Homelessness
Sarah Pratt A5/6
What is Homelessness?
Homelessness is a temporary condition that people fall into when they cannot afford to pay for a place to live, or when their current home is unsafe or unstable. In the past, the homeless typically were single men and women who lived on the street or in shelters; many were mentally ill, drug addicts, or both.
Homelessness in Bristol (locally)
- In the last two years charities have seen a sharp rise in the number of people sleeping in harsh conditions.
- Over a four-year period council spending on services preventing homelessness will be cut by around forty percent.
- Already, Bristol City Council’s budgets for preventing homelessness have been reduced by twenty percent from 2011-2015.
What I did to help (locally)
What I did to help homelessness was a food drive in Plainville, CT. I decided to do a food drive in Plainville because I wanted to see how other towns in Connecticut are handling this issue. There are 3 guys who set up this food drive and run it for one full week, they sleep in the truck where the food is kept.
Plainville Food Pantry
The list of foods the pantry collected
The truck before the food was put in
The grocery store I volunteered at
Homelessness on the State level
- Connecticut has the 6th highest housing cost in the nation.
- More than 4,500 people are homeless every night in Connecticut and nearly one in five are children are involved.
What's being done to help
- The Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness represents more than 75 members who share the goal of ending homelessness. They provide a voice for homeless people across America.