The problem received this week a “media air” when important media such as The New York Times echoed shots against homeless people living on the streets of New York and Washington, the federal capital. At least five men were shot and two of them died.
These shots occurred at a distressing moment for the thousands of individuals who lack a home in the city of skyscrapers, who, among other problems, face their expulsion from the subway networks that sheltered their bodies on cold nights.
Mayor Eric Adams’ decision pushed many people out onto the streets who refuse to stay in the city’s collective shelters, similar to barracks, considering them riddled with crime and interpersonal conflicts.
Throughout the United States, conservative figures assure that there are around 600,000 homeless people without the minimum conditions to live, especially Latinos and blacks, although 20 percent of those who find themselves in that situation are white.
This phenomenon has increased in recent years due to Covid-19 and high housing prices.
California heads the list of states with the highest number of homeless, with 161 thousand 548 -28 percent of the national total-; It is followed by New York (91,271), Texas (27,229) and Florida (27,087), which account for more than half.
One in five homeless people lives in the Big Apple or Los Angeles, cities that become the theater of American misery in its crudest face.
The causes are found in the systemic crisis increased by the increase in drug use, the long-term effects of the economic crisis and also the high rental prices.
The homeless are the most vivid example that the United States, “the land of opportunity,” also emulates for being the champion of inequality, according to a report by Alston in December 2017.
Regarding the aforementioned problem in particular, the special rapporteur considered that the official figures are lower than the real ones. In addition, he criticized the “criminalization” of poverty, with arrests for minor crimes for those living on the streets.
(Taken from Orb)
