Homeless in America (Pt. 2)

Imagine living in a home with an abusive partner or parent. You want to run away so bad, but have no where to go. Instead you continue suffering the abuse and beatings. A lot of us don’t understand why people continue submitting themselves to being victims of domestic violence. For those individuals they just don’t know any better and don’t know where else they would go and be safe. A lot of their friends may have left them, and may have no family or their family have abandoned them because they have tried to help over and over again with no success. Some domestic violence victims make the choice to finally run away and escape their abusers. These are people who end up on the streets with no where to go. They spend nights in shelters, sleeping under bridges, in bushes, or anywhere else they can go to escape. It is sad that for some people it is just better to be homeless than to live where they are now. Homelessness due to domestic violence continues to increase each year with more women and children running away with no where to go.

Did you or do you know anyone who had to drop out of school or was unable to go to college because they had to provide for their family? Millions of American’s continue to live in the never ending cycle of poverty because of lack of education. We have more college graduates than ever in the history of our country. However, our population is significantly increasing each year as well and there still only 27% of Americans whom have earned a Bachelors Degree, and are struggling to get a fair paying job for their education and training. Now days, most jobs prefer a graduate degree. Only 9% of Americans have attained a graduate degree. Lack of Education and fair wages with the increasing rate of inflation is a major cause of people falling into homelessness. Americans are struggling covering their bills for rent, electricity, water, food, and gas. For most of us just these things cover close to or more than 100% of our income. This does not include new clothes, phone, and food outside from home for children, school supplies, and many other expenses. One missed paycheck for such an individual can put them on the streets. Sadly this is something that happens daily in the United States.

Causes of Homelessness in America discussed this far:
Lack of Affordable Health Care
Natural Disasters
Domestic Violence
Lack of Education

We have only briefly touched on these topics, and there are some other causes of homelessness we will discuss next week with Part 3 of this series "Homeless in America". When you plan on supporting a 10-year plan to end homelessness or any plan to end homelessness, make sure they have a prevention and care plan for people suffering from all these different causes of homelessness.