A few words about homelessness

Hi, guys! Today I’d like to discuss such a problem as homelessness in RF. Homelessness is quite a controversial topic causing a lot of debates. Usually it is so due to the attitude of people to the homeless. We don’t trust people and think that all of them are alcoholics. Some of us are eager to help such people, some of us avoid them, some of us think that we shouldn’t help them because they are just lazy people unwilling to work. I’m here to express my opinion on this topic. Now you’ll see three most widespread statements about the homeless and my comments on them.

a) Most people who live on the street are there because they don’t want to work

I disagree with this statement as there are a lot of reasons why people get homeless. According to the article sent by my groupmate to the chat, there are people in Russia who were victims of fraud and instead of getting a job they were deprived of their documents and made to beg on the streets. Some of the people were evicted from their apartments by their own siblings. Not many of these people ended up on the street by their will, and there are those who would be glad to work if they had documents.

b) Most people who live on the street have mental problems

I agree with this statement. We discussed it during our classes, we read the stories of the real homeless, we read the articles, and now I understand that it’s true. People either are mentally ill right from the beginning, or they go crazy because of being homeless for a long time. Yes, people may avoid such consequences, but only if they find home. It’s very hard to understand that you don’t have a roof over your head and a bed to sleep on, and of course this fact can’t help affecting a person’s mental health.

c) Society must help the people who have no homes and live on the street

I agree with this statement. It’s tough to live on the street, even though some people got used to it. Such people need help. It’s possible and important to give people food, money or provide them with temporary accommodation such as shelters and nochlezhkas. As one person from the video about the shelter said, ‘We not only save money, we also save lives.’ We may save our money which we pay for taxes and people who need our help.

And now I have a statement for you. It’s up to you whether to agree or disagree with it. It’s much better to buy homeless people some food than give them money.

What do you think?

As we all understand, homelessness is a serious problem, and of course we need to help those who are in a difficult life situation. Among lots of methods to help the homeless which were mentioned in our chat I’d like to draw your attention to offering a haircut or shave and volunteering at a shelter. Such people have a hard time getting such simple services as haircuts, but everyone wants to look decent and have a place where to eat and sleep. We may help them. We may decline the level of homelessness in the country.