Youth Homelessness in the United States

November 3, 2016

Dear future president,

My name is -, and I am a Freshman in high school. I am writing to you today to express my hope for improvement regarding the topic of youth homelessness. Youth homelessness is an important topic to discuss because it affects children all over the United States, and if we do not address the subject it will only get worse.

As a matter of fact, did you know 35% of the homeless population is families with children, or that every year approximately 1.7 million teens experience homelessness. This is unbelievable, 1 out of every 5 young adults run away from before the age of 18. Without proper ruling this happens every single day. I propose that running away from or kicking your children out of the house (before age 18) should be a felony of some sort. While I don't think they need to serve jail time or anything, I don't think it should just be as easy as walking out. 80% of homeless you (12-21) use drugs, alcohol, and resort to sex for money. If we help keep kids at home where they should be, we could help to lower these numbers.

Honestly, this problem is not going to fix itself. Facts even show that youth homelessness has increased 72% over 7 years. The number grows and grows, and yet facts show that percentages haven't dropped more than 10 percent in the past 20 years. Finding ways to prevent this is not the only thing we need to do, we also need to work to fix what has already happened. While yes the states and some services and organizations offer free shelters, or day-centers people get turned down daily. Doing this and providing help for those in need can help keep kids off the street, and out of the way of danger.

In conclusion fixing this problem is a must. Kids go through this everyday but it keeps getting thrown under the rug. Youth homelessness needs to be talked about, because so many kids are affected and there is no other way to slow down what is happening. Please even if it may not be the most important thing, please consider fixing or improving the way we handle youth homelessness in the United States.

Sincerely,

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