Review of the "Cities Deal With a Surge in Shantytowns"

The article “Cities Deal With a Surge in Shantytowns” introduces to readers a problematic issue that is currently happening in the USA: the increasing number of shanty towns. The global recession has led thousands of people to lose their jobs and houses. In an effort to look for brighter opportunities, many people, especially those with agriculture's background, have moved to big cities to find better jobs and accommodations. However, they often encounter difficulties since there are not much jobs available. Consequently, in the absence of job and hence income, these people are pushed into encampments and street living. They usually have to live in tents and lean tos, which spread across many urban areas, forming shanty towns or “tent-cities”. In many major cities such as Los Angeles or New York, these types of shanty towns have become an integral part of the landscape. Furthermore, not only the living conditions in these “tent-cities” are far below the “accepted” level, there are also many social problems that have arisen such as drug use, prostitution and violence. To tackle this issue, US government has decided to introduce several plans, including placing additional public facilities, providing permanent housing and social services to these homeless people. However, there are still many weaknesses that have revealed from these plans.

In my opinions, when reading this article, it was interesting, yet alarming to see how homelessness has become a worldwide and major issue, and even wealthy countries such as the USA can still experience this. Certainly, the problem can not be solved in one day, but it requires a large amount of persistent effort and resources spent by the authority over a long period of time. Hopefully, with fiscal budgets being introduced, the global economy would soon recover, thereby making business activities become more effervescent and creating more job opportunities for people. In addition, NGOs should focus more on assisting the government in providing social services and aids to homeless people to increase their living conditions and help them fit in with the society.