by Nashid Shabazz

Created on: May 19, 2008

Homelessness: Chances for Houston and USA

When is the last time you looked at Downtown Houston? I mean really looked. One of Houston's liveliest hotspots, Downtown is considered a haven for many of our nation's homeless. These severely destitute people walk from street corner to street corner searching for help. As successful businessmen and women converse on their cell phones and drink their three-dollar Starbucks coffee, not a single hand or smile makes their way to our pitiful counterparts. Most people would wonder why most of these homeless just don't make their way to the nearest shelter. Well, some of our homeless prefer not to stay in shelters because of the hazardous conditions. An example of this is in San Francisco's most notorious shelter, the Multi-Service Center South, where drugs were prevalent on the grounds. The extremity of homelessness was exemplified during and after the episodes of Hurricane Rita and Katrina.

In the year 2005, we have 727,304 homeless nationwide, in Texas 39,578, and in Houston 14,000 (Kasindorf, pars. 2, 13, 20). Downtown Houston is not a residential area. Yet in the brunt of these storms, homeless people had to "brave out 60+ mile an hour winds and driving rain under parking structures and bus canopies" (Heim, pars. 2, 4).

Being homeless is no laughing matter, no matter how homeless a person is. Now-a-days it's hard to distinguish whether a person is homeless or not. Your classmate, friend, or relative could be homeless and you wouldn't even know it. Homeless people can have great articulation or can appear mentally inept. One seventeen year old girl was ashamed, after being seen by a friend who was volunteering at a local Montgomery homeless shelter, after her mom had lost her job (Rice, par. 2). Try imagining how a homeless person who has been without a home or job for months or years must feel.

Homeless and homelessness are words all too familiar but adverse in meaning. Being homeless is not just about having a home. The effects of homelessness are present in our neighborhoods and affect our children. Generally, in comparison to low-income children, "homeless children have higher levels of child behavior problems" (Stephens iv). It's hard for us to picture our children homeless in America but true.

Adults' mental health is also at risk from being homeless. Some of these adults subject themselves to crime and put us at risk of being robbed and harassed. Protecting our society from mentally-ill homeless is a tough job but

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• Next Page >>