Dear President of the United States

My name is Kevin Brown and I am an 11th grade student Philadelphia PA. As someone who lives in the city and has visited many other cities, I have seen a recurring trend that many people do not talk about but it is a serious situation. The topic I am talking about is homelessness. It is suited strongly with me because when you hear a lot of the statistics around and facts that could solve it but nothing is done about, it makes want to do more about. Homelessness relates personally to me through my experiences. It is also shown consistently through statistics. I hope to get you to envision and consider while also thinking of what the experts are saying.

An experience that I have had with homelessness is when I travel to New York City. It is almost a Guarantee that I will someone that is homeless. They’re living on the streets with nowhere to go and it saddens me. You can find them with grime all over their face and clothes, wearing clothing that is losing its durability and becoming rougher, and some that wield signs that are also covered in grime that slump over when they sleep on the crevices of stairs, porches, and benches that they have designated as their bedding sites. It especially saddens me knowing that there are alternatives. If homeless people were given government designated homes, the homeless people can be receive suitable and livable housing while also effectively clearing the streets.

My experience with Homeless people expand far greater than just me as statistic show that my story isn’t just an outlier. In a study done by Housing and Urban Development (HUD), around 565 thousand people are homeless in the United States. The numbers also show that 25% of these people are children under the age of 18. Homelessness rates vary state by state but over 17 states have had an increase in homelessness. In New York, homelessness has increased by over 10% from recent years. That is a large jump for something so severe (reuters.com).

Of the great amount of people being affected by homelessness think about if you were in that spot. Imagine if you were in a spot of an almost homeless person. You having many deadlines closing in but you know they can not be fulfilled. The government now looks at you with disinterest and unhelpful eyes. You finally receive that yellow note and you are now on the streets. You now have to beg and haggle for food daily to keep you and any love ones full for the night. You know that there is so much space in the world for the government to use to help people like you but they don’t. Using some of the space in the United states to create housing for homeless people won’t leave them hungry, exposed, and left to dry.

As you visualize homelessness, there are people who work with those kind of thoughts everyday. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) works a lot with creating homes and finding a better solution for people to get homes. With that they perform test and oversee a great deal of homelessness. One thing they have tested and stated was that homeless people that were given permanent housing vouchers remained in the same location for longer, moved schools less, had less illness reports, and an overall stable source of food than homeless people that were just kept in shelters.

Overall there are are major problems pertaining to homelessness in America. This is a silent but serious issues. Many people’s lives are at stake and there is something that can be done about it. Some solutions that can solve this ongoing problem is designate more land in the united states to prepare homes for homeless people. As stated, creating house have a greater positive affect on the recovery of homeless people and will get them going on a new life. If placements like these where in the United States, we could see more people living better lives and off the streets.