Summary Of Our Poor Our Kids By Anna Quindlen

Almost everyone has seen a man or woman begging for money at the corner of a highway intersection. A sign usually reads “homeless, need food,” but what brings so many of these people to the corner of a street is quite a controversial topic. Middle-class citizens may lose their job and their home. Similarly, a hardworking citizen may lose his or her apartment due to a new owner who enforces a higher rent. Homelessness can affect anyone, even the middle-class, without the need for drugs and alcohol.

Although someone may have a wealthy life, a sudden financial tragedy is always a possibility. Homeless people view the middle-class Americans as a rich part of the society. However, the two social classes are not that distant. In Anna Quindlen’s “Our

Quindlen brings up the point that “if you are evicted for falling behind on your rent, if there is a bureaucratic foul-up in your welfare check or the factory in which you work shuts down,” then “[y]ou're one understanding relative, one paycheck, one second chance from the street. And so are your kids” (333). Quindlen then continues by discussing “A study done in San Diego in 1998 found that a third of homeless families had recently had benefits terminated or reduced, and that most said that was how they had wound up on the street” (333). The study shows that more causes exist for homelessness other than wasting money and being lazy. Many middle-class American citizens end up homeless every year

In truth, most people in the homeless community do not live as drug addicts. In fact, those individuals simply cannot afford housing with the minimal pay they receive. Quindlen explains that “the hourly income necessary to afford the average two-bedroom apartment was around $12. That’s more than twice the minimum wage” (332). This shows that single parents would also have a very difficult time supporting for themselves and their kids without another form of financial aid. The homeless population includes people such as the middle-class of America in that they are hardworking individuals and not fortunate enough to have a salary large enough to support themselves and their