Homelessness is Destroying the Youth of Our Country

The National Center on Family Homelessness says that more than one out of every fifty children in the Unites States is homeless.  According to our government, child homelessness is higher now than any time since the Great Depression.

Being homeless is causing a devastating impact on the youth in our country.

·  The average reading and math scores of homeless children are sixteen percent lower than the scores for all students.

·  Less than twenty five percent of homeless kids will graduate from high school.

·  Approximately fifteen percent of homeless children suffer from moderate to severe health conditions.

·  Roughly five percent of homeless children are part of a family where adults throw things or hit people.  Is it surprising, then that seventeen percent of homeless children are suffering from emotional disturbances?

Why is this happening?  Why is it getting worse? In most cases the answer is quite simple.  These kids parent’s incomes are decreasing because of the economy.  A combination of government ineptitude and corporate greed has promulgated the widespread loss of value adding jobs from America.  What were heretofore middle income jobs are being shifted to pretty much any country in any part of the world that promises lower service costs and lower production costs.

Consequently, our middle class, which had been the backbone of America, is disintegrating.  People who used to enjoy having a satisfying lifestyle, especially those who used to work in factories, now are either jobless or they are working jobs that pay them a lower than livable wage.

A good part of our population is falling from the middle class into the ranks of the poor.  The gap between the rich and the poor is growing by leaps and bounds.  The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities has said that, “income inequality in the United States has risen to historically high levels… and has been increasing for more than 30 years.”

Although the government denies it, anyone who shops is finding that prices are increasing.  Consequently, our purchasing power is plummeting.  Although it may not have much of an impact on the well-to-do, inflation is crippling the poor.  A report recently released by the National Center on Family Homelessness said that, “Between 1979 and 2005, the income of the richest Americans more than tripled, rising 228% ($76,500) per household, while the income of the bottom fifth rose only 6% ($900).  As a result, many low-income families no longer have the purchasing power to sustain their households.”

While incomes and purchasing power for the formerly middle-class has been falling housing costs have been rising.  The supply of affordable housing has shrunk, forcing many people, who in their wildest dreams would not have ever thought that they could be homeless, are out on the street – along with their children.

A lot of people are now paying more than thirty three percent of their income for housing (the level that housing costs are considered to be affordable).  As housing costs have risen many millions of Americans have been forced to choose between having a home to call their own and life’s other necessities.  Those who are paying more than a third of their income for housing have had to let medical care, transportation, and wholesome food fall by the wayside.

Consequently, many other good folks have had to try to find shelter for themselves and their families in homeless shelters.  They’ve been subjected to having to deal with waiting in long lines, being interviewed by social workers, having information about them input into 211Software, etc., all in the hopes that they could have a roof over the heads of their children and themselves for the night.

Corporate greed and being subjected to the whims of inept politicians must stop.  Elections are coming up.  Perhaps if the right people are voted into office this despicable situation might end.