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Dalton Hendrix
Diana Watkins
Comp II 3:00
3 March 2017
The Homeless Epidemic in America

While profitable industries we focus on daily like cellphones or cars have evolved

tremendously in the last 30 years, we have neglected our focus to help the homeless, and little to

no improvements at all have come about to help them in the last 30 years. Housing the Homeless

by Jon Erickson had a lot to do with the rising numbers of homelessness and why. What startled

me was the material I was reading was written in 1987. Continuing my research, I see the same

problems are still here today and with not much of a difference. The government and the people

are neglecting the homeless. We need to stand up against those who choose to act like

homelessness isnt an issue in America. Also, we must find a way to help and feed the homeless

through well managed organizations.

As I went on with my research, I noticed the problems of homelessness were all the same

repetitive points I have heard about my whole life. I then came across a line that mentioned who

a main part of the homeless actually are. I had no interest in this topic before because in my

head, the homeless were just lazy people that did not want to help themselves. I had the idea that

they would just wait around all day for a hand out too unmotivated to work, but knowing who

the majority actually are made a major difference to my outlook on the problem. Erickson

explained how the government was releasing the mentally ill on budget cuts and were going to

follow up to make sure they were functioning well in society. The government provided that

the new miracle drugs could control the psychotic without straitjackets (Erickson 7). This is

thereby giving them the perfect opportunity to drop the nationwide mental hospital industries
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from government funding and getting that budget cut. So starting in the mid-1950s, the nations

mental hospitals started releasing inmates in unprecedented numbers (Erickson. 7). Realizing

we the people of America allowed our government to release the mentally ill to the streets for

budget cuts changed my mindset completely. As I pick through Ericksons book I cant help but

notice how everything from his book published in 1987 reflects so closely to the same exact

problems of homelessness in America today. An example of this would be that the majority of

Americans have the same mindset I had before researching for this paper. In 1987 Erickson

explains that Some argue that the more that is done on behalf of the homeless, the more

comfortable they will be with their plightand the worse the problem will become (Erickson

10). That same mindset has been around for thirty years and nothing has changed. Its time to

open our eyes.

Inspired to learn more about this, I dug deeper into my research and developed a plan. As

Americans, we need to stand up to the problem of homelessness. We need a voice and we need to

be heard. As Americans, we need to tell our government how to operate and who to take care of

and not let them get by with insane budget cuts while letting people starve. Erickson explains

how homelessness in America is very difficult to track and the government can only give a rough

estimate on how many homeless there really are. He also mentions the problem that, Because

they live without an address, the homeless are unable to receive food stamps and welfare in most

states, invisible in unemployment statistics band impossible to count. Estimates from 250,000 to

2 million nationwide, tens of thousands whom hazard the elements every night (Erickson 4).

Granted the book was written in 1987, I started looking up how we were helping the homeless

now. I found a very well-known website with loads of information: The U.S. Census Bureau.

Having three decades for our paid government officials to solve, come up with a logical plan, or
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make a noticeable difference in a positive direction, I assumed that my thoughts from before

would be wrong about Americans completely neglecting the homeless. To my disbelief, in some

aspects I was right, but in many others, I wasnt. The U.S. government has somewhat excelled in

the techniques of being able to count the homeless for a census, but it is still just an estimated

number. They also still cannot find a way to deliver government assistance such as food stamps,

unemployment, or disability since they are without an address (Smith 1). Other than slight

improvement in the estimations to help with public shelters, the government hasnt improved

much in this area at all. This just shows how the American people can turn their backs away from

such a terrible issue and act as if the homeless arent fighting the weather every night and

struggling to eat enough to just stay alive.

In Food, Technology, and Hunger, Bratspies claims that, at the close of the first decade

of the new millennium, more people were hungry than ever before in history, with almost 1 out

of every 7 people on the planet suffering from food insecurity (Bratspies 215). Bratspies

information proves the struggle for shelter and hunger isnt just a problem in America, it is

around the entire world. How can we as Americans with the most powerful country in the world

at our feet let this happen? Homelessness and hunger needs to be discussed publicly, to be

debated, and solved. No longer will we let it be swept under the rug. For starters, we could

outlaw the waste of perfectly healthy food to be thrown out and wasted by major corporate

supermarkets since we cannot find a way to deliver them their food stamps. The Natural

Resources Defense Council posted an article explaining the food waste from production to table

in America. They claim that Getting food to our tables eats up 10 percent of the total U.S.

energy budget, uses 50 percent of U.S. land, and swallows 80 percent of freshwater consumed in

the United States. Yet, 40 percent of food in the United States today goes uneaten. That is more
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than 20 pounds of food per person every month (Gunders para 1). This being brought to your

attention, imagine how many homeless we could feed by eliminating the waste of food in

America by just opening our mouths and taking a stand for the people who are not able to do so.

There are many aspects of the issue that can be addressed. For instance, we can make the

government outlaw corporate food waste in America. The government works for the people. The

people do not work for the government. We do not have to follow in our ancestors footsteps and

ignore and judge the homeless and hungry. We can be the generation of change. Homelessness

can once and for all be a thing of the past and be another achievement to add to our great country

and have a reason to be proud to be an American. If we can outlaw the food waste, the

corporations can be forced by the government to give the food they waste away to organizations

for charity such as Feeding America. Feeding America explained it is a nationwide network of

food banks and the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity (Hengel para 1). They claim

to already provide food to more than 46 million people through 60,000 food pantries and meal

programs (Hengel para 1) If the majority of the United States citizens and the government could

back them, this organization alone could make a dramatic difference for the homeless and

hungry. Therefore, if we keep in mind the problem of homelessness is not going to fix itself and

prevent any further neglect while standing up to those who say its not an issue, we can help to

feed and house the homeless through newfound ways with new eyes being opened by raising

awareness.