Homelessness

|     |Miranda Bowman                                                                                         |
|     |Comp II T- Th 7pm                                                                                       |
|     |July 17, 2008                                                                                           |
|     |Persuasion Essay                                                                                       |
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|     |Homelessness In Our Nation                                                                             |
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|     |Homelessness is not new to our nation, and it has greatly increased over the past ten years. (Hombs,   |
|     |1-4) For growing numbers of people, work provides little, if any, protection against homelessness. Low |
|     |national unemployment levels do not mean that all working people are well-off. (Blau, 21-24) What is   |
|     |homelessness? According to the definition stated by Stewart B. McKinney, for purposes of the 1987       |
|     |McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, “a homeless person (homelessness) is one who lacks a fixed permanent |
|     |nighttime residence, or whose nighttime residence is a temporary shelter, welfare hotel, or any public |
|     |or private place not designed as sleeping accommodations for human beings.” (Blau, 8) A rather         |
|     |deceptive definition when one considers the fact that homelessness is not a natural state, but one     |
|     |created and maintained by political agendas. Our government is not doing all that it can to combat our |
|     |nation’s homelessness. In 1987, the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act was put into law. (Hombs, 68-83)   |
|     |However, our government has moved away from the need to address the causes of...