Homeless by Hadiatou

SS 245-Photography and the human Condition

April 5, 2011

There are five top leading causes to homeless in America. The first one is the lack of affordable housing because the study is found that the rent in Boston went up by eighty five percent in 2009. The second leading cause is families such as my have has or is experience not being able to afford their rent with their minimum wage hour’s job, which leads them to go homeless. The third one is Domestic violence when women flee domestic abuse; they are often forced to leave their homes and nowhere else to turn so they turn their lives to the street. The forth one is lack of affordable healthcare. Few Americans have healthcare insurance, or if they do the premiums are so high that healthcare is not affordable. Last but not lease we are left with natural disasters such as fires, tornados, and hurricanes are great leading cause for homelessness in our country.

Before I read this article I always though that the main leading cause of homelessness with people in America were substance abuse. So I’m surprise to learn that it is not that much of a great factor of homelessness. I was mostly shocked at the numbers of statistics that read that a twenty percent of veteran makes up the homeless population. It did not only say that about five hundred thousand veterans are homeless each year in America; but it also stated that over one hundred and ten thousand veterans are homeless every night. I’m appalled to read this because these are the man and woman that gives up everything to go over seas and puts their lives in danger to protect this nation, and to think that when they return they have no home to come to, it sadden me.