Homelessness in New York City (Free Essay Sample)

As a resident of New York City, I am writing to bring to your attention our homelessness crisis. Although homelessness is a national problem, I believed that it had reached a crisis level in our city. Over the past few years, this problem has become much more noticeable and its impact on our community has become more apparent. I am aware that the city already offers assistance for those that do not have a home or are at risk of losing their homes, such as the Homes for the Homeless program or the Housing and Support Services program. However, with these systems in place, I still see many on the streets and the subway daily without anywhere to go. I believe that these systems that assist those in need should be revamped and have their programs updated so they have a stronger impact on those who use these services. 

People rarely become homeless by choice. Especially in the times of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people were forced off their jobs. Those who already had low-paying jobs are often unable to set aside enough money and resources for emergencies– which in this case is being laid off. 

Bigger policy changes need to be made to intake centers and prevention programs to ensure that those struggling are housed in the least amount of time possible. I advocate that you completely revamp the homeless sheltering system and eliminate eviction from subsidized homes. Those who are not able to live below a roof often find themselves in poor and unbearable conditions, such as the extreme cold during the winter or the extreme heat in the suffering. The goal of the sheltering system in New York City should be to eliminate the time that individuals and families need to spend to receive as quickly as they possibly can. 

I hope that you will look into our entire homelessness sheltering system. I suggest that you make taking those who need assistance easier– making the process simple and quick without asking for detailed information. You also carry out a ban on subsidized housing discharging any individual or family that are already residing in these shelters. Discharges or evictions from our city’s sheltering system often resemble a punitive justice system and not a restorative one. For example, someone who has assaulted someone can be evicted out of a homeless shelter just for having committed a crime. With a more restorative system, we can strengthen this individual and our community to prevent this person from harming others in the future. We help them, not punish them. When we evict someone, we are sending them back into the streets. What have we done to help them?

With unemployment and low wages being likely causes of homelessness and putting hundreds of thousands of families in New York City at the risk of becoming homeless, sustainable employment is often the solution to create housing stability for the homeless. However, individuals and families that are already on the streets face many challenges in finding and maintaining new employment. For example, members of the homeless community often have low education levels, such as a lack of a high school diploma, have children without any access to childcare, making it impossible for them to work and support their child, lack access to the internet and technology, mental health problems, chronic health problems, substance abuse problems, disabilities, lack of family, poor credit, or criminal histories. In such a competitive work market in our city, these are massive barriers that prevent them from accessing a sustainable job.

Instead of leaving them on the streets, we can connect them with job placement programs and give them tools that empower them to be the solution they need for success. We need to give them our support to make sure that individuals can access and retain stable employment. If we can create a program that provides them with employment and housing which targets specifically the homeless community, we can greatly increase their stability in our city.

Not only are the homeless often unable to access adequate employment, but they also often have their rights taken away. Why? This is because homelessness is criminalized! In the New York City subway, panhandling is illegal! The NYPD often “sweeps” out the homeless by taking away their property such as their bedding and clothing in areas where groups of homeless people live. Our city has criminalized and penalized individuals who need to conduct their daily activities on the streets. These measures are only designed to move homeless individuals away. But if we move them away, where do they go? These measures are counterintuitive and criminalizing individuals for not having a home makes it an even greater challenge for them to provide them a home. These are moral issues that we need to remove. Criminalizing the homeless completely fails at conveying the root causes of homelessness, but further increases the challenges that the homeless face. This is unconstitutional and this needs to end.

We can also work with homeless communities or communities that use our Housing and Support Services program to gather information from them. We should also give these communities a bigger role than those who provide these shelters. When we consult these communities who have utilized these services for their input, we can change these shelters according to their actual needs, not what we think they need. If feedback is so important in so many fields of trade and businesses, why is it often unconsidered in homeless shelters or other social services for the homeless? Federally, we spend billions and billions to provide services for those experiencing homelessness across the nation, yet not much has improved.

I want these communities and these individuals to express their power and their strength. I believe that these individuals who have lived through the experience of being homeless are the best at assisting those new to the struggle through the sophisticated system and I believe that they are the best at helping the unfortunate, the financially unstable, to find stability.

I am not trying to condemn your work and the programs that you already have established to assist those who are or are at risk of being on the streets. I want to see a world where those who are less fortunate have somewhere to go, somewhere to stay, and somewhere where they can be safe– where no one has to live on the streets.

I greatly appreciate your time and consideration for my requests and support to help end this crisis. Thank you for your time and if you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.