Homelessness in America

It was 2009. Historians will have a ball of many sorts when the history of the Second Great Depression is written. Mostly, they will document the housing crisis and how it was the start of what would become the most challenging financial crisis in the history of the United States of America. But, long before the housing crisis, the United States has always had issues with housing; finding a house, affording one, or simply the lack thereof of housing. A few years ago, I worked with a number of coalitions in the city of Atlanta devoted to managing the problem of homelessness. I was alarmed at the number of homeless individuals in the city. Homeless in the United States seems paradoxical at first. The United States hasn't had a major war, not since Sherman's army marched on the South, yet homelessness still continues to pervade the fabric of this nation. Over the next couple of days and perhaps weeks I will write some articles addressing the issue. The first installment is an article I wrote in 2004 as part of my application for a so called unamed Ivy League School. Inspite of the housing crisis in the United States and considering that none of Americas homeless are victims of a domestic war why is homelessness still a problem in this country?