September 16, 2016

Dear Future President of the United States:

Imagine a world where everybody has a home. No more endless lines of people waiting to get shelter for the night, and no more people struggling for food. I believe that nobody deserves to be homeless. But, while we are eating our dinner and sleeping comfortably in our beds many people, some of them the very people who fought for us, are starving as they stand outside trying to collect enough money to get a meal or shelter for the night. So, where can people go if they do not have a home? In over 80 cities it is illegal to sleep your own vehicle. A car is not public property, it belongs to the person that has purchased it, and not allowing someone to sleep in their own car just doesn't seem right. In many places it’s also illegal to sleep on the street or on any property that is not yours, including a park bench. Some might say the homeless should go to a shelter.

There are not enough homeless shelters in the US. 6,252 families go to NYC shelters nightly. Their is not always enough room in shelters for everybody so many people including families are being turned away every night. According to Statistic Brain there are 1,750,000 people in the US who are homeless. To me that is way too many. 40% of homeless people are veterans, people that have fought for our country, people that have risked everything so we don't have to. For many years people have been without a home struggling to survive.This is not how things are meant to be. As president, it is your job to help the citizens in our country.

As president you are responsible for supporting your citizens. This means that you need to respond to their needs. All citizens need a place to live or stay. Some of those people are kids, veterans, and families. Some of those people are homeless because they lost their home or their jobs or maybe because houses are so unaffordable or that their are not any jobs willing to hire someone that is homeless. All of these things that are not going to be solved unless someone is willing to fix it.

As president you should raise the amount of job training counselors. Most places won't hire someone that is homeless because of their looks or because they don't think that they are not smart enough. But by getting more job training counselors homeless people will be able to get jobs and eventually make enough money to live off of. Another one of the biggest reasons people are homeless is because they can afford housing. The average price to rent an normal sized small apartment alone costs about $1,231 a month. And if you were to buy a average size house that alone would cost, from a range of $179,649 - $451,157. How are homeless people supposed to be able to afford a house/apartment when most of them can't even afford enough food for a day. I think that is also one of the biggest problems involving homeless, and that as president you need to lower the cost of housing.

I am looking for a president that can recognize the flaws of the world and step up and do something about them. A president that will support their citizens and a president who can make a difference. As president if you care about any of these things then show us by taking action.

Sincerely,

Annalise