Common Misconceptions about Homeless People

"Misconceptions about Homeless People”

People who sit in the corner of streets, hold sign, and ask for food or money. All of these images represent homelessness. Sometimes I give them money, and sometimes I ignore them depending on the situations. I chose “Common Misconceptions about Homeless People” as my topic because I really want to understand about them how they became homeless. There are many different causes for homelessness in the world. Mostly, they are many negative opinions of bad stereotypes of homeless people. For examples, they need only your money, they are criminals, they are poor, they may not have education, they are dirty, they are drug addicts and alcoholics, and they are all too lazy to work.

Examples of bad stereotypes of homeless people, first they are all criminals. This stereotype is one of the most harmful because it creates an unreasonable fear of homeless people. Some of them do not have shelter to sleep. That is why they are sleeping on the street. Second, they are all drug addicts and winos. Forget about the idea that all people who have lost their homes. Some of them are drug addicted criminals. This is a harmful stereotype, but some of them are sick, and have mental illness not from drugs. Last, they are too lazy to work. Those with jobs are often underemployed or don't earn enough to afford rent or to qualify to rent. Another issue is that even if a person works full time, he or she may earn enough to afford an apartment, but find themselves unable to rent one because of the income requirements. Otherwise, many of these bad stereotypes make other people or new generation who would like to help unwilling to help people because they think they do not deserve it. Relate to the topic, we cannot judge people by their appearance as simple as we cannot judge a book by its cover.

Nowadays, homelessness is a country wide issue, it doesn’t matter what city or town you visit in this country, at some point you will see homeless people. People usually think of homeless people always need money or food, but people who are helping them such as many organizations know that homeless people are about so much more than housing or shelter. Homeless people needs advice about having a better life, needing support from friends, needing praise from family, and needing respect from society. I think people in Portland need to help homeless people more than taking them to somewhere else to make the city look better.