Our complacency allows homelessness to persist

North Woodmere, L.I.: Any person living in or visiting New York City is keenly aware of its homelessness issue. You see it everywhere — homeless people sleeping on the streets as you head back to your apartment, asking for money on the subway during your morning commute or setting up their bed on a park bench during your walk. Why has seemingly no progress been made to eradicate it?

NYC has a complacency issue. People have become too used to seeing homeless people and now regard it as just another aspect of living in the city. When a homeless person steps onto the subway and asks for money, people bury their heads in their phones and books instead of acknowledging them. Unfortunately, these lackluster reactions from New Yorkers resemble the manner in which we all have come to regard homeless people around the world. The entire world has seemed to settle into complacency as the homeless fill the streets.

Luckily, there is the prospect of a realistic solution: appropriate legislation. As an intern for The Borgen Profit, a nonprofit organization seeking to make global poverty a focus of U.S. foreign policy, I have learned about the power of going to those in power and advocating for specific issues. The next time you come across a homeless person in NYC or beyond and don’t have the personal means to help them, consider turning to those in power instead and fighting for the issues you see in front of you. Maybe then we can all fight together against the alluring trap of complacency.