The statistics of homelessness and poverty in the world are shocking and they point to the need for urgent action to prevent disasters to humanity. The United Nations habitat department states that by 2015 there were 1.6 billion people who are either homeless or live in inadequate shelters (habitat.org). Out of these 100 million people are completely homeless while 1 billion live in informal settlements (habitat.org). This means that one in every four people across the world lives in conditions that harm their safety, health opportunities and prosperity. However, homelessness is a manifestation of even larger and more complicated problem- poverty where 12.7% of the world’s population lives on less than $1.9 per day! (worldbank.org). The resolution of issues of homelessness and poverty is of paramount importance because poverty and homelessness are complicated issues which need to be handled with patience to achieve sustainable progress and avoid recreation or transfer or the problems from one population to another.
People have for many centuries dreamt of the ideal world but the notion of the ideal has been in great confusion. The biological and social aspects affect our ideas of the “ideal”. While from the biological standpoint of view, our ideals or largely confined to overcoming diseases and death, it is the social side of the question that is particular interest and importance (Aronson 125). Addressing social issues such as homelessness and poverty should be at the bottom line and is more practical compared to fighting against nature and biological makeup and systems. In other words, the social sphere in which people can express their philosophies, ideas and thoughts holds greater potential to create a better world with minimal homelessness and poverty (Huston 16).
Although there are millions of people who are homeless and poor these issues can be resolved over several years by adhering to three issues. The first is to anticipate that there is no homelessness. Secondly, it would be to look forward to a world without unemployment because millions of poor people are unemployed. The third aspect of the issue would be to sustainably ensure that there are no poor people or those who are exploited and undervalued (Pogge 44). According to Mathiason, the resolution of poverty and homelessness issues is of paramount importance because they are the very foundations of social strife such as wars and revolutions.
The first goal would be to build houses for every family with the aim of eliminating homelessness. Mathias suggests that in respect to elimination of homelessness, we come up with the following steps that should be taken: houses should be built for every family. Furthermore, donation systems should be worked out to help the homeless people. Beyond these we foresee temporary provision of houses or provision of dormitories. In line with this the action take will be to organize with governments and stakeholders to obtain land and donors to offer financial support while housing agencies work out the logistics of having homeless people get free housing in a project that takes 4 to 5 years. The advent of a donations system would also ensure that every settled person who was once homeless has some money. Again this can be achieved by obtaining donations from the rich who agree to donate to the poor in programs that take 2 to 3 years.
The second goal in fighting poverty and homelessness would be to give poor people to all and moreso the poor to help them make money for themselves and avoid reliance on donations. In this regard, the project can take 5 to 7 years and the ultimate goal is to have people live better lives and not just bare survival. Moreover the elimination of poverty would be supported by better welfare systems that continually give donations to the poor people since they do not get jobs all at the same time and there are different dynamics that compel many people to require donations. In this regard, the action called upon is the change of rules which makes it hard for corruption and fraud in the society. Trustworthiness in the management of resources meant for poor people is critical. Establishing better welfare systems may take 4 to 5 years and it has the ultimate purpose of coming up with better ways to gather donations and support the poor.
The third goal will be to provide jobs to all people even as populations increase and countless socioeconomic dynamics come about. The best and most sustainable way to achieve jobs for all would be to open new companies and create numerous other opportunities for people to earn meaningful livelihoods. Governments and private entities can collaborate and establish any places for investors to set up companies that have potential for growth and job opportunities for the masses. Training is critical for people to acquire skills necessary in performing at different tasks. As such, people should continually acquire education and trainings in relevant areas with ease through support from the government and private entities. Prudent advertisements for the jobs and recruitment processes ensure that those who find such employment deliver in their roles. Indeed, advertisements for new jobs can be made for everyone who is willing to work and they ought to be given opportunities to work. In order to accommodate issues to do with trainings and the development of robust systems and massive entrepreneurship, a period of 6 to 7 years would be adequate for tangible results on this goal. In all, it is possible for people to make good salaries and wages to live better lives within 4 to 5 years of a massive employment programme. Graham states that in order to maintain motivation for people to work and produce more, they need better wages to afford decent livelihoods (79).
There are several dynamics that come about in employment issues but the ultimate goal should be to improve human livelihoods. Besides improving the working conditions, some people will still find themselves doing hard and dangerous jobs. In this case, the safety and wellbeing of such employees may be safeguarded by deploying robots to complement work while taking care not to fire workers but to deploy them to other areas. It is no secret that no robot can supersede a human being. Brown adds that better and more competent education should be offered because it leads to higher quality if work and reduced employment in a sustainable manner (24). Educated workers have a wider vision and are able to use modern science in the resolution of problems through deeper research and daring moves such as space exploration and application of intense technologies to grow companies and enable them hire more people (Brown, 26).
The resolution is poverty and homelessness issues are definitely what everyone should be focused on because the two issues have a deep effect on the future of the world. As noted by Morrison, the future of our children to live in a world free from wars and civil strife is reliant on the current generation fighting poverty and homelessness. There will be a lot of resentment and inequality dealt with along the way and people will be happier. In addition handling the two troublesome issues could even be the key to stopping global warming and deterioration of the environment (Bourguignon and Morrisson 744). As such, it is practical and it is possible for the current generation to set up systems that will offer homeless people homes and give them financial as a temporary measure as systems to offer them gainful employment are set up. In all this can be done in a ten-year period and it calls upon the contributions and goodwill of everyone in the current generation to make this goal a reality.
Works Cited
Aronson, Ronald. Camus and Sartre (2004). University of Chicago Press.
Huston, Aletha. Children in Poverty: Child Development and Public Policy. Cambridge. 1991. Print
Mathiason, Nick. Western bankers and lawyers 'rob Africa of $150bn every year. The Guardian (London) 21 January, 2007.
Pogge, Thomas. Politics as Usual: What Lies Behind the Pro-Poor Rhetoric. Polity Press. 2010. Print
Bourguignon and Morrisson. Inequality Among World Citizens: 1820–1992. American Economic Review 92 (4): 727–744. 2002. Print
Brown, David. “Saving millions for just a few dollars”. The Washington Post 26 April, 2006.
Graham, Maryemma; Singh, Amritjit. Conversations with Ralph Ellison. University of Mississippi Press. 1995. Print
World Habitat Day 2015 key housing facts. Web 24 June 2016 http://www.habitat.org/getinv/events/world-habitat-day/housing-facts
The World Bank. Poverty Overview. Web 24 June 2016 http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/overview
