Homelessness

Helping Homeless

Everyday life in a large city consists of seeing a homeless person, and that deep wracking guilt that nothing can be done. Many of the homeless seen on the street are there due to a lack of housing. 1.6 billion people lack adequate housing across the world. Countless organizations work to help the homeless, but still the homeless have yet to receive adequate aid. Homeless should be given additional access to services, such as public restrooms, health services , and living facilities, because it would improve life for all persons in the community.

As of 2005 it was estimated that the world wide homeless population is 100 million people. According to a University of Texas two-year survey of homeless individuals, each person cost the taxpayers $14,480 per year, primarily for overnight jail. The cost of homelessness can be quite high. Hospitalization, medical treatment, incarceration, police intervention, and emergency shelter expenses can add up quickly, making homelessness surprisingly expensive for municipalities and taxpayers. Less homeless would be  arrested for loitering, drug use, etc because they were provided shelter, this would provide a large amount of money to go towards other services. Instead of having to put in effect new taxes, such as a soda tax, the money saved on homelessness could be used for a multitude of reasons. The money saved could be put back into homelessness and with enough continued support, more money would continue to be saved. The more money in circulation, the more that can be put to use to better the community.

Lorena Cassady of San Francisco State University manages a home health agency in Los Angeles. Cassady oversees the growth of an individual as they attempt to re-enter society. Through working with multiple programs, she concluded that people who exit homelessness by entering permanent supportive housing (permanent housing with supportive services) reduce public spending, formally used to mitigate crises in their lives. According to a 2009 study by The Economic Roundtable, the typical public cost for residents in supportive housing in Los Angeles is $605 a month, whereas the cost for homeless persons in or out of shelters is $2,897. This results in about $2,300 that could be saved per person. With a homeless population of 1.6 billion, this could potentially put $3.68 billion back into the hands of the people  or the circulation of the government to be used for other things. For example, This $3.68 billion is more than a third of what Pennsylvania puts towards their public school budget. Billions of dollars could greatly improve the quality of education in major cities by defeating the budget crisis, or preventing another.

With the implementation of additional services for homeless, not only will the lifestyle of homeless be benefited, but all of society. Treating homelessness not as an epidemic to society, but as an industry would be the key to putting more money in the hands of the people, but while being driven by the betterment of others. Economically and morally, the world would be a better place while helping to end homelessness.

This is my best 2fer because I pushed myself from previous feedback to not be biased and let my opinions shine through. I personally disagree with my entire 2fer, but I feel that I pushed myself to prove my thesis purely through statistics. I took a look at my 2fer that gave constructive criticism about myself, and feel that I followed that closely. Multiple times throughout the writing process I tweaked my thesis, and I feel it really acted like a Linchpin. This is exactly how I would want to end my 2fer career.

CITATIONS:

"About Homelessness." National Alliance to End Homelessness. NAEH, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2017. <http://www.endhomelessness.org/pages/about_homelessness>.

Writer, Leaf Group. "The Effects of Homelessness on Society." Our Everyday Life. Our Everyday Life, 29 July 2011. Web. 26 Apr. 2017. <http://peopleof.oureverydaylife.com/effects-homelessness-society-8838.html>.