The Issue Of Homelessness Is Not A New Issue - 1432 Words

The issue of homelessness in remains an issue that is rarely acknowledged or discussed. Governments all around the world boast of all the work they are doing for their country, bringing up GDP, employment rate and promising even more. However, when the issue of homelessness is brought up, governments shy away, pretending that it is barely an issue in the country. Unfortunately, Canada is one of those countries. A study done in 2014 on the issue of homelessness in Canada found that approximately â€Å"235, 000 Canadians will experience homelessness in a year, with over 35, 000 Canadians homeless on any given night.† (Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, 5) The issue of homelessness is not a new issue; however, this issue needs to be†¦show more content†¦However, affordable housing needs money. For not only governments, but people in all sorts of positions, there exists a hesitance to put money into a situation in which one does not immediately benefit. Government†™s are more willing to spend millions on fighter aircrafts, for example, than invest into their own people. Such behavior begs the question of what the priority of the government is. Ironically, ignoring the homelessness issue in Canada â€Å"costs the Canadian economy over $7 billion per year.† (Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, 6) The Canadian Government has invested in the issue of homelessness, increasing the number of temporary shelters, investing in longer hospital stay, emergency healthcare and various other programs to aid in this issue. However, the rate of homelessness continues to grow; this implies that what has been done is simply not enough. Temporary shelters, similar to their name, are temporary. A homeless person, temporarily, has a place to sleep; however, temporarily does not solve the issue of homelessness. Programs like temporary shelters and emergency healthcare are costing the Government billions each year and not aiding in the fight to end home lessness. For many Canadians a large portion of their income goes towards rent, in fact â€Å"nearly 1 in 5 households experience extreme housing affordability problems, meaning they have low incomes and have to spend