Homelessness in the United States

According to the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness, “approximately 3.5 million people are homeless each year, while 36.3 million live in households without enough food.” This statistic only reflects the United States, and to many people, it just doesn’t make sense. For instance Alfredzine Black of the YWCA in Marion, Indiana says, “I don’t understand why we have so much poverty in the richest country in the world!” Citizens of the United States have a hard time defining and identifying poverty in their communities, so the country should crate a consistent and accurate measure of poverty. Also, urban growth is leaving people behind and causing unnecessary evictions that lead to homelessness, and this problem can be solved by following the advice of housing experts. Last, homeless shelters in the United States are losing government funding, but this could change by allowing for more government spending on shelters and feeding programs. Thus, homelessness is a social injustice in the United States because everyone deserves to be recognized as homeless and therefore assisted, and everyone deserves a safe place to live.

The United States has a problem with homelessness and poverty because the system used to measure the number of American citizens who are under a certain level which defines them as poor is inconsistent. Throughout the world, there are different methods of measuring the poverty level, and different organizations control these evaluations.

The World Bank defines poverty as living on less than $1.25 per day (at 2005 prices, adjusted to account for the differences in purchasing power across countries). According to this measure, there is no poverty in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zeal...

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...nt measure of poverty throughout the country so that it will be possible to assess how many homeless people there actually are. The simple solution to this despicable social injustice is right before America, so now this country has to act before any more damage is done.

Works Cited

Homelessness Is a Widespread Problem. National Student Campaign Against Hunger & Homelessness.

Opposing Viewpoints: The Homeless. Ed. Louise Gerdes. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007.

Homelessness Is a Widespread Problem

Introduction to Poverty and Homelessness: Current Controversies. Current Controversies: Poverty and Homelessness. Ed. Noël Meri.

Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009.

Kothari, Miloon. Interview by John Zarocostas. “Homelessness Increasing All Over the World.” The Washington Times. 11 April

2005. National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness. Web. 5 May 2010.