Ronald Reagan once said, “We have found in this country, and maybe we’re more aware of it now, is one problem that we’ve had, even in the best of times, and that is the people who are sleeping in the grates, the homeless, you might say, by choice.” For the first half of my life, I grew up in Bangladesh, and in the second half, in Queens, New York. In Bangladesh, I almost never saw a single homeless person on the streets. When I came to New York, I was surprised and in disbelief that so many people were helpless in the streets. I know we can solve this problem of homelessness if everyone puts a helping hand to those in need. If everyone works together to have a better life, I will have peace in mind to know that none are suffering from no housing. In New York City, homelessness is an awful and scary problem that is haunting thousands of New Yorkers every day. Many New Yorkers struggle daily with displacement as others ignore their problems. So, they’re left by themselves to meet their basic needs. Some may argue that helping the homeless might be too expensive because helping them with better shelter and a new job will take a lot of time and money. In addition, they might argue that it would be more beneficial to invest in other programs. However, they fail to realize that helping the homeless will add more people back into the economy. This leads to an increase in manpower in the economy, and this will lead to more profit. So investing to help the homeless is a smart economical choice. To address homelessness, we should create new programs or increase funding for current programs. These programs would address homeless people to get basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing and get them jobs to get back on their feet.

In New York City, homelessness has been haunting thousands of New Yorkers as they’re not able to get basic necessities. For example, in Manhattan, any time you walk by the sidewalk, you see homeless people with dirty clothes and a cardboard signs asking for help. Even if you go to homeless shelters, you can see rodents and cockroaches all over the place with theft and assault. According to Coalition for the Homeless, it states, “Research shows that the primary cause of homelessness, particularly among families, is lack of affordable housing. Surveys of homeless families have identified the following major immediate causes of homelessness: eviction, doubled-up or severely overcrowded housing” (Coalition for the Homeless, 2022). In other words, homelessness occurs because many cannot afford the expensive housing, and housing can also have a variety of problems such as overcrowding. This is significant because the phrase, “lack of affordable housing” means that many people don’t have enough money to live in New York. In this case, it shows that people in the lower class will suffer and stay stuck in the lower class because they’re not able to get their daily needs met. In addition, The City states, “shelters are considered by many homeless individuals as providing an unacceptably low level of personal security…The incidence of theft, physical attack, or other types of violations in the shelters” (The City, 2021). Basically, homeless shelters are not safe as a lot of violent activity occurs there. This matters because the phrase, “low level of personal security” means that shelters are dangerous places for the homeless to live in. Thus, living in shelters is more of a riskier choice for the homeless, so they usually choose to stay out in the streets. Homelessness has been an issue for New Yorkers for many decades that is still not being fixed and is affecting a large part of the population.

We request that a fraction of the funds set for homelessness be set in NYC’s budget to take care of the more New Yorkers who are going through homelessness. Currently, there is $1,548,398,000 allocated to the New York City Department of Homeless Services. But, still, thousands of New Yorkers do not get proper help from the department, and the conditions of the homeless shelters are terrible. According to Tomorrow, it states, “The Japanese government…incentives to encourage businesses to hire these employees and subsidized rent options for housing, together with direct food aid for the most deprived people (Tomorrow, 2021). In other words, in Japan, they force businesses to hire more of the homeless, and the government also helps by providing food for the homeless. This is significant because the phrase, “direct food aid” means that the government helps the homeless directly by supporting them with food for their survival. This is important because programs in New York should follow these leads made by other countries’ governments to help their people get back on their feet. Furthermore, ThinkProgress states, “That legacy has lived on in modern Singapore, as the government built houses that were affordable enough for residents to buy over the years (ThinkProgress, 2016). Basically, in Singapore, they were able to solve homelessness by making housing cheaper. This matters because the word “affordable” shows that the government has been able to support the people by opening up equal opportunities for people of all classes to have the privilege of housing. Part of NYC’s homeless department’s budget should be used to improve current shelters and help those that are currently struggling with homelessness.

Homelessness is a menacing problem that affects thousands in New York because they can't get their basic needs. Some might argue that helping the homeless might be too expensive, but helping them will add more manpower to the economy. To solve homelessness, we need better programs to help the homeless meet basic needs. Reaching down and lifting people up is the best exercise for the heart. This message shows how important being connected to every person in your community is, especially those who need help. By giving a helping hand, you not only build trust but help make someone else’s life better, so that they can have the same privileges that we do.