Persuasive Essay On Homelessness

When people picture the term “homeless”, they often think of a burnt out drug addict who is begging for money on the street, with no motivation to work or find help. The definition of homelessness is as followed: An individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, such as those living in emergency shelters, transitional housing, or places not meant for habitation. Nearly 60,000 families experience homelessness and about 582,000 individuals (including families) are homeless. The stereotype of homelessness leaves a sour taste in a large number of people's mouths, and in turn causes an all around lack of empathy, when in reality the homeless need our help. The government needs to make bigger changes towards ending

This answer seems simple, yet problems still stand in the way. Coby Lefkowitz is an urbanist, developer, writer, & self-proclaimed optimist who is working to create more beautiful, sustainable, healthy, equitable and people-oriented places. Coby explains that there are two problems that stand in the way of creating affordable housing for the homeless, those being zoning and the United States mental health system. Explaining zoning, Lekowitz says, “Zoning, as it’s currently configured, precludes housing from being built where it’s needed most. All else being equal, prices rise where demand is high and supply is low. This imbalance is, scientifically speaking, historically out of whack in the United States right now” (1). Simply put, the way that supply and demand work involving housing does not necessarily allow that housing to be affordable. If demand is low, production will also be low, and if demand is high, production rates will increase as well as price. Coby then goes on to explain how the lack of humanity in our world today has caused the federal mental health support system to fail. A lack of empathy for others has caused people to overlook the homelessness crisis. Moreover, not only are these people homeless, they are also being criminalized. Founded in 1982, the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) is a private, non-profit, national advocacy organization that exists to educate all levels of society in order to identify and put to an end the social and economic causes of homelessness. Although numerous cities do not provide affordable housing, food, etc for the homeless, these cities are punishing the homeless for doing things they need to for survival. “Such measures often prohibit activities such as sleeping/camping, eating, sitting, and/or begging in public spaces and include criminal