Homelessless in America

HOMELESSNESS IN AMERICA is not talked about enough. We prefer to talk about economic growth and job creation. This is all well and good, but there is much about american homelessness that people in the U.S. and around the world don't widely know.

There are several million homeless people in the america, which is shocking, considering  how wealthy the united states is, with the world's largest economy, but also the world's greatest economic inequality.

Over twenty five per cent of homeless people work full time, usually at minimum wage jobs. Over twenty five percent are mentally disabled, and close to a third of the homeless are veterans of the military. Many have families and children.

They sleep in parks, under bridges,in abandoned buildings, and they visit the salvation army or homeless shelters for temporary help.

AS the cost of housing has risen, only about a third of the homeless who are eligible for low income government housing assistance ever receive it. Ever since clinton was president, federal government assistance for homeless people has been steadily dwindling.

Now there are far fewer low cost housing units than twenty years ago, and federal money for this has decreased by over two thirds. During the nineteen eighties many mentally disabled people were turned out of institutions, onto the streets.

It is nearly impossible to support yourself in the united states with a minimum wage job, let alone support a family. Millions of americans who are not yet homeless are close to it, as they are forced to spend as much as three fourths of their income keeping the meager housing they have, and causing them to fall behind on other bills, or to even go hungry.

Millions of americans scing to their homes knowing that they are constantly within one missed paycheck, one visit to the hospital, one costly accident from being out on the street.

As the middle class declines, a small fraction of the former middle class rise to greater wealth, while the vast majority sink into debt, poverty, and homelessness.

Homelessness is not merely a result of personal laziness and poor judgment. It is the inevitable by product of a social and economic system which rewards the few and expolits and discards many.

Bb