The Reflection:

“We Have To Talk About New York City’s Homeless Problem”

I am a New Yorker and I consider myself exposed to the everyday affairs transpiring in the city. When writing this opinionated editorial, I bore in mind that my intended audience are other fellow New Yorkers. By choosing The New York Times as the host for my article, I ensured that the content would resonate with my readers.  The target audience are all those living within New York City who experience struggles either through their own eyes or another’s. This can range from those who are homeless, experienced homelessness at some given point in their life, or know someone that is currently homeless. I also wanted to catch the attention of those tasked with tackling the homeless issue here in NYC in order to broaden their perspective on effective solutions. The purpose of this article is to shed light on the underbelly of the issue of homelessness and to remove the veil of stigma surrounding this topic. By choosing to write on a preexisting topic of homelessness in New York City, I hope to encourage change in the way homelessness is being addressed.

In New York City, there is an air of stigma surrounding the topic of homelessness. Everyone seems to think that they have the solution to end homelessness such as, “Get a job!”, but all this does is further separate those who have homes from those without. To further make matters worse, the circumstances which might render an individual homeless are more than often misguided assumptions.  Combined, the willing ignorance and predetermined fixations by the fortunate in society are quite harmful. The overall driving force for my article is to re-wire the minds of my audience in order to bring about social awareness and change.

Once I decided that I was to pitch my op-ed to The New York Times, I knew I had to commit. After spending some time on The New York Times opinion section, I became acquainted with their various styles. However, I mimicked the format for a particular op-ed article in hopes to establish a familiar base. While doing research for my topic, I must admit that though this is an op-ed, I learned numerous facts about homelessness.

The title I chose introduces the exigency of my op-ed, but the quote I placed under it tells a piece of Christie’s story, a friend of mine whom once faced homelessness. The introductory paragraph shares a personal testimony with intention to set the tone of the article. By incorporating Christie’s personal account of her experience with homelessness, I felt a certain measure of depth was added. I decided to keep the main focus on the reason that drove her to homelessness and the hardships she faced. Christie’s story, I am sure, is relatable to many individuals on different levels and was a strategic endeavor to hook my audience. Her story though tragic, does have a happy ending, with the result being that she is no longer homeless. With the optimism from Christie’s story, I wanted to push the audience into an empathetic state. It was important to bring the spirits of the audience up before hitting them with waves of harsh facts and persuasive language.

It is Christie’s story that paves way for the next part of the op-ed which dives into the issue of homelessness in New York City. Coalitionforthehomeless.org is an informative website that provides current information on the homeless population in NYC and was the perfect bit of evidence to introduce my topic. The evidence I found on the site pertaining to the population count of homelessness reinforced the seriousness of my op-ed. By incorporating logos through the use of facts, I wanted to earn credibility from my audience so they may trust the information I provided.

The reason why I chose “Homeless deaths spike amid all-time high in population under Mayor de Blasio” as my second piece of evidence regarding the topic of homelessness was to shock the audience with cold hard facts. Up until this point, I purposely led them to believe this article would somewhat try to sugarcoat the harsh reality of homelessness. This particular article explains some of the reasons that lead to death in the homeless population. These people who hardly anyone stopped and spared a thought for, though deceased, are now on the minds of my audience. With the use of this article, I hoped to expose the inefficient ways in which homelessness has been addressed in the past and express the anxiety amongst the homeless population. I included these facts with the hopes of sharing the point of view of some of the homeless as well as myself.

The second article, “Half of NYC’s homeless domestic-violence victims feel unsafe in shelters” follows the analysis of the first article. However, it takes on a different tone as the article describes the situation of the homeless that are alive. This article describes how domestic violence can lead to a shelter in New York City, and exposes some faults of these programs. I knew I could manipulate pathos with the placement of a question, “How can this system work to protect these victims when its displaying their location to the abusers?”, and anticipated worry and concern from the audience. Though the mood of the op-ed has evolved to a somewhat darker tone, the call for action from the audience begins to take shape. The subject of the prior article was informative about the existing norms of homelessness, but this second article radiates a desire for more awareness. This article piece serves as proof that some of the aid made available to individuals facing homelessness does indeed work! 

As I wrapped up the op-ed by sharing my own thoughts on the matter, once again I encouraged the audience to be conscious of the homeless situation in New York City. I wanted to make it clear the true reasons for homelessness and point out the very little done by officials to provide relief. By sharing a personal account and presenting the facts of the current homeless crisis, I hope to encourage social change that will impact the future for the better.