Homelessness is a temporary condition that people fall into when they cannot afford to pay for a place to live, or when their current home is unsafe or unstable. Factors that contribute to homelessness include lack of affordable housing, lack of preventative services to keep people from losing their housing, and inadequate treatment programs for those suffering from substance abuse and mental illness. Homelessness is very common in large cities versus smaller communities in the country. Kozol argues that homelessness has no prejudice and people who are homeless are susceptible to many dangers.
Kozol explains that homelessness has no prejudice. Race, age, sex, nationality, even class status does not matter, anyone can be homeless. Homelessness claims more and more people every year in the U.S. Being homeless is not something you strive for, it is something that unfortunately happen. An encounter with Richard Lazarus, an educated, thirty-six-year-old …show more content…
People who are homeless are subject to cruel treatment from other persons and government officials. They are treated badly because they cannot take care of themselves and others see homeless people as lazy and a pity case. At Penn Station, homeless women are denied use of the bathroom. In June of 1985, Amtrak officials issued this directive to police: “It is the policy of Amtrak to not allow the homeless and undesirables to remain … Officers are encouraged to eject all undesirables” (Kozol277). Women are denied their most basic right because they are homeless. This is cruel in many ways because homeless women cannot use public bathrooms although they are the public. “Where do these women defecate? How do they bathe? What will we do when, in her physical distress, a woman finally disrobes and urinates on the floor?” (Kozol 278). These women are pushed to their limit and will be left with no other choice than to become the animal society sees her
Kozol explains that homelessness has no prejudice. Race, age, sex, nationality, even class status does not matter, anyone can be homeless. Homelessness claims more and more people every year in the U.S. Being homeless is not something you strive for, it is something that unfortunately happen. An encounter with Richard Lazarus, an educated, thirty-six-year-old …show more content…
People who are homeless are subject to cruel treatment from other persons and government officials. They are treated badly because they cannot take care of themselves and others see homeless people as lazy and a pity case. At Penn Station, homeless women are denied use of the bathroom. In June of 1985, Amtrak officials issued this directive to police: “It is the policy of Amtrak to not allow the homeless and undesirables to remain … Officers are encouraged to eject all undesirables” (Kozol277). Women are denied their most basic right because they are homeless. This is cruel in many ways because homeless women cannot use public bathrooms although they are the public. “Where do these women defecate? How do they bathe? What will we do when, in her physical distress, a woman finally disrobes and urinates on the floor?” (Kozol 278). These women are pushed to their limit and will be left with no other choice than to become the animal society sees her