the people suffering and letting them know that there are these programs that can and will help them find a way to become self-sustaining.
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