How to Curb Homelessness in the United States

Recently, I read an article about the repercussions of homelessness in the United States. Many people who live in the street are faced with problems such as the natural elements. Sometimes, when people are sleeping outside it rains, it snows and it is windy. Many encampments are tents, makeshift stoves and overall an environment that is not appropriate for a human being. Some homeless people tend to form communities to protect each other from danger and situations that could put them at risk, at night.

I have slept in an encampment once or twice, where I noticed the lack of sanitary conditions, the use of animals to keep companionship and the denigrating places where people have to cohabitate. My experience in an encampment was one of difficulty because I was not able to shower, eat meals in a healthy environment or sleep without worries that someone may come and harm me in the middle of the night.

I experienced other types of displacement in New York City, where my method of coping was to walk around the city and to seek shelter at the main terminals, where I could hide from the elements and where I could feel safe, while being near a police station or near an information center. 

Many cities in the United States have places where homeless people can spend the night. In New York City, sleeping in the train is seen as something deplorable but I consider it an option for people who have nowhere else to go. I believe that our society is broken, just like our homes and our communities and thus, there are cracks in the system in which people fall without the hope of help. I have been there also, once upon a time when I was displaced from a shelter due to lack of coordination from the appropriate entities.

Homelessness is perhaps something that will not end. In my mind, I think that having empathy for others can help, without judgement and without conflict or obligation. Sometimes, the best solutions arise from coincidences and those events can be a solution for great problems in society. Sometimes, by chance, we meet people who help us, sometimes that is not the case. Overall, it is a hit and miss, although there has been plenty of funding to tackle the problem.

Many shelters lack the capacity to handle mental health problems, problems that run deeper than we can see and many people are an accomplice in these scenarios. I have, for example, been victimized in many ways, such as financially, not only mentally. Financial constraints and abuse can be very devastating for victims of the system because they break the only source of support that the person has.

Today, I am not making excuses for people who sleep in the street, because some people do decide to sleep outdoors based on their feelings towards institutions that they feel have failed them. However, I believe that those same people that sleep in the street have severe issues that the mental health system may not be capable of addressing and overall, the problem can only be tamed and not completely resolved.

I exemplify the solution for homelessness through advocacy and participation from different entities which provide actual solutions such as showers and meals. Sometimes, having a job is not possible if one cannot get a night’s sleep, something that I have struggled with as well. In my case, I was able to secure a place where to rest, seek an apartment of my own and find a job that supported my desire to get ahead in my career. Fortunately for me, I was able to finish my education on time, in order to have some professional skills to implement in my professional and personal life.

We have to think of individuals who live in the street as people, but also as stories. Each one of us has a story within us that has shaped our understanding and our views of the world. Some of us have been lucky to have education and support from our families, other people lack the possibility to even understand the world, they have no phones or connection to the world, so it is like living in a tunnel or a place where they may feel isolated.

Sometimes, problem solving is as easy as doing something like buying someone food or offering them a helping hand, buying them a cup of coffee or allowing them to express themselves. There are people who sleep in the street who have no social skills, and that is not their fault, because they have not been exposed to situations that can build those social skills. But the problem can be fixed with organization, funds that go to the appropriate places and an infrastructure that allows for people to seek low income housing, affordable healthcare and reunification with families. 

In the end, the best way to handle a problem is to follow a plan and to make certain that those who need the most help are taken care of first, before those who are not in need of immediate services.