I have grown up in Queens for my entire life of living in New York. I would take the MTA but mostly I would have my parents who were able to drive and take me places. With this “advantage” or some would see it as a “disadvantage”, it was rare to see homeless people. When I did see a homeless person, I would always wonder how is one homeless at such a “mature” or older age. My parents would feel inclined to give them money, even a dollar would put a smile on their faces.

Now that I attend school in the city, the number of homeless people that I see has risen tremendously, whether it’s in the subway or on the streets. This made me think even more, why are so many people homeless? De Blasio wants to cut down homelessness in New York but ironically, the people of New York are reluctant to opening homeless shelters in their communities for selfish reasons such as the market value of their homes would decrease tremendously as homeless shelters are looked upon as a downgrade to a community when all it would do is help give those who are struggling a way to help themselves. However, although homeless shelters would help those on the streets, some of the current shelters that are open make people feel unsafe. Why would anyone want to be in a space where they’re afraid? If something was done to current open shelters to improve the environment, I think there would be an increase in the number of people in the shelters and less on the streets. There are many factors that play a role in the homelessness of New York that need to be looked at and addressed as a whole rather than as if they were disconnected from each other.