Dear Future 45th President of the United States,

The homeless population is just like you and me, we are all human beings. As the next president of the United States of America, I am writing to you for help. There is a big issue of homelessness in my home city of Seattle, Washington. We need to provide basic housing for the homeless people. When I am in Downtown Seattle, I see countless mentally incapable homeless people wandering the streets aimlessly. This has led to more crimes such as stealing, indecent exposures, increased littering on the streets and also more begging activities from the homeless population. As the next president of the United States; you may want to implement a reduced/free housing strategy for the homeless, as this will give services to help them get off living in the streets.

As a nation, we should take responsibility for helping our homeless population. I think that we should provide reduced/free housing for the homeless. Presently, the state of Utah, according to National Public Radio (NPR), reduced their homelessness by 91% by providing free/reduced housing. “By implementing a model known as Housing First, Utah has reduced that number from nearly 2,000 people in 2005, to fewer than 200 now” (Mcevers). This supports my claim that we need to get the homeless population off the streets and into housing. Our society often sees the homeless as useless and considers them as outcasts. Some in our society sees them as a nuisance group and want to forget about them or wish them away. Instead of ignoring this group, I think we should help them.

Right now, we provide services such as: counseling, food stamps, medical and dental care, and other services for students, prisoners, the aging, so why can’t we provide services to the homeless population too? I think we should be able to provide services to our homeless population. In the Seattle Times article, it states that “Most are mentally ill or addicted to drugs or alcohol, and the key is they weren’t required to go to treatment or get a job to get the housing” (Westneat). Instead of not caring about the homeless people, why don’t we give them some help? Some services? This would help with rehabilitating the homeless, and making them part of society again. This is important because we have been ignoring our homeless population for too long, and something needs to be done.

Some people might argue that this strategy will not work, and it never will. Huffington Post attempted to argue this in one of its articles. “But the miraculous story of a 91 percent reduction in chronic homelessness appears to be fiction” (Corinth). If Huffington Post looked at the number and the statistics, they would realize that the program in the state of Utah actually did work, and succeeded.

Future President, I believe that our nation needs to support our homeless population. We have neglected to help the homeless for too long and it is time to start providing housing and services for the homelessness-NOW. They are people just like us--individuals, families, and children. We all deserve a place to call home.

Sincerely,

Mirra Lee

Westneat, Danny. "Give the Homeless Housing: It’s Working in Utah." The Seattle

Times. The Seattle Times, 20 Feb. 2015. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

McEvers, Kelly. "Utah Reduced Chronic Homelessness By 91 Percent; Here's How."

NPR News. NPR News, 10 Dec. 2015. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

Corinth, Kevin. "Think Utah Solved Homelessness? Think Again." The Huffington Post.

The Huffington Post, 4 Mar. 2016. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.