Persuasive Essay On Homelessness

A Never-ending Crisis

Homelessness has continuously been a significant and recurring struggle within society. Although many cities worldwide have attempted to combat this problem, the majority are unsuccessful. Through its 10-year plan launched in 2008, the city of Calgary tried to eradicate this complex issue. They made minimal progress, and their goal was not met. Edmonton also attempted to implement a 10-year plan to minimize its homeless population, which is unproven to be successful as of yet. These cities both have similarities in terms of demographics and population. Therefore, they can be compared to some extent when analyzing their attempts to solve homelessness. To fully understand the scope of this topic, it is essential to look

Research shows that approximately 71 percent of Calgarians in need are sheltered, meaning they are using these provided resources; in contrast, the remaining 29 percent are on the streets, in hospitals, facilities, or other areas deemed as unsheltered (Franklin, 2023, para. 6). The fact that despite the resources implemented, 29 percent of the homeless population remains unsheltered proves that the solutions the city has generated are not addressing all of the homeless population. For a city to declare that it will end homelessness, the solutions should target more than 71 percent of the homeless population. Additionally, the research conducted through the PiT revealed that 30.1 percent of homeless people in Calgary are indigenous, with the dominant age group between 25-64 (Franklin, 2023, para. 8). Compared to other cities in Canada and their homeless populations, Calgary comes in as the second highest, closely followed by Vancouver and Edmonton (Gulliver-Garcia, 2014, para. 5). This is an urgent problem, as the amount of people at risk is drastically larger than the number of emergency shelters available in these cities (Gulliver-Garcia, 2014, para. 5). Clearly something needs to change in terms of strategy to combat the homelessness crisis

With that being said, after looking at the two cities' attempts to end this problem and their minimal success, it is evident that merely planning to lessen the number of homeless people in a city is not enough. These plans have a lot in common; use data and technology to look into the problem, try and add some preventative measures, housing, and the claim that they will end homelessness. It all sounds the same. While it may have periodically been effective, they are not genuinely getting to the root of the issues. The repetition of this idea to end a complex problem in its entirety feels dismissive compared to the plans they have created. The cost of living in many cities is through the roof as of late, which will likely push many people to turn to unhealthy habits due to plummeting mental health due to stress. Even without addiction, the expectation of people being able to withstand the constant increase in price to pay for the basic necessities in a post-pandemic economy is absurd and not entirely achievable. The world is in a state where many cannot provide for themselves anymore, and it is important to realize that the problem is much deeper than it appears. We as a society are in a vicious cycle where the ‘solutions’ being adopted are beginning to sound like a broken record. The solution is not to create an unattainable ambitious plan with a false promise; the solution is to be