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Where Has Our Compassion Gone for Fellow Americans?

Writer: Ronan NauertRonan Nauert
Jan 154 min read

Cities around the country and the world have seen a post-pandemic explosion in homelessness. My city, Portland, has been hit especially hard by the crisis. Take a walk through Downtown Portland and you will see lines of tents, people sleeping on the ground, and needles scattered on the sidewalk. 


For Portlanders, this has rattled our sense of who we are. The city known for its progressive policies and alternative style is looking inward, questioning the values that have made us well-known.


While Portland did not shift right in the Presidential Election like other liberal cities that have struggled with homelessness like Los Angeles, New York City, and more, Portland has now implemented a ban on street camping, and in the most recent elections, ousted it’s incumbent progressive District Attorney, instead electing a tough-on-crime alternative.


But, as I mentioned, Portland isn’t the only major city struggling with homelessness, and we have seen similar discontent with progressive policies in other major cities, with many shifting significantly to the right in the 2024 election. This is all to say that homelessness has become not just a major problem for cities, but also for voters. 


Unfortunately, many Americans who find themselves frustrated by this crisis don’t understand the various factors that lead to homelessness. Here are some of the major factors that can lead to homelessness and what we may be able to do to fix them:


Drug Use


Drug use is often one of the most prominent factors we think of when it comes to homelessness, and the two do seem to go hand in hand (for the most part). A survey of homeless people in the United States found that 2/3 had a history of substance use.


To combat drug abuse, there are usually two schools of thought: one says that America needs harsher penalties for users and the other says it is better if we have users go into treatment instead of prison. As detailed in a previous article, I don’t think either is correct. Both seem to have failed. 


But, if we recognize that each person is different and have a prison sentence with the option for an offender to go through treatment, we can make real progress. Furthermore, full funding for rehabilitation centers could make a significant difference in this crisis.


Now, all of this could help people who already abuse drugs, but then the question becomes what do we do to stop people from doing drugs in the first place?


This question is harder to answer, and there is no complete answer. But, there are some things that we can do. First of all, the US government can take action to interrupt the trade of illegal drugs by enhancing security at the border and ports. Secondly, we can work to combat the kinds of things that often trigger illicit drug use, such as poverty, societal pressure (especially for teens), and sexual violence.


Housing


America’s housing crisis has certainly been a root cause of America’s homelessness problem. After the pandemic, we have seen a rapid rise in the cost of housing, which has been long in the making in the United States. 


As detailed in a previous article, I believe that to solve our housing crisis we need to stop “suburban sprawl” and rapidly start to increase density in American cities. In liberal states like California and New York, Democratic politicians have taken actions that are in the interest of suburban residents at the cost of voters. This ignorance now will not just hurt residents of their states but could have serious consequences for the Democratic Party’s future. 


So, what to do is clear. Deregulate the housing market, lower costs, strengthen economic growth, and win back voter’s trust. 


Mental Health


Another serious contributor to America’s homelessness problem is what sometimes seems to be a uniquely American problem: our mental health crisis.


Homeless people are 4 times more likely than the average person to have a severe mental illness. For me, this is a clear result of a justice system that has treated mental illness as a crime, instead of the public health problem it is.  


In this cycle, people who ended up in prison instead of getting the care they needed re-enter the world unable to get a job and unable to qualify for housing, which, all too often ends up with them living on the streets. 


To fix our mental health system, we need to work on diagnosing mental illness earlier in life and offering real support for people with serious mental illnesses. 


Incarceration 


As alluded to above,  another serious cause of America’s housing problem is our broken incarceration system. In this system, we have focused so intently on punishment with little focus on rehabilitating the prisoners when they re-enter the world.


Not only do these people reenter the world without the proper skills to get a job, but even if someone who was formerly incarcerated wanted a job or had the money to buy a house, they often get rejected simply because of their criminal record. So, many have little option except to live on the street, where many end up re-offending and entering prison once again.


As we can imagine, this system has produced real-world problems, with the formerly incarcerated almost 10 times more likely to be homeless. Unfortunately, making the reforms necessary to the justice system is often faced with attacks after fearmongering campaigns, but it does not have to be this way. We can fix our incarceration system.



These are four out of so many other factors that influence homelessness, and each homeless person has a different story. But, what I hope readers can take away from this is that homelessness is a complex problem and the fix is not simple. 


But, the United States has long been a country of innovation, and a country of doing what was once impossible. So, like many challenges we have faced before, we can fix this crisis, but only with some hard work and compassion for our fellow Americans who are passing days suffering on our streets.



Photo Credit:

[1]- Julia Reihs / KUT News

[2]- Timur Weber

Sources:


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