In her article for New York Times Public & Private; No Place Like Home, Anna Quindlen tells about a new building in Rio constructed to serve as permanent housing for the homeless people. This project was started out of the initiative of a non-profit group and is an alternative to providing homeless with temporary shelters. The buildings constructed for the project are fully functional homes with kitchens, baths, rooms and everything like in real homes. Moreover, alcoholic and drug addictions treatment will be provided as necessary. The tenants will participate in job training and will be able to pay for their living from their future wages as they will start to return to society. This practice is also much less expensive than standard temporary shelters which cost around $20,000 a year. The construction of such homes requires a single investment of $38,000 per building. Homeless themselves report that they feel much better being provided with this type of housing which they can call home.
This article raises a huge issue of our society which we often do not even see. We are used to viewing homelessness as something so ordinary that we do not even regard it as a problem. While we live in our houses and dream of a new car, a worldwide trip or a career growth, there are people not so different from us whose dream is to only sleep in the bed and to have the feeling of being at home. However, we must not see them as inferior beings even regarding their misery; they are made of blood and flesh just as we are. And so, they just need a chance to return to normal life. And such projects are an excellent opportunity of making real changes to the world.
Works Cited
Quindlen, Anna. "Public & Private; No Place Like Home". Nytimes.com. N.p., 1992. Web. 1 Feb. 2016.
