Homeless Youngsters Pave the Way for a Frightful Future

 

                                                Homeless man being addressed by police officers, from Socialistworker.org

Recent analytics show that almost 600,000 Americans are homeless or displaced. Of that, about a fifth of those people are children. These children live on the streets, being exposed to sexual deviancy and drug use from a young age, plaguing their minds and warping their perception that these are normalities in life. This is a future that these young folk don’t deserve, and one that we, as a society, have an obligation to improve.

All the homeless children are putting an even larger strain on the already disheveled American medical system. According to Paediatrics & Child Health, many individuals on the streets already have chronic health conditions that are made worse without treatment and with constant exposure to the elements. Many of these homeless youths will die, with current mortality rates showing that up to 1,200 youths of the current population are likely to perish due to adverse health conditions, which can be avoided if we can find a solution to the homeless crisis in America.

These homeless youths are also causing problems for our police forces. Substance and rug abuse is rampant in these populations, with a vast majority of homeless children reporting hard drug or alcohol use. The widespread use of these destructive substances not only endangers their own lives, but the lives of others around them, encouraging widespread drug use and making police jobs more difficult. In addition to drugs, prostitution is raging among these youths, of whom partake in deviant acts in exchange for money or things like food, clothing or lodgings.

I myself have had experience in the realm of homelessness as a youth and can personally attest that the horrors of it are true. The stresses of youth are multiplied by the number of things you have to worry about while you’re homeless. While all of my friends were worried about the colleges that they were going to hear back from, I was worrying about where I would find my next meal, or where I was sleeping that night. On top of my chronic health conditions, I felt a constant decline in my well-being, made even worse by the lack of sleep and exposure to the elements lowering my immune system even more.

The mental demands of homelessness are just as strenuous as the physical ones, with me having to constantly hide the fact that I was homeless while remaining in school. It’s something that many don’t think about, but in a society where the extent of help that a vast majority of homeless people receive is a pamphlet that tells you where you’re allowed to seek shelter when it gets below a certain temperature, the constant stressors of basic necessities and as well as being judged by peers and looked down upon were terrible on my mental health. And normal aspirations of people my age were not something I could afford, making me feel like a social outcast and that I was unable to relate to anyone anymore.

              There have been a few ideas in the past that have proposed solutions to attempt to fix the issues of homelessness in America, but none that have come to a significant amount of fruition. One program that was implemented in Massachusetts in 2012 intended to help house homeless families and children with the stipulation that they provided proof of habitation of a place not meant for human living. Many of these families turned to ER rooms, spending nights in the hospital costing on average $200 for a stay, which was mostly paid by Medicaid. Alternatively, if there was direct help for these families, it would have only cost $135 a night to house them, saving our tax dollars in the long run with a more direct investment.

🚨 Prop B: Criminalizing Homelessness - ❌ NO

This creates a criminal offense for merely being homeless in #ATX. It won’t provide housing or services to people & is coordinated out of the Republican Party headquarters. We must continue our fight for real solutions to homelessness

— Greg Casar (@GregCasar) March 19, 2021

Despite many of his liberal views, US House of Representatives candidate Greg Casar (Dem-TX) makes an excellent point in his tweet. Criminalizing homelessness only fills up prisons, costs more that what it would take to fix homelessness directly and punishes people who otherwise could be functioning members of society if they were given the chance and the help they needed. While it is a solution to the homeless epidemic, it is not the solution, and we can come up with a better one as a nation.

Many people have called for budget cuts to military spending, allocating funds from our defense budget to other government sectors to fund different programs, especially to programs that aid homeless youths and individuals. However, many people are opposed to this, claiming that cuts to our military spending will weaken our position as a global power, making the both the world and our great nation less secure. And while our country's defense and assertion as a powerful military force is important for our place as a world power and national security, given the ~$752.06 billion that went into military spending in 2021 according to the National Priorities Project, perhaps an investment now coming from these military funds to solve the problem of homelessness would pay off in the long run.

While there is no clear solution as to what should be done for the homeless population of America, one thing is certain: something must be done sooner or later. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and to ensure our strength as a nation, we must ensure the strength of our people, no matter how unfortunate they may be.