Reflection 1: Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?—Reflecting on Our Attitudes Toward Homelessness

In its annual report on homelessness, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) found that "580,466 people experienced homelessness in the United States on a single night in 2020, an increase of 12,751 people, or 2.2 percent, from 2019." It's a tenuous situation now further compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic. The crisis is perhaps most evident in our nation's biggest (and wealthiest) cities, where homelessness has become pervasive. And while many Americans consider homelessness to be a national shame, an increasing number of us are becoming indifferent, even hostile, toward the homeless. In surveys, Americans routinely say they are concerned about people living on the streets, but in practice, suggestions of a homeless shelter in our neighborhoods are often met with NIMBYism. Meanwhile, many cities, at a loss to deal with the epidemic, have fashioned anti-homeless laws, designed to curb the presence or behavior of homeless people. What are your own views of the homeless? Do you engage with the homeless? Do they scare you? Finally, how empathetic or indifferent do you find yourself being toward them?

Cite from at least two of the following:

• "American Nightmare: The Homeless Crisis in San Francisco" (The Sunday Times) 
• "As Seattle's Homeless System Goes Regional, the Future of Tiny House Villages is Uncertain" (Publicola)
  
• "Society is 'Pre-loaded' to Stigmatize Homelessness" (Vice)
  
• "Americans Want to Help the Homeless—As Long as They Don't Get Too Close. This Explains Why" (Washington Post)
• "Rethinking Your Encounters with Homeless People" (Psychology Today)

Required:

• Approximately 1.5 pages
• MLA Style, including parenthetical citation and works cited
  

Due: Thu 9.2-Tue 9.14 (via Canvas)