The plight of the homeless remains a problem. Indeed, some observers argue that the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 has increased the numbers of homeless people. There are no hard statistics on the homeless, but estimates of the number of people without a home on any given night in the United States range from a low of 230,000 to as many as 750,000 people. It is difficult to estimate how many people

Question

are homeless because the number depends on how the homeless are defined. There are street people—those who sleep in bus stations, parks, and other areas. Many of these people are youthful runaways. There are the so-called sheltered homeless—those who sleep in government-supported or privately funded shelters. Many of these individuals used to live with their families or friends. While street people are almost always single, the sheltered homeless include numerous families with children. Homeless families are the fastestgrowing subgroup of the homeless population. As a policy issue, how to handle the homeless problem pits liberals against conservatives. Conservatives argue that there are not really that many homeless and that most of them are alcoholics, drug users, or mentally ill. Conservatives argue that these individuals should be dealt with either by the mental-health system or the criminal justice system. In contrast, many liberals argue that homelessness is caused by a reduction in welfare benefits and by excessively priced housing. They want more shelters to be built for the homeless. In the past decade, cities have attempted to "criminalize" homelessness. Many municipalities have outlawed sleeping on park benches and sidewalks, as well as panhandling and leaving personal property on public property. In some cities, police sweeps remove the homeless, who then become part of the criminal justice system. Because there is so much disagreement about the number of homeless persons, the reasons for homelessness, and the possible cures for the problem, there has been no consistent government policy. Whatever policies have been adopted usually have been attacked by one group or another. The main idea of this passage is

a. no one knows how many homeless people there are in America.
b. there are several reasons why homelessness remains a problem in America.
c. many cities have tried to criminalize homelessness.
d. more homeless shelters are desperately needed in our cities.

Answer 1

B