1. Olivia Reed
Mrs. Tillery
AP Literature and Composition
November 14, 2011
The Homeless
Homelessness infects many people in our world every day. People can become homeless
from different reasons, but in the market today the reason is usually foreclosure. There are many
ways that we can prevent people being homeless. By learning how people live when their
homeless, we can see fit that they get help. There are more homeless people today than there
ever has been because of our current economic situation. Being homeless can lead to many
health problems because of their lack of sanitation and resources.
Homelessness can be caused by multiple factors. In the homeless society, “poor people
are frequently unable to pay for housing, food, childcare, health care, and education.” When
people are less fortunate, they have to make difficult decisions about what their families need to
survive. Some families give up things that we think of as necessity, like a cell phone for an
example. There are people in America that have never had a cell phone of their own. Lack of
affordable housing is another cause of people around the world being homeless
(TheHomeless.com). Having somewhere to live is one of the main things people need to live. It
helps protect one from inclement weather, diseases, and predators. Without proper housing, there
are many more risks that people could face.
Homelessness is one-hundred percent preventable. Through Churches, schools, and other
public places, people can donate enough money to the homeless so they will have at least some
food to eat and somewhere to stay. Also, people can volunteer for a day or two in soup kitchens.

2. It is a win-win situation for all volunteers. For one, they can help a starving child or a family in
need. Secondly, for all students, collages look for a student that is valiant within their
community. Also, the volunteer gets the “warm-fuzzy feeling” that someone gets whenever
someone volunteers. We can also help the homeless by “Providing rural homeless families with
temporary shelter and rental assistance funds, because rural homeless are often homeless for only
short periods of time”. Being helpful around the community could potentially rid the world of
this awful situation.
When people are homeless, they will do anything to survive. They will collect trash or
bottle caps, beg people for money, or go to a shelter. Homeless people survive on the complete
generosity of strangers. They also rely on other homeless people to help them through the really
hard times. “What we may see as trash or garbage they see a shelter or a meal or a warm coat.
What we may view as a necessity they deem to be unnecessary. They form families among
themselves. They watch out for one another. They will share among each other if they have”.
The homeless have a completely different mentality of life than people who have a place to come
home to every night. They have to worry about how they are going to keep their children safe or
even what they are going to eat every day. People who are happily at home with their family
don’t necessarily have to worry about the dangers of the outside world like someone who
actually lives in it like a homeless person would. A person who has a home is thinking about
what they are going to wear to the mall tomorrow, or new songs on their music player. That is
why helping and preventing homelessness is so important to our country.
The current state of our economy has increased the homeless population. People are
homeless because of job cuts for an example. They have no money to pay bills and get food for
their family. When it comes down to providing for the family, bills often go to the bottom of the

3. list compared to food, water and shelter. Because of the recession, the numbers of families that
have been seen in shelters in the past few years have increased by twenty-six percent. That is
twenty-six more families that are on the streets. That is twenty-six more families with children
that are starving and freezing. In addition to making families homeless, the current economic
state is making times for the already homeless population even more difficult. Because people
are so short on cash, people are not giving to the homeless as much as they would at the peak of
the business cycle. Also, workers try to work more often for more hours, so volunteers are
scarce. In America, as well as other countries where the economy is in a slump, the needs of the
homeless population are growing.
Being homeless can associate with certain health problems. Because of the lack of
sanitation, or anything clean, diseases are attained and spread more easily. Because it is hard to
find a clean place to wash your hands on the streets, “Several skin conditions, both infectious and
noninfectious, have been described in the homeless population including tinea infections, leg
ulcers, stasis dermatitis, immersion foot, frostbite, erythromelalgia, pellagra, scurvy, scabies,
pediculosis, seborrheic dermatitis, eczematous dermatitis, rosacea, and pruritus”. There are free
clinics that can help with these infections, but they are usually not that noticeable to the person or
they choose to not get help. The disease depends on living conditions, geographic region, and
access to healthcare. Living as a homeless person could take a toll on a person’s mental state.
Compared to the rest of the population, “people with mental illnesses are much more likely to
become homeless.” Twenty to twenty-five percent of the population of homeless people suffers
from a serious mental illness. Some mentally handicapped people can not take care of
themselves so they end up in homeless shelters. Being in a bad mental state can also affect one’s
physical health, especially “when combined with inadequate hygiene due to homelessness, it

4. may lead to physical problems such as respiratory infections, skin diseases, or exposure to
tuberculosis or HIV.” So, if we give some sanitation to the homeless, the spread of disease and
infection would highly decrease. Because of declined mental and physical health, it makes
getting jobs and getting out of the streets an even more complicated task to manage.
Society often thinks of the average homeless person as being a “drug addict” or an
“alcoholic”. But, in a lot of cases this is not true; they are just trying to find some way to survive
another day without the basic necessities of life. But, sometimes the homeless turn to drugs an
alcohol as an escape from reality. Instead of saying that they are “abusing” drugs, people should
take it as an illness, and help them out instead of judging them. Most homeless people who have
a substance problem are homeless because of it. A recent count says that “estimates, 38% of
homeless people were dependent on alcohol and 26% abused other drugs. Alcohol abuse is more
common in older generations, while drug abuse is more common in homeless youth and young
adults.” People have substance abuse issues are just trying to make their lives easier by not
thinking about anything else but getting a high or getting a buzz off of an alcoholic beverage.
Either way, these people need some help. Counseling and rehab would be most beneficial for
these people, and it may help them get back on their feet and get a job, a home, and their life
back.
In the news, you always hear about kids running away from home, or wives leaving their
husbands because of domestic violence. Sometimes, those people do not have another place to go
and end up living on the streets. In fact, “100% of women have experienced domestic or sexual
violence at some point in their lives. Some survivors and their families become homeless when
they flee abuse.” There are many women’s centers around the country that help women and
children with this exact problem. They house them until they can find a job and a house. The

5. centers can only accomplish their goals by people donating to them. But, the economic recession
has affected them greatly as well, because they are not able to help as many women and children
get off of the corners. The NLCHP is an organization that understands the connections between
homelessness, housing, and violence against women in order to identify solutions to
homelessness for survivors and their families. NLCHP works as the legal arm of the movement
to prevent and end homelessness in the U.S., including by working explicitly to improve access
to housing for survivors of violence against women and their families.” If women have
somewhere to run to if something tragic happens in their life, there would not be so much abuse
in our society today.
Crime and homelessness often correlate when homelessness is high. It is a “dog eat dog”
world, and if someone has what someone else wants, that person will do whatever it takes to get
it. In some areas, “kids and the homeless people are also over-represented as victims of sexual
and physical assault, theft, robbery, and domestic violence. As with law enforcement in
communities around the Country, the Police Bureau continues to explore ways to match people
with services designed to help end the cycle of homelessness, while at the same time enforce
laws when appropriate.” There are many laws set in place to protect not only people with homes
and jobs, but also the homeless. So, if there are higher rates of crime, there is usually a higher
homeless population.
In conclusion, the homeless population is one that can definitely be helped. If more
people volunteer, the lower the population will be. But, the economy is affecting everyone
worse. But, regardless, everyone should help out the homeless, because one day, that homeless
person may in fact be you, a family member, or a friend.