Dear Future President,

Congratulations! I am honored to be writing this letter to you as I am expressing a major concern of mine which is homelessness. Homelessness is an exceeding issue that greatly impacts my life and the American society as a whole. Along with the pressing issue of homelessness comes poverty which works hand in hand especially in my community. I live in Highland Park and I am constantly encountering individuals suffering with mental issues and addiction that are sadly living on the street and in public parks. They don’t have the guidance or finances to support themselves or their families. In a report titled “National Alliance to End Homelessness” it stated that there was a whopping 564,708 people who are currently suffering with homelessness in the United States. This is a crucial issue that continues to increase in size, although I’m here writing to you to express how urgent this problem is to me , to other citizens and to those suffering with homelessness.

Homelessness is an apparent issue that is imposed upon a variety of individuals have them be kids in school or past war veterans. Homelessness never seems to target one age group or ethnicity. Anyone can be faced with this issue and quickly begin to accept their current state of homelessness as their only resort. The presence of homeless people is beginning to devalue the community and area in which they are in. Which obviously is not their fault entirely, but partly ours. As, we are not giving them the proper support or knowledge to rehabilitate themselves. We are the ones that are isolating them from prospering as we rather divert our eyes from the problem, then facing it head on. Homelessness is also becoming a major issue for children and young adults. According to the child trend databank up to 1.4 million students have reported on not having a home address. This is appalling as we are allowing for our future generations to struggle and decline on their own accord. Many students experiencing homelessness begin to attain a negative attitude towards school. As they allow for the stress and depression to overwhelm their confidence and aspirations in life. Also resulting in a various amount of students to dropout of school due to their constant struggle to survive. They resort to getting a job rather than completing school ,because their main goal is to become financially stable. Another negative effect of homelessness is the influx of health problems. As, they are not given the opportunity to visit the doctors whenever they need to or to have annual checkups due to their financial state. Their unsanitary living conditions exemplifies their risk for health problems which can range with infections all the way to HIV and diabetes.

This is a growing issue that can be solve with the involvement of others. We can open up and fund more shelters and housing facilities. We can also begin by approaching homeless people as actual individuals rather than turning away when we encounter them on the street. Homelessness is a huge issue, but is not something impossible to fix. It is an issue than can gradually be fixed by you and the merican citizens if we just take the time and effort to do so. Thank you!

                                                                               Sincerely,

                                                                              Arianna A.