Homelessness a Serious Issue in The Bay Area
By: Silvio Aguilar
Tags: Gentrification, Bay Area, Homeless, Drug Addiction, Depression

Photo by Matt Collamer on Unsplash

It was 11 pm at night and I was heading back to my apartment in downtown San Jose from my job. As I exited 280 and was on 7th street waiting at the light I looked over my shoulder and saw a couple of homeless people sleeping under the freeway. This really got to me, it hit the heart because I knew how cold it was outside, yet there was nothing I could do about it. In the Bay Area the amount of people becoming homeless has risen over the years and a lot has to do with gentrification, drug addiction and mental illnesses. The whole tech industry has caused several large businesses to start up in the Bay Area which has caused gentrification. This process is where neighborhoods are being renovated to match the businesses around to make it look more middle class. Rent has risen to the point where people who have lived here in the bay their whole lives can’t afford it no more. This causes lots of people to move out to a cheaper area or get evited thus becoming homeless. Areas such as the San Francisco Mission District, Palo Alto, and even Hillsdale in San Mateo have all renovated to force people out and to make other small businesses go out of business. Just recently in November of 2019 the Hillsdale Shopping Center has renovated so that it can look more middle class and even implemented a bowling alley, movie theater, and hundreds of other stores.

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Addiction to substance abuse either drugs or alcohol has caused a lot of homeless people to remain in that state. Being addicted to drug causes a state of comfort and thus lots of people don’t want to change because they like to feel such way. Also, under the influence of either drugs or alcohol people tend to forget their worries and don’t want to come back to reality. Stimulants or “uppers” are drugs that cause a state of wakefulness. Some common stimulants are Methamphetamine (which is often referred to as meth), Cocaine, Crack, Adderall (which is a type of amphetamine). Some of the effects of stimulants include severe anxiety, extreme excitability, weight loss / little appetite, and more. People also become addicted to pain killers or prescription drugs that you get over the counter. There are many types of prescription drugs and of the portion that have psychological effects (change your state of mind). Some can be highly addictive. These highly addictive drugs most often fall into the categories called opioids, benzodiazepines, and amphetamines. All this leads to people becoming homeless and staying homeless because their money is going to their addiction.

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Depression has caused many people to go homeless just because they don’t care about life no more. Depression is a mental condition that can grow upon any individual and without the proper help it can lead to death. The Hope for Depression Research Foundation states that, depression is a serious medical condition that is associated with symptoms such as melancholy, loss of pleasure, loss of energy, difficulty in concentrating, and suicidal thoughts. Battling your own battles in your head can eventually lead to schizophrenia. These are the most common mental illness that homeless people struggle with on a daily. We see tons of homeless people who are mentally ill yet there is little help that is being done to solve this social issue. We are afraid of people who are sick when we should be trying to help them out. When we see a mentally ill homeless person on the street many people choose to look away or cross the street when we should be demanding our city and state to solve the issue. Our tax money goes to less important things such as funding our military when we should help these poor, mentally ill homeless people, and also veterans that come back all messed up in the head from war. California’s homeless population last year was almost 130,000, nearly a quarter of the national total, federal data showed. Homelessness is also a more visible part of life in California according to the New York times.

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According to ABC News Channel 7 there is about 8,011 reported homeless people in the San Francisco alone the highest in the Bay Area. Although there are tons of homeless people recently with in the last couple of year there have been many programs sprouting to help our homeless population. Some of these programs are Dept of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (415) 557–6484, Community Awareness and Treatment Services (CATS) (415)-241–1184, and Project Homeless Connect 1–855–588–7968, just with in the bay area that help support people in need. These organizations offer emergency shelter resources, transitional housing programs, and housing. With all that help they also provide the funds needed for paying rent to prevent eviction, one-time rental assistance, and security deposit funds to move into permanent housing. These are just some of the well known-organizations in the bay area but there are also more not mention like the Samaritan house and tiny homes that are being built for the homeless. There is still so much more we as human being can be doing for people who are in need of help.