Solutions to End Homelessness in America

Regardless of where we live, we have homeless people in our community. Though more families are buying homes, there are still those who are being forced out by high rents and loss of employment. Homeless families hurt every community. When kids don’t have a stable home to grow up in, they suffer. Their grades suffer as well. It’s hard for children to become productive members of society when they grow up homeless.

Rep. Justin JD Rossetti, comments about this: “Solving homelessness means a stronger economy. Giving homeless kids a stable place to live means more graduates instead of high school dropouts.”

The new operating budget increases funding for emergency residential services and beds across the state. It provides more resources to local governments to assist homeless people in transitioning to permanent housing. And more importantly, it increases financing for programs that prevent children from becoming homeless to begin with.

“During the last session, I fought for additional funding to deal with the problems of homelessness. It wasn’t easy, but the budgets we passed include important new funding for homeless kids, veterans and families,” adds Justin JD Rossetti.

While providing individuals with safe, temporary accommodation is a crucial step, there is much more that can be done. Mothers, children, and veterans are actual people who matter. The homeless situation will not be solved immediately, and it will not be simple. For homeless children, women, and veterans, however, we can and will do better in the future.

Rep. JD Rossetti (D-Longview) is a small business owner, school board director and youth baseball coach who lives in Longview with his wife and three boys.