poverty

Homelessness and poverty are issues that will always be issues. No matter what type of improvement, or prevention plan one might make, there will never be a time when there is not anyone that is homeless or living in poverty. There are a lot of statistics and data that try to explain it, but there is still no ultimate “fix”. I do not think that it is a lost cause, and that cities should move forward with plans to make homelessness and poverty decrease.
Most people that get put on the streets are living in rental homes. It is very rare that a home- owner would lose everything he or she had and become homeless. One of the biggest problems causing homelessness is the lack of affordable rental housing. If there are not very many options for these low socioeconomic people, then they will be forced to live on the streets. Even the houses that are available for rent are normally going to be poverty stricken. There are entire neighborhoods in Memphis, Tennessee that are rented out to people. Usually these neighborhoods are all unsafe, and poverty stricken.
Due to much research I think that a lot of people that are homeless have jobs, but just not ones that pay enough for them to afford a house. Many people have low paying jobs that do not offer benefits, creating tough decisions for these people. They have to choose whether or not to spend their money on a house and have nothing else, or have no house and be able to provide food and clothing. Despite what reason causes this, I believe that no one should have to make this decision.
Organizations such as welfare add to homelessness. Welfare can be very helpful but at the same time it can have a negative affect on a family. When you are able to get off welfare and provide things on your own, there is a larger possibility of failure, and it directly causes homelessness.
In Memphis, we have a housing program called Memphis Housing Association. I have worked directly with them. My grandfather is a landlord to about one hundred and fifty rental homes in Memphis. Each tenant has government assistance with their rent. Some people get help with a small portion of their rent, some get half of it paid, some get almost all paid, and believe it or not some people get their entire rent taken care of. Despite all the money that MHA gives on behalf of poverty stricken people, some of these tenants do not even have the twenty five dollars of their portion of the rent. It blows my mind to imagine living like that. I think that it is a good cause and that the government is doing its’ job as far as providing rental housing in Memphis.