Draft

Sometimes as humans we take for granted the “little things” in life. We don’t realize we’re lucky to wake up on a bed, to have food on the table, to have clothes to wear. We’re so used to having these things that we forget to be grateful for them,  not everyone is fortunate enough to have these blessings. We don’t realize how fortunate we are till we see people living in a worse scenario. Homelessness has been an increasing crisis in the United States Of America, due to poor health care, unemployment,and there not being sufficient housing projects for people.

The US is known for not having the best health care system, and this is because the USA’s health care system is very expensive and unaffordable for Ameircans who make below average and an average living. In the article Medical Debt In America written by Reed Karim states “A reported 41 percent of U.S. adults are saddled with bills from hospitals and doctors’ offices as well as those for prescription drugs and other health care needs. An estimated $140 billion in overdue medical debt is in collections. “ This demonstrates how over 41% of American adults have debt and medical bills piled up and are struggling to pay it back. Getting medical help and medical assistance in the US is expensive and makes one re-think should they even get medical help if they’re not feeling well, because of how much the expense is. This is a problem, if people can’t afford to get medical help their health may worsen.

The US has been facing a problem of unemployment since the covid-19 pandemic, and with unemployment comes poverty. Many workers from the service industry were laid off because of the pandemic and people who worked in offices/corporates were most likely sent to work in a remote setting. According to Peter Katel in Housing The Homeless he elaborates on the main cause of homelessness is poverty but what causes so much poverty in the US? One of the main causes of poverty is being unemployed or underpaid compared to all of the expenses one has to make to live. (Katel 845).Susan Ladika states how during the pandemic the US’s unemployment rate boosted by a 14.7 percentage during April 2020 which was the beginning of a gradual decline(Ladika 13). Demonstrating how the pandemic increased the statistics for unemployment in the US, causing people to struggle financially.

The rent and housing cost in the US has increased over the past few years. The cost of living in the US has increased yet minimum wage has stayed the same. In Homelessness Crisis by Alan Greenblatt it states “ the average hourly wage needed to afford a modest one-bedroom rental home is $21.25, while a two-bedroom would require $25.82.“There’s nowhere in the country where a worker working at the minimum wage can afford a one-bedroom apartment,” says Eric Tars, legal director of the National Homelessness Law Center, an advocacy group in Washington.” The minimum wage in the US right now is 7.25, so if to afford a one bedroom apartment you need an hourly rate of 21.25 you won’t be able to even afford a one bedroom apartment which is why many become homeless.The statistics titled Total Number Of People Experiencing Homelessness, in 2020, By Type shown in Homelessness Crisis by Alan Greenblatt demonstrates that in the “overall” category there are about 580,466 homeless Americans, 408,891 individuals, 171,575 people in families etc… These statistics are very immense and need to be decreased. Anyone who says the US is not suffering a poverty problem is lying. With so much financial stress and inflation people lose their homes, yet end up in the streets because there are not enough shelters, housing, and low barrier projects for so many people

NOTE: still working on the paragraph for resolution and conclusion.