Homelessness: The Homeless

The Homeless
“She lives with a tribe of homeless teens- Runaways and throwaways, kids who have no place to go to other than the cold city streets, and no family except for one another. Abused, abandoned and forgotten, they struggle against the cold, hunger, and constant danger” (“Can’t get there from here” by Todd strasser). Here in the United States, about more than 610,000 people face the tragedy of losing their homes (Annual Homeless Assessment). As a matter of fact, according to the “Global Homeless Statistics,” it is estimated that about 100 Million people are homeless worldwide. Many of us, having a roof over our heads, mistreat them, making them seem invisible to our world. Sometimes, we even treat them as minority, as if they were
In a real life experience, John Frame, an author that graduated from Harvard University, wrote a book about living in the streets for ten weeks as an experiment to show us how “We’re unaware of how similar we are to individuals who are panhandling on the sidewalk” (“Homeless at Harvard” John Frame 8). In the book, “Homeless at Harvard,” George, A homeless man Frame talked to while in the streets, narrated his story, describing how he was a troubled kid and from time to time he would run away from home, making his parents upset. George also talked about having a problem with drugs and drinking, and every time he had gotten a good job, he would ruin it by falling into drugs again and again (Frame, 18). After a while, George stayed in the streets, as he said that it felt more of a home to him than his own house (Frame 18). This can be considered one of the major reasons as to why someone would become homeless. In other words, consuming drugs or alcohol excessively can lead you to lose the chance of keeping a home. George, and many others, have lost their job due to unfortunate events like these. In addition, there are times in which people are unfortunate enough to lose their loved ones, causing them to fall into an unfixable depression. When these types of accidents happen, it is usually from the parents and
One of the most obvious places to stay at is shelters specifically provided for homeless people. In the book, “Tell them who I am” by Elliot Liebow, she describes how it was working at different many shelters, saying that some of the shelters she volunteered in, provided a small meal for the homeless. But not many of them are fortunate enough to find an adequate place to stay. Despite the fact of being homeless, some of them manage to have a “suitable” car in which they live in. Once, one of my many high school History teachers told me about a case in which a student that went to school didn’t have a home and lived in his car for part of his high school and college years, until he managed to graduate and find a job that would have payed enough money for him to rent a small place. Unfortunately, there are other homeless people who struggle even more to find a place to spend the night at. Despite the help provided by the government, not all of the homeless people can fit into shelters around the world. Because of this, many homeless people have to spend the night awake, wondering around the streets of cities and towns. Some are a little less fortunate and at least have a sleeping bag to “protect” them from the cold of the streets, although it can’t protect them from the