Homelessness in the United States

I grew up in the small town of East Palo Alto, California and I am raised by a single mother who works hard to provide for my family of 5. I had to watch her raise my three siblings and I. There was this one moment that has made me appreciate what we have now. It wasn't always like that. Right around Christmas, it was always hard for my mother to provide us with the picture perfect tree and gifts under that tree. When my sister and I were younger my mother thought it would be a great idea to…

An Image Art is a beautiful way to reflect life. Art can tell a story, an expression or an emotion. In the artwork, "The Illiterate", it shows a blindfolded man with arms stretched outward walking off a cliff. The blindfold gives me the impression of a man who cannot see. Being illiterate is similar to not seeing, like having a blindfold over our eyes. The image of the man walking off a cliff, also reminds me that being illiterate can be dangerous. In our society, not being able to read or…

continuation, Social Exchange theory according to Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda (2012), agree that “those who cannot engage in equal exchange, a form of debt is incurred in which they are relegated to lower status” (pg. 361). When applying this theory to homelessness based on the notions of rewards/punishments, it becomes difficult to predict what each person sees fit due to individual opinions/life experiences. In support, according to Johnson & Rhodes (2015), “The Social Exchange theory is…

if the old houses in San Francisco are cheap like the ones in Riverside? Turns out that they much more expensive than you think they are. They are even more expensive than the big, nice, houses in Riverside! That is probably one reason why the homelessness percentage is so high! During Super Bowl weekend, homeless people are being asked to move away from the city. An article published by Alison Vekshin,Bloomberg News,adapted by Newsela staff 01.28.15, “ San Francisco nudges homeless away…

The Stereotype What image do you see when you hear the word homeless? I used to think of words like dirty, lonely, and also needy. The true definition of homeless is without a home, and therefore typically living on the streets. Stereotyping is a common thought through our human minds, which is when you are oversimplifying an image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. I learned this summer on my mission trip to Madison, Wisconsin, that homeless people are not what we think they are.…

What would be discovered if my entire life’s events rested in the pages of a lengthy novel? Each reader would have the opportunity to read about my life’s best moments, like the time I successfully finished my first piano recital in first grade. Yet, the shameful time I lied to my parents about breaking a vase would be unsheltered in the novel’s pages. Without knowing my beliefs and characteristics, one could perceive who I am by simply knowing the events that took place in my life. Through the…

“homeless,” I’m sure the first thing that comes to mind is a bum, dirty clothes, a drug addict, and a drunk. However, that is not the case at all. Living in times like these, recession plays a huge role on unemployment rates which eventually leads to homelessness. Not only that but natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy, left thousands of people homeless in New York. Being the only person to volunteer at The Salvation Army I was nervous walking in alone, not knowing how it would be like. As I…

mental illness and/or substance abuse. While many of the barriers presented are fairly concrete things to address, a significant one, and one that is a bit harder to manage is the lack of understanding and compassion regarding the experience of homelessness. Many of us take our daily activities for granted, like having the opportunity to go home (shelter), take a shower (warm running water), freshen the body (hygiene), and enjoy a healthy meal (food). There are many that are not given the same…

am one of your constituents and I am writing in regards to the homeless population in California. Over the last two years, the homeless population within California has increased twelve percent. California is one of the leading nations of the homelessness issue, “housing” about twenty percent of the nation’s homeless population; This twenty percent being equivalent to about one hundred and twenty thousand individuals. Out of this one hundred twenty thousand individuals, only one third being…

More than 10,000 people are homeless in Atlanta on any given night, and I was given the opportunity to go and help them. A year and a half ago I went up, from my lovely suburban hometown in Orlando, Florida, to the urban hub of Atlanta, Georgia with my local church’s youth group to help out with the homeless epidemic. Being a veteran of mission trips, I was prepared to help out people who needed help and let the kindness of God move through me like a beacon of love, but I was never prepared for…