Homelessness Crisis in California

Statistics of the growing homeless numbers.

United States is one of the most developed country in the world. A well-developed country where everything is possible as long as one works hard “American Dream”.

Is this still true? It is possible, I believe.

Is the American Dream still alive? For the fortunate ones, yes.

Does homelessness exist in California or United States? Yes, it does.

Homelessness is the state of having no home. Which leads to malnutrition, sickness, and poor quality of life. Driving around the Bay Area, I noticed many homeless people who are begging for change, people sleeping on the streets, people who are wearing old dirty clothes, and people who needs medication but cannot receive the help they need because health insurance is not affordable. People who are employed are struggling paying health insurance. It would be next to impossible for the homeless to afford it health insurance. In addition, housing cost are threw the roof (specially in Bay Area). For example, people who live in San Francisco average middle class income would be approximately $60,000 through $192,000 annual earnings. These people who are on professional careers are struggling about living expenses in SF. People who doesn’t earn $60,000 a year in SF would be possible to be homeless shortly.

Therefore, I continued my research about homelessness and see where I go from there. It is unfortunate to see families living without a home where they are not able to afford daily necessities such as clean food and water. In addition to food, medicine is difficult to purchase as well for these people who are homeless. For these families, each penny counts. I would imagine that these homeless people would rather buy alcohol or drugs to numb their pain or prevent from starving. It is surprising that a well developed country would have this kind of homelessness crisis.

I’ve researched that approximately 553,742 people are homeless in United States. These would mean that for every 10,000 people, 17 people are homeless. Think about the population in your city and imagine for every 10,000 people, 17 people are homeless. In my city, the population according from the U.S. Census is 168,488. Which means that in my city, for every 10,000 of 168,488 people, 16 people are homeless. In California alone, there are approximately 129,972 people that are homeless. Every 10,000 of the general population, 33 people are homeless. The number one cause of this is affordable housing and California is the largest state who have the greatest number of homeless.

There are solutions for every problem as long as people work together to achieve a resolution for every issue. One promising solution is funding programs to homeless that is a paid program where people can learn, use those skills to workforce, and receive the basic life skills they need to survive, such as how to budget and how to spend time affectively. According to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, housing is one of the primary necessity and would prevent homelessness. Having a housing gives people the hope and motivation to keep striving for their dreams.

The second solution is to hold CA representatives and government bodies who are responsible accountable for each of the city where they represent; state or federal level. Accountable on affordable living conditions and basic human necessity. Basic necessities such as food, water, and shelter. This would create a positive change in homeless individuals that needs a home and would have the opportunity to find programs that would assist them find jobs to afford these necessities.

With that said, homelessness in California and United States needs to be improved. This is a macro issue that people are facing today and in the future. Homeless people are getting sicker due to no access on healthcare, unsanitary defecation and urination on the streets, and the left behind mentally ill homeless not being properly treated. These homeless individuals need government and community assistance to end this crisis. Programs and more funding of the state and federal is necessary. The homeless needs affordable home to find that platform of motivation and hard work to help themselves and end homelessness.

Together I believe that it is possible to end homelessness, but we must act now.