Part 2: So I Did a Student Survey on Homelessness...

Here is part 2 of my Student Survey on Homelessness. If you have not checked out part 1 of the responses, it's up on my blog!

Question 4: What is your honest opinion of homelessness?

The majority of the responses to this question included confusion about homelessness and its causes and that these unsheltered individuals are less fortunate than most people. A lot of students said that these homeless victims should go to shelters to get help, try to get a job, or try to get back on their feet again. They also mentioned that homelessness is a huge problem in our society and we should do more to stop the issue.

Responses included:

• "My opinion is that they could try to get some minimum wage job and try to make it back on their own feet."

• "Mostly, I think that homelessness is sad. It shows that the government and our communities can't or don't try to help these people. I don't think that homeless people want to be homeless, but they just need some help to get them a plan for how they can get a good job and shelter and food."

• "I think homelessness is, more than anything else, extremely unfair. I don't think the individuals who are homeless have done anything to become homeless; they just either grew up without as much opportunity as they should have had access to or lost something so that they are now placed in that situation. I think a lot of people just attribute homelessness to laziness or poor life decisions, but I don't think that either of these are necessarily the decisions of an individual, but are more just rooted in societal pressures or unequal opportunity."

Question 5: How do you think we can stop homelessness today?

The responses to these questions were extremely thought out and I am inspired by these answers. Many students said that we can help stop homelessness today by giving more time to help, volunteer, and donate to homeless NPO's in our community, creating more housing and shelter space, educating people and younger generations about this issue, instituting Universal Base Income, and so many more ideas!

Responses included:

• "I think a great way people can stop homelessness is by donating money to organizations that know how to help. Groups like Star of Hope or SEARCH are able to help relocate homeless individuals and provide them with whatever services they need."

• "Getting more shelters and people donating more time and money to homeless people."

• "Instituting a Universal Basic Income by diverting funding from current social programs like food stamps this would give money directly to the populous allowing them to choose what to spend it on and since you are taking the money from existing programs it would not increase inflation."

• "giving ppl on the side of the road food/money is not going to stop homelessness, it is just to keep them alive and well for longer. Honestly I think that increasing minimum wage will stop current homelessness, and hiring good, qualified teachers to work at great elementary schools in poor areas will equip the younger generation with the tools they need to get into college and eventually get a good paying job."

• "I think that there need to be more places that homeless people can go to for shelter and mental help (because I think that's a cause of homelessness but I'm not really sure). I also think that non-homeless citizens need more education on how to help homeless people because, as this survey has revealed, I don't really know very much about homelessness in the USA besides my bias and opinion."

• "I think that we could establish a better national insurance that is reliable for people who lose their houses in some sort of accident or disaster. I think that America should provide better care for disabled people or sick people because I think that a lot of the time, people require really expensive medications but don't have the means to pay for it, which could result in homelessness or even death. I think that we could build more soup kitchens in Houston or places where homeless people could get some food. I think Houston could create or strengthen already existing homeless rehabilitation progress that help homeless people get access to housing and a job."