Homeless Shelters: Homelessness In The United States

< Homeless Shelters

Almost everyone can relate to seeing them standing on the median when stopped at a red light or when walking down a street in an urban area tucked away in the corner of an alley. What I am referring to is the homeless, not just those chronically homeless either: families – especially in the economy we are in right now –are being foreclosed on and among other people may find themselves temporarily displaced. Homelessness has been a major issue in the United States that has gone largely unnoticed and has been on a solid upward rise for the last decade or so. Homelessness demeans people and makes those who are without shelter far more likely to be in danger of exposure to the elements, disease and more recently a rise
There are a number of environmental concerns with golf; the golf courses in the United States use more than 2.5 billion gallons of water daily, most of it fresh water (De Vera, Ellalyn B). Water is a becoming a scarcity and being one of the most vital necessities needed to survive should be looked on upon as a major concern. Golf courses also introduce many pesticides into the ecosystem in order to keep the grass “playing” quality, this coupled with the large amounts of water used translates into a large amount of runoff getting into natural habitats, affecting the wildlife as well as getting into human drinking water supplies. The number of golfers in the United States has dropped from 30 to 26 million with the number of persons golfing more than 25 times a year dropping from 6.9 million to 4.6 from 2000 to 2005 (Vitello, Paul). This would seem to indicate that the number of golfing greens would also be decreasing, yet this is not the case and the numbers of golf courses and clubs have been on a steady rise. The technological jumps in golf equipment also leads to an increase in the size of golf courses: because golf clubs can hit balls further now there is a need to increase the
If homeless shelters were built elsewhere they would take up even more land in addition to the golf courses and golf courses yet to be built, complicating the land preservation issue that the proposed plan solves. This would also leave the issue of the water usage and pollution unsolved and let these acts to continue unmolested. Others may suggest simply not building homeless shelters at all, seeing it as an ineffective solution to homelessness or golf courses. This is simply counter-productive and a sign of indifference towards the situation, the building of the homeless shelters not only helps the homeless, but helps to bolster the economy and helps golfers in the long run by providing incentive to the golf clubs and lodges to perform better. In order to create a solution to the problem people must come together behind a single solution to build momentum and get things accomplished instead of infighting or ignoring the situation. To clarify, if people demand an end to the problem of homelessness and the wastefulness of golf in large numbers this will force the government to at the very least acknowledge the situation; Uniting under a single banner will do just