Whenever we think of homelessness and low-income families, we usually associate it with 3rd world nations such as Africa and Asia. One would never think that poverty could affect a country such as United States, but in recent years more and more people are being forced onto the streets.

Here in New York, despite obvious signs of wealth, an alarming number of people are homeless and are out of jobs. According to a November 28, 2002 article in the New York Post, homelessness is on the rise with people taking up residence on city sidewalks, parks and train stations. The issue of homelessness is of great importance to us all. Crime rates usually tend to rise when people are unemployed and are forced onto the streets. This all leads us to ask one question: What are our politicians doing to alleviate this problem?

To give an understanding of the problem, we must first look at the possible causes of it. One major cause of homelessness and unemployment is due to the dwindling stature of our economy. After September 11th, many companies fired employees and staff. Other companies closed down completely due to scandals by the CEO’s. Two major corporations that went corrupt were Enron and MCI WorldCom. Other contributing factors are lack of affordable housing, a situation according to the department of Housing and Urban Development, has reached crisis proportions and substance abuse such as drugs and alcohol. Regardless to the fact as what causes homelessness, we must find a solution to this ever-rising problem. It is very tragic when we hear about a homeless person threatening a civilian’s life, or of a person being attacked and pushed onto train tracks. On the other hand, it is very disturbing to hear of a homeless person being found dead due to negligence.

In order to find out how my representatives felt and stood on this issue, I had to first find out who my representatives were. I was easily able to obtain that information through www.nypirg.org. My five representatives are as follows:

1. New York City Council District 20 – John Liu

2. New York Assembly District 25 – Brian M. McLaughlin

3. New York Senate District 11 – Frank Padavan

4. US House District 5 – Gary L. Ackerman.

5. US Senator – Hillary Rodham Clinton

The first person I made contact with was Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. This was achieved through the Internet. I went to www.google.com and typed Hillary Rodham Clinton and homelessness in the search box. I got information from a New York Times article called “Hillary Clinton Attacks Arrests of the Homeless.” This article was dated December 1, 1999. In it, Hillary Clinton criticizes former Mayor Rudolph Giulani’s policy of arresting homeless people who sleep on the streets and refuse to move along or accept city services. She states that “Our political leaders must be judged on how they treat everyone, including the least fortunate, do we solve problems or simply push them away, politicize and criminalize them?” She goes on to state that “Let me be absolutely clear, breaking up families that are homeless is wrong.” She also calls for more federal funds for low income housing in New York City and to secure more money