Have you ever been downtown and seen a homeless person sleeping outside on a grate? Have you ever been in the subway and seen a person huddled under a thin, raggedy blanket trying to keep warm in the harsh, dead of winter? What if that was you? How would you feel? Wouldn’t you want someone to help you? (PAUSE)
Today, I’m going to be speaking to you about homelessness in Canada. Homelessness is an epidemic that affects people no matter their age, gender, race or creed in most countries around the world. Canada is no different. Canada’s homeless problem is swiftly increasing. It is difficult to count the number of homeless people, but as of 2016, the estimated number of homeless people in Canada annually was 235,000. The estimated number of homeless people on any given night is 35,000. The estimated number of people who use homeless shelters at least once, is 150,000. Aren’t these numbers unnerving for a country as civilized as Canada? …show more content…
One of the main reasons for homelessness is that people just can’t afford housing. There just isn’t enough affordable housing. A reason why people can’t afford housing and subsequently end up homeless is because the cost of living in Canada is drastically increasing, while the income of the everyday workers continues to remain the same. Other prevalent causes of homelessness in Canada include addiction and substance abuse, poverty, mental illness, individual or familial instability, unemployment, and most commonly, the failures of the social welfare system which demands in order for someone to obtain monetary social assistance they need to have a mailing address and they can’t have a mailing address if they don’t have a