Homelessness

All around the world, there are homeless people looking for shelter. Often, people attribute homelessness to drug substance abuse or mental health problems. However, recent evidence reveals that our changing economy is a big factor in why homelessness has been rapidly escalating. According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's 2017 report, the number of homeless people has increased "for the first time in seven years", and the percentage of California's homeless people has shot up to 68%.

In recent years, globalization, urbanization and increasing housing prices have contributed to this crisis. While globalization is exciting and improving our technology, it also creates a wider gap between the rich and the poor. New economic opportunities are formed, favoring the rich, and this results in urbanization and costly housing. All of the wealth is concentrated in one area in these cities, like San Francisco, and homeless people are still at a disadvantage. This also explains why California has such a higher homelessness rate than other areas. Technological advances in the Silicon Valley widen the inequality between rich and poor and do not allow for impoverished people to have the ability to financially support themselves.

Homelessness is a problem we must try to reduce. Studies show that housing the homeless can actually decrease public costs and help communities financially. For example, a housed homeless individual spends approximately $40,000 less than an unsheltered homeless person on public services. Through policy changes, we can commit to this change in our society.

What do you think is a possible response to this crisis?


https://publicpolicy.wharton.upenn.edu/live/news/2594-the-economics-of-homelessness
https://www.americansecurityproject.org/impact-homelessness-economic-competitiveness/

Comments

  1. AustinApril 19, 2019 at 12:41 PM

    I agree with your argument. Especially for Silicon Valley where sometimes the middle class have trouble with finding a sustainable housing and living. The high demand and the low supply of housing drives the price sky high and there isn't much the lower class can do to keep up with the rising cost of living. Unable to permanently purchase a house and struggling to keep up with the rent, many become homeless.

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