What is homelessness?

Homelessness doesnt always mean you dont have a house, some people have to stay with others. Most people think that homelessness is something that happens because people can't pay their bills because they dont have a job, and the solution is to get a job but its never that easy. Yes it is a reason people go homeless but its not the only. Most people who go homeless do have a job but with the rising cost of food its tricky to maintain having a house and having enough to eat, and their only one slip away from losing one of those. They could also lose their house from a natural disaster and they dont have insurance that covers the damage. Children sometimes will run away if they don’t feel safe. One of the many reasons people can go homeless is inflation, housing crisis and not being paid enough to pay your bills. When I was researching it was one reasons that popped up the most. A lot of people are on the edge of going homeless and are homeless because the price of food is just a bit too high. As well as the price to rent or buy a house. To most people all it takes to go homeless is one slip or the price of their rent going up just a little too much. Which is sad, because you can't control the price of food or your rent. It doesnt help that most people probably dont get paid enough to balance both food and having a house to live in. Natural disasters are out of anyone's control. Most people who own their own house would have insurance on it, but not everyone has insurance on their house, and not every insurance covers natural disasters like floods and wildfires. If someones house gets flooded from a flood their insurance might not cover that, and most times its not safe for them to live there because it would start to mold which is just not safe, and it always costs a lot to fix anything on a house and fixing a whole basement or more would be a lot. If you dont have enough money you might have to go live with a friend or a relative. With wildfires its even worse because if your house caught on fire that would be it. No more houses. And it costs so much just to rent a house and it would be so much more money to buy a house. With hurricanes your roof could blow off or in some of the worse ones your whole house could blow away. According to the fred victor website 1 in every 7 children are homeless in Canada. Which is a lot of children. One of the worst things is seeing young children living on the streets. I've never seen a child on the streets, but I like to think that because if a child runs away they would be able to get in contact with another family member. Sadly that's not always the case. Younger children who run away might not have a phone to call people, and most of the time wouldn't have any money to buy stuff. It makes me sad to think about the fact that there are children on the streets begging for money, and its sad that children have to run away from home in the first place. There are so many reasons that a child would make the decision to run away. One of the reasons that happens the most is some form of abuse. Children can also run away if they dont feel safe at their house. Sometimes parents can kick their child out of their house. Or children could leave because their parents didnt accept them for being part of the LGBTQIA+ community. As you see, the “just getting a job” isn't always the solution. There are so many different ways that some people can become homeless and so many ways to stop people from going homeless in the first place. It means a lot to me that I have a house and I think it would mean a lot to someone who is homeless to have a house. I know that this essay is talking about what homelessness is but I think that's more important than talking about what a house means to me.

Alice

Grade 6

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

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