e are poor but also why their poverty takes the distinctive form of having nowhere to live. Homelessness must be approached as one manifestation of the housing crisis at large." The decisive issue is whether homeless should be understood as something confined to "problem populations" or as a surface manifestation of deeper difficulties. Homeless on the scale we see it today reveals serious deficiencies in the mechanism available in this society to meet basic needs deficiencies that have notably worsened and taken on a distinctive cast in the past few years. Paramount among such deficiencies is the failure to provide sufficient affordable housing. Homeless people are more numerous, visible, and geographically concentrated in cities; so, too, are the institutions designated to serve them. In rural areas, by contrast, we are still at the early stages of understanding how to identify and serve homeless people.With the economical wealth attributed to the name "New York", one would have to wonder why there is a homeless situation at all. The government, both at the federal and municipal levels, is currently working on new spending cuts. These cuts also include spending on welfare, unemployment and social services that are geared towards helping the homeless. Spending cuts can be seen as a necessity to maintain the country economically, but the reason for having a government in the first place is to take care of the people. Although there is no quick and easy answer to solve this difficult problem, New York City has the means to attempt economical ways to research and come up with ideas to solve it. Homeless people are homeless because they do not have a place to live. People are not homeless because there are physically disabled, mentally ill, abusers of alcohol or other drugs, or unemployed. However destructive and relevant these conditions may be, they do not explain homelessness; most physically disable people, most mentally ill or phys...
