People Without A Home

People Without A Home.

When someones says “homeless”, the first thing you would think of is a dirty old person sleeping on the sidewalk, or a dirty old person by the sidewalk asking for money. When they ask for help, food, or money you hesitate. Why? You think they don’t deserve your help because you assume their bad actions got them to where they are now. You think they would use the money they get for drugs and alcohol. What you wouldn’t first think of is, why are they homeless? How did they end up where they are, whats their story?

California has the greatest homeless population in the country, there are 113,952 people without homes, according to the 2014 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR)(check this, I believe we are 3rd behind New York). 15,000 of these people are war veterans. 
-considering how you are narrowing your topic towards the veteran homeless population as a way of introducing John, do you plan on making this the focus/position for your final article? 
-If so, then you can spend some time getting more info on the veteran homeless population in California maybe even Long Beach specifically.  You can also look into what resources are currently available specifically for Veterans 


One out of these fifteen thousand people is John. John’s reason to enlist in the 

army was his older brother who technically raised him. His brother also fought for his country, however he died during his service. John fought in the Vietnam war, he served his time as a sniper with over 70 kills, and another hundred kills in firefight role. With all the loud explosions and gun ammunition going off while he was on duty, it was hard to forget all the noises while he was off duty. He was scared of noises so he spent 35 days in a psychiatric ward at the Veterans Affair hospital. 
-when describing John's story consider why his voice/story is important for you to relate to your readers.  Is it to show an example of how he challenges specific negative stereotypes, is it to show what resources homeless veterans lack? 

If John were to ask you for some spare change, would you give him your spare change? Most likely not because you would assume he would buy alcohol, right? 
-this can be a good segway into the negative stereotypes and representations of the homeless or homeless veterans that affect how we feel and interact and even assist the homeless
-you can develop this more and get into where these stereotypes come from and how they stick around

If John were to ask you for some spare change after he told you his story, would you give him your change? Most likely, because you would feel sympathy towards him.
-here you seem to really touch on the focus/position of your article that if we recognize the negative stereotypes that affect the way we feel about the homeless and take the time to understand those that are homeless we are more likely to support their struggles
-again, how can you develop this more

-also consider what current support services are out there specifically for the veteran poulation 

Whenever you see a homeless in the streets, you always assume the worst. You always assume the person is a drug addict, an alcoholic, or crazy. John proves that stereotype wrong. Even though he is homeless, he is always grateful that god has blessed him with another day. John said, “You still gotta smile at life because everything is beautiful in life,” he decides to look at life at a different angle. Do you still think John fits your stereotype of a homeless person?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdzLLEvxKoY

https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2014-AHAR-Part1.pdf