In a nation as wealthy as the United States, homelessness emerges from much more than simple poverty. Homelessness exists when people do not have safe, stable and suitable places to live. The term “homeless” also describes someone's life as isolated, without the usual connections to family, work, and the wider community. A homeless person might live in abandoned buildings, areas under bridges, bus stations, cheap hotels, emergency shelters, streets, or even subways or trams. The real questions are: What is the impact of homelessness on our society? What is being done to address homelessness in our community? Why can't people help them? What do these numbers tell us? Wealthy communities need to lend a helping hand to those who are less fortunate. Unfortunately, however, many of them cannot take even a minute of their "busy" lives to lend a hand; clearly greed and selfishness have taken over. It pains me to see people suffer while others enjoy the luxuries of life. Volunteer work, advocacy efforts, financial or material contributions, and ongoing self-education are all important and necessary as we work toward a solution. The problem of homelessness in the United States is caused by mental illness and is the result of a lack of government services and in this case the problem of homelessness will not disappear without support services to help people in need. “The persistent spectacle of homelessness on American streets is a continuing indictment of our collective failure to make the basic ingredients of civil society accessible to all citizens.” (William R. Breakey, MD, Psychiatrist Health Care for the Homeless.)Many things contribute to the resulting number of homelessness, however the main reasons for homelessness are unemployment, low income,… middle of paper… .. .. 129.6 million plastic bottles per day, or 47.3 billion plastic bottles per year. About 80% of those plastic bottles end up in landfill!” Plastic bottles would be filled with sand and molded together with mud or cement. These homes would be bulletproof, fireproof, and maintain a comfortable interior temperature of 64 degrees during the summer. It would take approximately 14,000 bottles to build a 1,200-square-foot, two-bedroom house. The United States has enough plastic bottles to build 9,257 of these two-bedroom homes per day! The word homeless could be divided into two separate parts, home and not. Since it's actually a really important word. The first part, minus, means less fortunate and the second half, home, means a home in which to shelter and feel warm. When you put the two words together you become less fortunate without a roof over your head.