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Justin24

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070110/ts_alt_afp/ussocietypoverty_070110210107

A study found that there are 750,000 homeless Americans. That is way to much.

Nearly 750,000 Americans without homes: study 1 hour, 9 minutes ago



WASHINGTON (AFP) - There are 744,313 homeless in the United States, according to the first nationwide population estimate in a decade, published by the US National Alliance to End Homelessness.

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The figure was calculated in January 2005 and only represents a snapshot of the homelessness problem in this country, which is likely much bigger, the advocacy group said in a statement.

"The reality is that the homeless population is quite fluid -- people move in and out of homelessness and most are homeless for short periods of time," it said. "Many more people experience homelessness over the course of the year."

The head counting found 56 percent of homeless in the United States slept in shelters or transitional housing, while 44 percent lived in the streets.

Fifty-nine percent of them were single adults and 41 percent were vagabonds living in families. In total, almost 100,000 destitute families were counted.

Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Rhode Island and all three Pacific Coast states -- Washington, Oregon and California -- had the highest ratio of homeless people per capita.

Past studies had counted between 250,000 to three million homeless Americans.
 
By stopping the war, and have congress and the senate stop and take a look at the problems here that we face.
 
But all the enemies are all "out there"- there are no enemies within, right? Hunger and poverty and homelessness aren't some of our worst enemies, right? If only the war on both of those could be declared (and even mentioned) as often as the war on terror is.

I think the number of homeless certainly is MUCH higher. People don't want to face that it could happen to them, so they want to blame people for being in that situation and call them lazy and other things.
 
America is a strange place in many ways...

I think allot of the reason this goes on is the average person either doesn't know or doesn’t care enough to do anything.

It's a sad state of affairs... And I don't care what you think but you have to admit that there is a type of "mind control" going on every day in the media.

You turn on the TV and it tends to fall into two categories:

1 Terror - Stories about terrorists and how safe we are, wars, pandemics and disease and germs, even global warming. This terrifies the public and puts them at a constant state of unease. There is a threat somewhere and although there is no possible way to be prepared for a nuclear attack or some sort of super bug, people concern themselves with flu shots and buying rolls of duct tape. They don't give you the answers; they just give you the "facts" as they seem them.

2 Fluff - In terms of importance, does Donald Trump and Rosie Odonell not getting along rank up there? No? So why is it front-page material? There is an inordinate amount of information about celebrities and the minutia of their day-to-day lives in the media and it obviously works or it would not be increasing at an astronomical rate. Paris Hilton is a case in point herself, is there anything redeeming this woman does, even her charity work screams self promotion.

Its all about distraction, like a good magic act, who cares about 750, 000 homeless or the economy or 3000 + dead soldiers in Iraq (not to mention the countless Iraqi dead) as long as I know that the person sitting next to me on the subway may be a terrorist and what Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are up to.

Don't rock the boat... Everything is just fine and whatever you do, don’t touch the water – it’s poisonous.

Just my opinion mind you…
 
elevated_u2_fan said:
America is a strange place in many ways...

I think allot of the reason this goes on is the average person either doesn't know or doesn’t care enough to do anything.

It's a sad state of affairs... And I don't care what you think but you have to admit that there is a type of "mind control" going on every day in the media.

You turn on the TV and it tends to fall into two categories:

1 Terror - Stories about terrorists and how safe we are, wars, pandemics and disease and germs, even global warming. This terrifies the public and puts them at a constant state of unease. There is a threat somewhere and although there is no possible way to be prepared for a nuclear attack or some sort of super bug, people concern themselves with flu shots and buying rolls of duct tape. They don't give you the answers; they just give you the "facts" as they seem them.

2 Fluff - In terms of importance, does Donald Trump and Rosie Odonell not getting along rank up there? No? So why is it front-page material? There is an inordinate amount of information about celebrities and the minutia of their day-to-day lives in the media and it obviously works or it would not be increasing at an astronomical rate. Paris Hilton is a case in point herself, is there anything redeeming this woman does, even her charity work screams self promotion.

Its all about distraction, like a good magic act, who cares about 750, 000 homeless or the economy or 3000 + dead soldiers in Iraq (not to mention the countless Iraqi dead) as long as I know that the person sitting next to me on the subway may be a terrorist and what Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are up to.

Don't rock the boat... Everything is just fine and whatever you do, don’t touch the water – it’s poisonous.

Just my opinion mind you…

lol. Sounds a lot like UK media reporting except we have a massive chunk of "This place is going to hell in a handcart. MOVE TO AUSTRALIA NOW" type reporting:

EDUCATION: Apparently it's a wonder I can even read and write.
NHS: Stay in an NHS hospital after breaking so much as a fingernail and you'll end up dying in a rat infested ward with MRSA. And that's if you're lucky- apparently most people end up in trolleys in a corridor.
IMMIGRATION: With the infamous 'Migrant A Minute' situation surely it's only a matter of time before we end up sinking?
EMMIGRATION: Millions of people are moving to Australia/New Zealand/Canada where you can leave your doors unlocked at night while you go for stroll at 3am to chat to the nice friendly locals who aren't at all like the evil juvenile hoodie chavs that plague every British street corner. With so many people leaving surely it's only a matter of time before we end up floating off into the Atlantic?
ENVIRONMENT: Apparently we're crumbling away into the sea. By the year 3090 the UK will be reduced to just Slough. (BTW, I loved the way that when they showed that map on the news of what the UK would look like in 2040 there appeared to be a direct line of water from Scarborough till it devoured my house then it stops. I'm moving next door as a precaution :grumpy:)
THE HOME OFFICE: :lmao: I won't even attempt to make a joke of that one. They're doing it for themselves. :|

:wink:

As far as homelessness goes, it's a huge issue in Europe too. In fact, when I read 750,000 I thought "Is that all?". Don't get me wrong, 750,000 is still 750,000 too many but when you're faced with examples of homelessness every day here it seems like a very low figure for a nation that's got, what, about 5 times the population of the UK?

The big question is though, what should be done? What do you expect/want the American government to do to tackle the issue of homelessness in terms of active and practical policies?
 
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MrsSpringsteen said:
I think the number of homeless certainly is MUCH higher. People don't want to face that it could happen to them, so they want to blame people for being in that situation and call them lazy and other things.

This is very true. I was alarmed to hear even some of my students say they walk fast and ignore a homeless person when they see them, or that homeless people scare them.

Homelessness has been something that has been dehumanized, I think, probably because of fear, like you said. A lot of people don't take the time to understand this issue, so they just come up with all sorts of assumptions i.e. lazy, drug addicts, etc.

I remember this one time, I was with a friend, and this one homeless man in particular asked for some money. So I gave him some cash. My friend was all mad at me and said "he is just gonna spend it on booze!" I said "how is that any different than what I was gonna spend it on?!" Yes, we were on our way to a bar. I still can't understand how my friend assumed she was better than the homeless man.

:( a lot of them remain homeless because of these invisible barriers set by society. really, how many people are gonna accept a job application with no address? I talked to this one guy who was had been trying for part-time jobs, and was refused each one, and he was convinced it was because he was homeless, and people didn't want to give him a chance.

how do we help them when we don't want to help them?
 
That does seem like a low number. People have all sorts of stereotypes about the homeless--lazy, drug addicts, etc, etc.....and worry about the effects they'll have on their businesses. We have so far to go as far as actually getting these people off the streets and into jobs so they won't be homeless.
 
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