povrty and homelessness: the e
It is in the news everyday that poverty is getting worse in this country. Many Americans live below the poverty level and along with poverty, homelessness is soon to follow. People in this country due to limited resources are making the hard choice everyday. They are frequently unable to pay for housing, food, child care, health care, and education. In most families it is housing, which absorbs a high proportion of income. So when there is little money it is the housing that has to be abandoned. Since there are so many Americans are living at or below poverty level, many families are a paycheck away from living on the streets. All it takes is an unforeseen illness or accident and it starts a domino effect. First the person no longer has a job, then is unable to meet their monthly obligations reducing the family to homelessness. Two factors help account for increasing poverty and homelessness: eroding employment opportunities for large segments of the workforce, and the declining value and availability of public assistance. Low-wage workers have been particularly hard hit by wage trends. Factors contributing to wage declines include a steep drop in the number and bargaining power of unionized workers, erosion in the v
Housing costs are not just a problem for the welfare or working poor. In more than 70% of America's 400 largest metropolitan areas, one-third of all renters cannot afford the local market rent for decent rental housing and have enough money left for even the most basic needs. That staggering statistic includes economically diverse places from Northern Michigan to Florida, and New York to almost anywhere else.4 alue of the minimum wage, a decline in manufacturing jobs and the corresponding expansion of lower-paying service-sector employment. In addition, globalization has played an important role. Many manufacturing companies have moved their manufacturing sites to Mexico because of cheaper labor. Corporations do have a responsibility to the American people to provide jobs to the very people that they expect to purchase their products and buy their stock. Peter Singer describes this as taking care of ones own.1 Although, he was describing this in the terms of overseas aid, it fits well in this situation. If corporations expect the citizens of the United States to buy their products and their stock, then it only stands to reason that the corporations provide employment to the same population. Lack of public assistance in part has driven many American families to poverty and homelessness. Until its repeal in the mid 1990s, the largest cash assistance program for poor families with children was the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program. This program gave families whom were out of work a way to avoid homelessness. The current welfare benefits and Food Stamps combined are below the poverty level. This makes it hard for families to afford suitable housing. Proving further the reduction of public assistance is the fact that the welfare caseloads have dropped sharply. This is due to the passa
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Approximate Word count = 1227
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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