Housing the Homeless

Housing the Homelessness Contrary to prevalent belief, homelessness is an immense issue in the United States, like the “purple elephant in the corner of the room.” The numbers of homeless are not concrete due to the struggle of obtaining valid data, nevertheless recent research estimates are well into the millions. Personally, I am acquainted with homelessness. In 2011 I found myself entangled in the statistics, living under a porch and in an art studio. Homelessness has been a problem in the United States for over 150 years and beyond, fluctuating into social focus every two decades or so. Homelessness is a social dispute, however social issues do not exist without politics; they do not arise spontaneously from mere observation of widespread suffering. Rather, they are products of a collective definition of distress. The forces that move homelessness are multifaceted and often interrelated with one another, but not at all times. According to BMC Medical Journal;” Social matters such as addictions, family breakdown, and mental illness are compounded by structural forces such as lack of available low-cost housing, poor economic conditions, and insufficient mental health services.” Collected these factors contribute to the levels of destitution through their dynamic associations. I propose a few simple solutions, take all of the abandoned houses “on the market” and permit the homeless to occupy them, but require labor in return. If said homeless person is either mentally unstable or addicted to a substance, allow for them to seek free rehabilitative services and or mental health services on a remote island. Furthermore I propose we utilize the ruggedness and savagery of the “street-dwellers” for entertainment in a new, modern Coliseum. Housing the Homeless (2)
Homelessness is an escalating social crisis ensued with a variety of complexity, comprised of underlying fiscal and social factors such as poverty, indeterminate physical and mental health,