Dear Mr. President,

In your many debates, you did not mentioned homelessness or lightly skimmed it, which is a big problem, as said in a Wikipedia article, “A study by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty estimates that 2.3 to 3.5 million Americans experience homelessness annually. Alaska, California, Nevada, Oregon, Colorado, and Hawaii are the states with the highest concentration of homeless people. Around 1.5 million children or one of out every 50 children in America are homeless. ”(NLCHP reports,2016) People living on the streets leads to health problems and mental isssues. Also, some people feel uneasy when they see a homeless person on the streets. If we build several more homeless shelters in each state there wouldn’t be that homeless person sleeping in the park or the one talking to themselves in the corner. We need resources like food and shelter for the ones living on the streets.

If you do build shelters and make people more aware of the homeless and the less privileged, our neighborhoods will be healthier and feel safer. If someone is living outside for a long period of time, laying on the floor and eating spoiled food, they are likely to get a disease. Building more shelters eliminates this and no one else gets sick. As stated in an article by National Health Care for the Homeless Council, “Homeless people suffer the same illnesses experienced by people with homes, but at rates three to six times higher. This includes potentially lethal communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and influenza, as well as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and hypertension.”(NHCHC article,Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, 2006). Building the shelters does not only help the homeless people but the civilians too. Mental diseases often happen in the minds of the homeless, it causes them to talk to themselves, scar and scratch themselves and possibly hurt others because they are so desperate. These conditions can cause anxiety in the people passing by so that no one will want to help or even talk to them.

The unpleasant side to building the shelters, is that there might be over crowding or you won’t be able to build new houses for the ones who work. Also, most of the time the reason that the people are homeless is because they decided to drink, do drugs, or smoke when they could not afford it. As mentioned in an article by the National Coalition for the Homeless, “The relationship between addiction and homelessness is complex and controversial. While rates of alcohol and drug abuse are disproportionately high among the homeless population, the increase in homelessness over the past two decades cannot be explained by addiction alone. ” (National Coalition for the Homeless, September 2004) There could be a lack of space or funding and donations, which means we will be using government money saved for something else. Since the shelters are non profit, The government will be spending lots of money and get nothing in return.

The government already supports homeless shelters, so a slight increase in taxes plus the donations of the people will cover costs, but first awareness must be raised. All these new homes being built in the hilltops or in empty fields can be used for the homeless. Article 25 of the 1948 United Nations Declaration of Human Rights states,“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control (San Diego free press, August 17, 2016).” If the homeless aren’t helped, they will be sitting on the streets, not helping. If you cannot find them a home, find them a job so that everyone is helping to make a better world.

Sincerely, Lsi student of Quimby Oak