oday, we are witnessing events unseen since one of our nation’s darkest hours. This year                    553,742 people were homeless on a given night, increasing the population rates by .07% from            last year. This astonishing statistic marks the first rise in America’s homeless population since the Great Recession. Cue eyebrow raise and wide blank stare. Yeah, it's a big deal. The stocks are doing well, Wall Street is getting its "fair" share, and the economy seems to be in a good place.

 

This booming economy—most notably a rise in housing costs—is actually the mechanism that is increasing homelessness in America. Take the west coast for example. The amount of money for a median one-bedroom apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area is considerably higher than the equivalent in New York City. And it isn't that people aren't employed. No, people are employed all right, but they simply cannot afford a place to live.  

 

Sadly, homelessness is not going to disappear, no matter how hard we try to suppress it, no matter how frequently we avert our eyes when we see a homeless person asking for help, no matter how much we complain when something smells on the subway and we realize it is someone without the means to properly tend to their own hygiene. In fact, just the opposite holds true: homelessness is on the rise. And the scariest part is the economic status quo in America (I call it indifference) isn’t just allowing for the increase in homelessness, it's exacerbating it. 

 

So I ask—do not avert your eyes now. Continue to learn about the nuances and complexities of homelessness. Continue to push yourself. Continue to ask challenging questions.