As the world population grows exponentially, people are finding it harder to maintain a job and a place to live. Many must face the harsh reality of having to live on the streets. Others are fortunate enough to find shelter with family or friends. Nonetheless society is being forced to figure out what to do with these homeless people. Some believe it is society’s problem to take care of these homeless people. Others believe they are responsible for their situation and should be forced to fend on their own. There are many programs that are available to help homeless people better themselves.
However, many of these programs are too small to help out the homeless situation. Without the aid of taxpayers’ money, homeless people will not be able to advance themselves. Therefore, we as a society have a moral obligation to help homeless people improve their lives. The government should get involved in creating a policy to help better homeless people. The main policy the government should enforce is allowing for a proportionate tax to be placed on people. In the United States alone there are over 250 million people living in homes.
The government should make it so every month each household must pay a dollar per person living in that residence. The money made from this should be given to the poor in forms of programs and financial aid. Another way the government can help better the homeless people is to tax people according to how much money they earn. If a person makes over a certain level of income then the government should make it mandatory to donate so much of their money to a charity that can help people less fortunate. For instance, Bill Gates is the wealthiest man in the world. He has a net worth that topples over ninety billion dollars.
If he were to donate thirty billion dollars in helping out the poor, he could place hundreds of homeless people in homes and still have enough money to feed thousands of homeless people. This policy should be enforced to make sure that the balance of money is shifted equally. Though that policy will help out many of the homeless people, government policy facing the homeless should be sought to improve their health and appearance. “Many homeless people, unable to get into shelters, frightened of disease or violence, or else intimidated by the regulations, look for refuge in such public places as train stations and church doorways” (Kozol 23).
A policy the government could pass to prevent this is a Bill, which makes it mandatory for all cities to build a homeless shelter that can hold all the homeless people in that city. In the shelters they must include bathrooms, showers, food, and clothing. Also inside these shelters must be a job office that could help homeless people find jobs. If these shelters were spread throughout the U. S. the number of homeless people would decline due to homeless people getting jobs. The homeless could run these homeless shelter themselves. This would help cut back on the cost and help them learn valuable job skills.
If this simple policy went into effect, then this would cut back on many of the homeless people who roam the streets looking for food and shelter. Another policy that would help improve homeless people’s lives is if the government set up a work program that would allow them to work on city projects. This would build their skills and give them a few extra dollars to spend or save. Unfortunately are public policies towards homeless peoples well being lacks morality. For example, “At Penn Station, fifteen blocks away, homeless women are denied use of the bathroom. Amtrak police come by and herd them off each hour on the hour”(Kozol 24).
This unjust act causes many of the women to have to search in order to go to the restroom. This effects the homeless health and the publics as well. A policy needs to be issued to allow homeless people to use bathrooms in public places to help clean up cities. “In Chicago a man was set ablaze while sleeping on a bench in early morning, opposite a popular restaurant. Rush-hour commuters passed him and his charred possessions for four hours before someone called police at noon. A man who watched him burning from a third-floor room above the bench refused to notify police.
The purpose was to get him out, according to a local record-store employee”(Kozol 25). Unfortunately acts of violence are being done on homeless people and there is no real punishment for it. Even though it is technically a crime to attack homeless people, in a survey done on crimes solved in New York, only a mere twenty-seven percent of the crimes against homeless people are solved, while sixty-seven percent are solved about people who are not homeless. This chilling survey suggests that the world today does not care if homeless men and women are being beaten or killed. Sadly these are only a few hardships homeless people must face.
As the population grows rapidly, we as a society must realize that when given a chance to succeed almost any individual will succeed in life. But as soon as the world shuts homeless people out and try’s to forget about them, that is when people begin to have problems. No matter how long this society is around there will always be homeless people. Society is going to have to learn to except this and allow them the equal rights they give the general public. As a civilized society, people must realize that in order to advance, they must treat everyone in this country equally and help him or her overcome the dilemma.
