Solving Homelessness in America

It pains my heart reading, hearing, or talking about homelessness in America. In large cities and small towns there are a myriad of homeless people. How are we supposed to deal with the countless number of homeless people walking the streets with their hands open begging for change? This is an eerie dilemma, even though it is reasonably easy to fix. I know that I have reached my breaking point with people blocking the roads and sidewalks troubling me with their hands wide open. While some of them use the money given to them for shelter or food, more will use it to satisfy their addiction. I am always disheartened thinking that my money may be spent on alcohol and cigarettes. Is it fair that I must give them my spare change when I have my own needs to fulfill? Research shows that 43% of all homeless people in the United States are male, while one third of them have families with children. Most homeless people tend to be 45 years old and one out of every four of them is a veteran. There is an estimated 100 million homeless people worldwide. That is equivalent to the population of Philippines alone. That’s one third of our population taking up our space and begging for change.

The first problem that will need to be addressed is their housing situation. Instead of a homeless person taking up our space, we can send them to live in landfills to reclaim cardboard boxes. With these materials they can construct a house, which will indirectly solve unemployment. Also, if they can recover recycled materials they are helping out the environment, giving them a place to work. The average American discards 30.9 tons of food per year! This will provide a food source for homeless people and other Americans like myself won’t feel bad for throwing out unwanted food because I know that a homeless person will receive it shortly. Competition will be advocated because people will be fighting for the best quality cardboard to add to their luxurious sanctuaries. If any homeless person dies as a result of arguing it is helpful because that is one less homeless person to be concerned about.

To deter uprisings and revolutions there will be an incentive for the best homeless recyclers. They will be promoted to administrators to make sure that others are doing their job in the form of gestures and positive words. As compensation for their hard work, administrators will be given the best quality cardboard and discarded food. My pitch will have fed, housed and employed all the homeless people. This will get them off our back, pushing them to do their part in society and preserving the environment.

Although keeping clothes clean poses a problem, it is not impossible. If they cannot afford to spend money at a Laundromat they can always clean the clothes in a puddle or the rain. Cleanliness is hardly an issue because people throw out deodorant, soaps, and other toiletries all the time. They do not need to clean their hair because it would strip them of the natural oils that we get rid of when we clean ours. With all the money that they earn from the landfill, they can one day get themselves a billing address. This will mean they will have to cut back, and only eat what they find in the trash as opposed to eating out at a lavish fast food restaurant, or eating healthy. If they insist on a phone number, nothing is stopping them from finding the nearest payphone and recording the number on the back of your hand.

An argument can be made that this is unfair treatment of another human being. One can also say that it is our civil duty to get that on the right track. However, this is not immoral. Homeless people cannot be considered humans because they don’t work as hard as the rest of us employed, housed, tax paying citizens. If they were capable of doing so, then they would already be off the streets. Why would anybody in their right mind help them? Why would anybody donate extra dollars to foundations that seemingly “help” them? I am not homeless nor do I reside in a cardboard box making me extremely qualified to talk about this issue with no biases. This idea is the only idea that benefits everybody.

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