Homelessness In The United States

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In the United States, homelessness is becoming a major problem in America that affects millions of lives when it is least expected. For instance, according to the Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (AHAR), this report stated that on a single night in January of 2015, approximately 564,708 people were homeless in the United States (Henry et al. 8). However, homelessness does not just affect one set of individuals, in fact, homelessness affects people of all ages, races, cultural backgrounds, and religions. More importantly, it is also important to note that homelessness does not just occur in major cities, but rather anywhere in the United States. Thus, since homelessness is prevalent across America it is important to know …show more content…
This topic is key essential in the idea that housing represents the fundamental base-solution to the problem of homelessness. However, due to affordability most individuals do not have enough money to buy or rent a home/apartment which contributes to homelessness. Some other factors that can contribute to homelessness when discussing housing and payments are foreclosures, housing wages exceeding average work wages, and over crowdedness (“Housing”). For example, in the section titled “Housing” by the National Coalition for the Homeless, it was reported in 2013 that the average renter earned an hourly wage of $14.32, whereas, the housing wage was $18.75. For this reason, it can be understood why many individuals or families lose their place of residency given the fact that many individuals struggling with buying or renting a house are typically in poverty and lack a well-paying job …show more content…
More importantly, in order to prevent homelessness in our everyday lives, an individual must know what being homeless means as well as what the common factors that can cause homelessness are. Therefore, not only is homeless defined as an individual who does not have a home or a permanent place of residence, but also as a condition that can be affected by a variety of things that tends to be out of an individual’s control. Hence why all things considered, homelessness is not a choice but rather an individual’s last

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