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VOICE ONE:
No one knows exactly how many Americans do not have a permanentplace to live. This homelessness continues although many efforts arebeing made to end it. I’m Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. The problem of homeless people is our reporttoday on the VOA Special English program, THIS IS AMERICA.
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VOICE ONE:
Homelessness continues to be one of the most important problemsfacing America. The most recent national population study said aboutone-hundred-seventy-thousand people do not have a place to live. Butsome experts say about two-million people in the United States haveno homes. They say officials who count the population cannot findmany people who live on the streets. Experts say homelessness is atemporary crisis for most people. But it is a continuing conditionfor others.
VOICE TWO:
The United States Conference of Mayors is an organization seekingto improve community life. The group recently studied twenty-fivecities. It released a report last month. The study said eighteen ofthe cities reported an increased number of requests by homelesspeople for places to stay during the past year. These requests foremergency shelter increased an average of nineteen percent. This wasthe largest increase in ten years.
Officials in all of the cities said they expected that requestsfor emergency shelter and food assistance will increase again duringthis year. The amount of time people spent without a home alsoincreased last year in most of the cities.
The study showed that the largest groups of homeless people aresingle men and families with children. A very small percentage areyoung people who have run away from home.
VOICE ONE:
Homeless people living on the streets suffer from the heat, cold,hunger and the threat of crime. In Chicago, Illinois, for example, anumber of homeless people have frozen to death in the city’s poorestareas over the years.
Government and social welfare experts have been trying for yearsto solve the problem of homelessness. But as experts dispute how todo this, the crisis grows larger. For example, the homelesspopulation of San Francisco, California has increased by more thanthirty-three percent in the past two years. San Francisco has morethan seven-thousand people with no place to live.
VOICE TWO:
On the opposite coast, New York City also has a large homelesspopulation. Each winter officials must deal with the risk of many ofthem freezing to death. The city responded to such a crisis twoyears ago.
Officials launched an emergency housing program. Its goal was toprovide homeless families with temporary living space in apartmentbuildings. But the problem grew. Temporary living space becamelong-term living space.
About twenty-five percent of New York City’s homeless familiesnow live in these apartments. A number of the buildings haveconditions that threaten safety. New York has spent millions ofdollars on the program. Yet most of its homeless families still haveno place to escape from the cold.
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VOICE ONE:
Most experts say Americans are homeless for a number of reasons.One reason is economics. The nation’s economy is not growing. At thesame time, housing costs are high. Many workers have lost their jobsand cannot find new jobs.
However, many homeless people do have jobs. The study by theConference of Mayors found that more than twenty percent of homelesspeople had jobs. But these people did not earn enough money to payfor housing. Or they had to spend all their money on medicaltreatment for AIDS or other diseases.
Experts say some people are homeless by choice. They choose tolive outside normal social groups. These people usually have lostconnections with their family and friends. Many suffer from mentalillness. Or, they may be dependent on alcohol or drugs.
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VOICE TWO:
Homelessness in America began to develop into a widespreadproblem in the nineteen-seventies. That was when health officials inmany states decided to move about four-hundred-thousand patientssuffering from mental illness out of hospitals.
Many of these people could not care for themselves without help.Many could not get or keep a job. And there were not enough localmental health programs to help them. Soon many former mentalpatients were living on the streets. The federal government hasestimated that almost forty percent of homeless adults show signs ofserious mental problems.
VOICE ONE:
Today, many private groups work to help homeless people. Forexample, a religious organization called the Salvation Army operatesthroughout the nation. It offers food and many services. It hasemergency shelters that provide overnight sleeping space for manypeople in need.
Communities and other private social agencies also offer thesekinds of shelters. However, some homeless people refuse to spend thenight in shelters. Some people do not want to obey the shelterrules. Others are afraid they will get diseases in the shelters.Still other people stay out of shelters because they fear beingrobbed or attacked. Some homeless people think it is safer to liveon the streets. However, in recent years, many people who live onthe streets have been attacked and killed.
VOICE TWO:
Activist groups say homeless people are victims of crime far moreoften than they cause crime. Many members of the public, however,fear the homeless. They do not want to have homeless people nearthem. They say these people are dirty and they smell bad. They sayhomeless people often ask them for money and then insult or threatenthem if they refuse.
Some communities traditionally have shown concern for thehomeless. But some of these cities are beginning to limit or rejectthe homeless.
For example, the city of Santa Monica, California has had afriendly policy toward the homeless. But recently the communityenacted two new laws aimed at limiting the presence of homelesspeople. Many Santa Monica citizens said the community was becoming acenter for thousands of people they could not care for.
Reports from around the nation say Santa Monica is not alone inpassing or strengthening measures against the homeless. Mediareports say the growing number of homeless in many areas hasaffected other Americans’ feelings toward them. Many people areshowing less sympathy for the homeless than in the past.
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VOICE ONE:
Experts say there may be about ten-thousand homeless people inthe nation’s capital. One old woman said she had to leave her homewhen she could not make the payments. She spends her time pushing acart with wheels around the streets of Washington, D-C. This cartholds old clothes, many paper containers and a toy animal.
The old woman says that when she lost her home, she losteverything important to her in life.
Anthony Williams is the mayor of Washington, D-C. He said a majoreffort is needed to solve this problem. The effort must includeadditional federal money for housing, job training, drug treatmentand mental health services. He said many agencies and organizationsmust work together to help homeless people improve their lives.
VOICE TWO:
The United States Conference of Mayors recently called for actionby the Bush Administration, Congress, state and local governments,private organizations and all Americans. The mayors called onCongress to increase aid to the homeless as part of an effort to endhomelessness within ten years.
They called on Congress and the Administration to enact anational housing program which would provide jobs for tens ofthousands of people. They called on Congress to improve federalanti-hunger programs. And they urged all Americans to give theirtime, money and food to help fight hunger and homelessness.
The mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, Thomas Menino, said theworld’s richest and most powerful nation must find a way to meet theneeds of all its people.
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VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by LawanDavis. I’m Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another reportabout life in the United States on the VOA Special English program,THIS IS AMERICA.