Stuart Bykofsky's Solution To Homeless People

As the number of people living in poverty increases every year, the need for assistance also increases. According to the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness, the national poverty rate reached 13.2% in 2013. This means that one in seven Americans are at risk of suffering from hunger. The increased cost of living and high unemployment rate force about 3.5 million people to make the streets their home (“Overview). Although everyone living in poverty needs assistance, the general public tends to separate the homeless into groups towards whom they should or should not show compassion. In an article for Newsweek magazine, journalist Stuart Bykofsky divided the homeless into three groups: “(1) the economically distressed, who

However, the variety of homeless people cannot be divided into three general groups. Not all homeless people are unemployed, drug-addicted, or mentally ill. If Bykofsky’s solution to his three groups of homeless people were adopted, there would still be countless people in the streets. There are many other groups of homeless people. For example, many of the homeless are teenagers who are runaway or abandoned children. With a lack of experience, these teenagers cannot compete with experienced workers who are also searching for jobs. There are also several, like the old man in the photo, who cannot compete with young, qualified graduates. Additionally, there are also the physically disabled homeless. These people include the blind and deaf, the paraplegic, or those with a chronic illness (67). Inexperienced teenagers, old people, and the physically disabled are all victims of circumstance and do not fit any of Bykofsky’s groups. Although the man in the Fashion Week photo is homeless, he cannot be categorized into any of Bykofsky’s groups. One cannot say that he is mentally ill or addicted to drugs just by looking at