Mata, 1

Eliza Mata

Ms. Smith

Period 6- English 11

11 October 2018

Burning Money to Keep Warm

According to Homeless world cup, globally there are an estimated 100 million homeless

people, and 1.6 billion people without proper shelter. That is about 21% of the world that does

not have a great quality of life. It is the responsibility of the government of an area to take the

initiative to end homelessness, especially in developed countries where resources are available.

More taxes should be spent on the homeless, a huge population is present globally, most

governments have the ability to, homeless people are treated unjustly, and homelessness has

been a problem for centuries.

There are a lot of people that do not have a home, mostly concentrated in poor areas of

the world. Despite that all homelessness derives from poverty, a large portion of them come from

OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. According to

Ourworldindata.org, France has one of the largest homeless population out of the OECD

countries, with an estimated 220 people per 100,000, while the US has around 170 per 100,000.

In the US alone, as of 2016 there are a total of 549,928 homeless people by shelter status, but

most likely more. In Los Angeles, the population has grown so large to the point that there are

whole areas that are tented and tarped by people without a home.

Most developed countries could potentially eradicate homelessness within their countries

if a more emphasis was used. The US government has done much to claim that they have

attempted to help the homeless population. Most organizations that have lasting effects are
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private and do not originate from the government. Some action that has been made in Oakland is

a tax on vacant properties. According to KQED.org, “Oakland voters could approve the state’s

first tax on privately-owned vacant properties in November. The city estimates the tax could

raise as much as $10 million annually for homeless services, blight remediation and to stem

illegal dumping. Tax revenue would also go toward new affordable housing”. Homelessness is

especially frequent there, as affordability rates are high and too demanding for many. One way

the UK government has dealt with homelessness is something called hostile agriculture.

According to The Telegraph, ‘Anti-homeless’ benches, sprinklers and bike racks are the latest

examples of hostile architecture appearing in cities designed to deter rough sleepers”, “These

aren’t bike racks, they are bike-washed ‘anti-homeless spikes’”. The government there has

enough resources to try and prevent homeless people from appearing in public places, and sets

up bike racks to do so, instead of addressing the root of their problem.

Homeless people, especially in the US, are treated unfairly by their government, and are

invisible to the greater population. According to streetsensemedia.org, “One of cities’ favorite

strategies is to force homeless people out of public space by criminalizing basic life-sustaining

activities (sitting, lying, sleeping, resting, eating, etc.). Homeless people are told to move along,

ticketed or arrested. Some cities punish people for camping when they have nowhere else to

protect themselves from the elements, or for possessing ‘camping paraphernalia’ with the ‘intent

to use.’ Cities and police departments conduct sweeps, often confiscating people’s property by

claiming that it is ‘garbage’”.Homeless people are denied the right to simply exist in a public

space. There is an explicit bias against homeless people, the article “Should local governments

restricts panhandling?” exposes this in statement. “...if a police officer sees a well-dressed

businessman asking a stranger for a quarter to make a phone call, he or she would likely not
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attempt to discipline the businessman for panhandling, critics assert. But if the same police

officer were to see a shabbily attired man ask a stranger for change, opponents say, the officer

would likely arrest that person for panhandling”. Many people left out on the streets are

overlooked by many, even their own governments. Worse, they are prosecuted and jailed, or

made to pay impossible fines. It is clear that homeless people are not even seen as people, they

are treated as if they are a blight on humanity, and do not get the help they so desperately need

and deserve.

Homelessness might seem like a product of our modern world, that it was made by our

quickly changing world, and some just cannot keep up. Globalization has done many good

things, but it also expands the inequality of wealth, so therefore, there will be more homeless

people. On the contrary, homelessness has been around for quite some time. According to

depts.washington.edu, “It is believed that the origin of homelessness is traced back during

colonial America. As early as 1640, the English “vagrants” were listed as outcast individuals and

the police were after them...The problem of homelessness at that period was a result of the King

Philip’ War Of 1675-1676 against the native people”. The origin of homelessness in America

stems from warfare, not just wealth. It has been almost four centuries that homelessness in

America exists. Worse yet, the attitude towards the remained the same, with police force

persecuting them. “During the American Revolution, the homelessness increased like never

before. Many individuals soon after the war were forced into homelessness due to insufficient

needs. By the depression of 1857, most of the growing cities were full of homeless people but

there was no effort to intervene from the government...In the years to come, civil war broke out

and made the situation beyond human imagination. Homelessness was on the rise again. Many

war veterans remained unemployed and others lost their properties to war and natural
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catastrophes, thus they spent most of their times in the streets”. The same reasons for

homelessness arise time and time again, and the government still had not done anything to help

ease their problem.

Some people may argue that spending more money towards the homeless is not possible,

that it is too expensive to get rid of homelessness entirely, and is just a permanent problem that

will remain. The truth is, homelessness was at first seen as a temporary problem, but has grown

to a point where solving it will be hard. However, homelessness it self is rather expensive.

According to Downtown street Team, “Homelessness costs Santa Clara County $520 million a

year, as high as $83,000 per chronically homeless individual, according to the Home Not Found:

The Cost of Homelessness in Silicon Valley...direct cost to taxpayers is an average of $62,473

for high users of the system while homeless, whereas the average post-housing cost is estimated

at $19,767, resulting in annual cost reduction of $42,706 for those who remained housed”.

Homeless people not housed are more costly than if they here homed, meaning that it should be

in our best interest to give them what they deserve.

Governments should be using for tax money on their homelessness problem because

there is a huge population of them, they have the resources necessary, homeless people have

been treated awfully, and it has gone on for far too long. Homelessness can be stopped, and

maybe even permanently. The fact is that governments are not taking enough initiative to

permanently affect the lingering problems of homelessness. If they were to spend more money

directly on the causes of homelessness, care of those affected, and prevention, the situation

would be looking a lot better.