Homeless People in America

This past week my wife and I was driving through Upper Alton in Alton, Illinois. Upper Alton has recently went out of their way to beautify this part of town. They have put up new lights, flower containers, and even decorative street signs. They have also put up new park benches. As we passed one in our car, we noticed two individuals with blankets and bags sleeping on them. At first, I thought they might be waiting for a bus. The bus came and went and they stayed.

According to www.sfgate.com , the city of San Francisco spends over 200 million dollars a year on their homeless problem. They have worked very hard in trying to care for the homeless. It is an ongoing work in progress. Many homeless individuals will show their keys and say, "I have a place." However, they continue to stay on the street.

The main reason that they stay on street is very simple. They know the other homeless individuals and count them as part of their family or community. It is the relationship with these other individuals that they don't want to give up. They are like one local community. The largest social demographic with homeless is that of age. Many are old (senior citizen) type individuals. Some are there because they have lost a spouse and are looking for some form of socialization. Their children have their own lives and live at a distance from them.

Get this. There are some homeless that only have contact with those that are paid to have contact with them. These are social workers, workers in soup kitchens, policemen, and ministers that do outreach. So besides the cost of food and shelter, you have this cost.

Most homeless individuals create no problems. Outside of a poor appearance, they just want to be left alone. There are a few that beg for money to fuel their drug an alcohol problems. However, the hardcore homeless could care lass about begging or money. They would prefer to live off of the scraps that have been left on a park bench or in a trash can. Some of the hardcore individuals even look out for others of their own society. Many times they observe things that others don't see because they tend to blend into the landscape or environment around them.

Many of the younger generation are homeless because they ran away from home. They have no place to go and slowly start to blend into their surroundings. Sometimes drug addiction leads individuals down the road to being homeless. They lose their jobs and start selling everything they have to feed their drug addiction.

Many times police will arrest them and take them in. However, the problem is that there isn't enough room for them in the cells. Eventually they are released and go right back to the area they came from. Security guards try to keep them away from public areas. So they just migrate to where no guards are. Some try to disguise themselves as regular citizens by normal dress. www.wikipedia.com says that there are over 100 million homeless people in the world. I tend to think that number is under estimated.

Besides food and shelter, health care is a major problem with the homeless. They are more susceptible to disease like tuberculosis. Because they are always in public areas, it is easier for them to spread disease. The medical cost for taking care of them can be staggering. They have more broken bones, and injuries by being on the street than others.

The recent movie, "The Pursuit of Happiness", with Will Smith brought the attention of the plight of the homeless to many individuals. Many persons in society try to avoid them and the subject of homeless as well. The problem has become so futile, that some cities are giving up the battle. Still there are some cities that deal with it on an as need basis.

There are many reasons why people become homeless. As long as these problems continue to exist, there will always be homeless individuals. The Bible even refers to homeless individuals. So homeless individuals have been with us for a long time. I don't believe the problem will ever be resolved. Although from time to time, an individual will rise up and improve their living conditions.

sources; www.sfgate.com
www.wikipedia.com