Homelessness In The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

One of the largest issues the country is facing today is homelessness, and almost nothing is being done to stop its growth. Jeannette Walls was once a victim of being homeless and poor. She wrote about what it was like growing up poor and always on the move in her memoir entitled The Glass Castle. She tells about her experiences travelling across the country, never finding a permanent home. She often encountered obstacles such as always being hungry, being shot at, and in some cases sexually abused. With a large homeless population in the country, actions like these often happen and go unnoticed by the government. With a large homeless population in the country and abusive behaviors happening all the time, the government should step up and provide funding to help the homeless by providing housing, help prevent abuse, and help prevent any homelessness in the future.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates the homeless population to be at, “a low of 250,000 to 350,000 nationwide” (Fogel 386). The Community for Creative Non-Violence however claims it’s at, “a high of 2 to 3 million” (Fogel 386). Even if the homeless population is around 250,000, that is a lot of people who need somewhere to stay. The lack of attention from the government on this problem is disappointing. With such a large homeless population the government can't just keep ignoring this problem. People are suffering every day on the streets while the federal government is just trying to indirectly solve the problem by letting the individual states deal with it. The government needs to establish a specific federal department that deals with homelessness if they ever hope to get rid of this