Dear Future President,

A huge problem in our country at the moment is homelessness. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, “…564,708 people were homeless on a given night in the United States,” and, “Of that number, 206,286 were people in families.” Yes, there are homeless shelters, but they’re filled up to the point where some people are forced to share rooms. Not only that, but there are a lot of downsides to staying there. For example, some people discriminate against the LGBT community, which makes up 45% of homeless youth, which in turn puts them in danger and they’d rather not risk their lives in a shelter. Another thing is that these homeless shelters are neither safe, nor sanitary. People are scared to sleep there in fear of being sexually assaulted, or getting sick, which they’re already at risk for since they’re out on the streets.

This affects our community because then we have homeless people sleeping on the streets. We have same examples of people taunting the homeless, or when the homeless are a danger to us. The more homeless people there are, the more people there are on the streets. This is a very important issue and I hope you can do something to fix it.

Sincerely,

Elaina G.