Poverty and Kids

In the United Stated, poverty and homelessness are the most serious issue all over the major cities. According to the Institute for Children and Poverty, there were an estimated 1. 35 million children were possible to undergo homelessness over the year of 2004. In the reading “Still Hungry, Still Homeless”, the authors use the data to express their concern of homelessness.

On the other hand, Anna Quindlen’s article “Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Kids” uses a different way with different technique, which is more efficient, majorly discusses the problems of homeless children, from the cause to the effect.In “Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Kids” Anna Quindlen illustrates that there is a large group of people living in a poor circumstance with examples. From the examples of Sharanda, Edna and Rosie, their families are anxious about finding a place to live. Children who live in those families are very likely to drop out of school or be hospitalized. Although there are shelters or programs like Section 8 to help homelessness and family with low income, it seems like it still isn’t affordable for them. The author compares the homelessness with police officers, teachers and casino employees, who also aren’t able to afford to live near where they work.She also cites a report which found that a third of homeless family had their subsidy cut or trimmed.

As a result of that, more and more mothers with kids become homelessness. Quindlen emphasizes that the problems are serious because there are hundreds of thousands of these families which need help in America. In most people’s image, homeless people are the men holding “alcohol research” cardboard on the street, are the group of people that usually got more attraction. But Quindlen differentiate between them and homeless families.She focuses on the affect that homeless children may receive, and she sympathizes with the children who “spend your childhood drifting from on e strange bed to another” (360). In the beginning of the articles, two authors use different approaches to demonstrate the topics. Quindlen use a story mode to broach the subject of the boom market of homelessness in the beginning of the article.

She describes one situation where six people live together in a master-size room. There are 5 children who go to daycare or school daily and a mother who is responsible for her 3 kids.The impressive description naturally draws readers’ attention of the boom in homelessness and concerns about future of our generations. However, in “Still hungry, still homeless”, the author indicates statistical data to unfold the problem – homelessness still a challenge in America. “Requests for emergency food assistance jumped by 17 percent – the second highest rate of increase since 1992”, according to author’s point of view, the most proximate cause of homelessness in America is poverty. Many Americans are still living paycheck to paycheck.A low minimal wage, a high living condition standard, tax raise and welfare cuts are all the factors that directly affect low income Americans getting poorer and poorer.

Two authors use reverse directions to conduct the same problem – poverty and homelessness. There is an undeniable connection between poverty and homelessness. In “Still Hungry, Still Homeless”, author focuses on the cause of homelessness – poverty. Employment and wages are an essential part of determining a family poverty rate. On the other hand, Quindlen analyses the influences of poverty in her article.She believes that homelessness would bring a hopeless future to our next generation. There is a strong correlation between poverty and educational attainment in a family.

“National Low Income Housing Coalition calculated that the hourly income necessary to afford the average two-bedroom apartment was around $12”, less than one-third people in the country earn more than this. As we all know, the higher income a family can earn, the higher education can be provided to their children. Conversely, the poor family tends to have less income, to support their children to have more education opportunity.