Look around you, what do you see? People all around us, minding their own business and going on with their everyday lives, such as parents walking with their children to school or to their jobs. The city we live in is peaceful. But there is a very serious problem that is occuring to people, not only in the Bay Area, but in the entire world; homelessness. Even in our own environment, such as our schools, some students belong to families who are homeless. Sometimes their families report to their kids’ schools, but most of them feared of being sent out of restricted or certain public areas by the police or the government, fearing their children will be taken away from them and be sent off to an orphanage, and also feeling shameful about their non-wealthy status. According to the Department of Education, people who are homeless are most likely living outside in tight spaces due to their money problems. Lots of them are living on the streets, shelters, and inside tents in uncomfortable campsites. **Besides the city itself, there are also other people in Californian cities who are facing homelessness. The counties who are facing this problem the most are Alameda, Santa Clara, and San Francisco. Most citizens ignore this kind of problem, but there are people out there who are trying to find solutions. They not only focus on adults, but also with children. The government provides schools for the homeless students for education and comfort, such as the Ravenswood City Elementary School District in East Palo Alto. The school provides the kids with 3 meals per day and snacks, regardless of their homeless status. Also gives their students clothes, or uniforms. The district even receives some money from the federal government in order to help the children. Unfortunately “that’s just a drop in the bucket. A Band-aid. Paying for these services end up being a huge encroachment into the general fund, but we do it because kids can’t learn if they’re hungry, if they’re tired, if they’re distracted or worried. Our schools need to be a safe place where families know their children are cared for” (Gloria Hernandez-Goff).
While we are enjoying our nice warm and cozy lives, people who are homeless are desperately trying to stay alive in their cold environment. There are a lot of people in the population of California who are “unsheltered,” and it happens that San Francisco is the third-worst in the country. The people are homeless due to losing a job, alcohol or drug abuse, evicted from your house or apartment, having an argument with your family or got divorced, etc. But there are people who formed communities in order to help people that are homeless. They found solutions such as providing emergency shelters so they can prevent homelessness before it started. Not only in San Francisco, but in other Bay Area counties as well.
Now, we all know that the Bay Area is home to famous companies such as: Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Uber, Tesla, eBay, Netflix, etc. The only problem is that homeless people sit at entrances on filthy, dirty sidewalks. It has been confirmed that there are 134,278 homeless people overall in California. They don’t realize it but the city is turning out to be a horror movie where people who have no homes, no money, and no comfort are struggling to stay alive in the world they live in. Those who realize the horror are actually doing the one thing that homeless people need; comfort homes. However, building houses for them could help withstand the climate change conditions and such, but it could be an obstacle. The reasons are that it could bring up the policy of making mistakes, economic vicissitudes, and prejudice. A professor of medicine at the UCSF who studies homelessness says that “This is not something like pancreatic career, where thousands of scientists are striving to find a solution for a really difficult problem that we literally don’t know what to do about. We actually know what to do. We just lack the will” (Margot Kushel). Other reasons are the zoning rules and regulations, they make it difficult to build new homes. But what’s worse is the federal government has been out of subsidized- housing since the 1980s, and that raised some responsibilities which can’t be fixed. This resulted in putting pressure on those people who are young and different race or gender, and forces them to make an impossible choice: either move somewhere that’s cheaper or be homeless again.
I chose these sources because they explain more of the dangers and hardships of being homeless and offers more important solutions on how to help them.