Imagine your life with no food and no home at all; Looking for something to eat in the trash and living under Highway 91, scary right? Well, if the government does nothing, this will become a reality. Poverty and homelessness are a major problem in the United States. According to Los Angeles Times reporter Emily Alpert Reyes, about 8.9 million people in California live below the federal poverty line ($23,021 a year for a family of four); In Los Angeles, approximately 25.9% of residents live on an income below the poverty line. The poverty rate in Los Angeles has increased in recent years because the city's revenues have long been stagnant and expenses are increasing (Kantor, Brian, and Contreras-Sweet). Poverty and homelessness in Los Angeles can be prevented by providing services to the homeless, raising taxes, and creating more jobs. The government should provide more services to fight poverty. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Franklin D. Roosevelt created the New Deal to provide relief. These services have helped many people experiencing poverty. The New Deal programs were successful because by 1940, "the economy was coming back to life with a sharp increase in defense industry production" (FDR created the WPA). One of the services offered by the government to prevent poverty and homelessness is the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. This program generates affordable housing for very low- and low-income residents of Los Angeles. This program doesn't really help because "Los Angeles has become a city where rental and for-sale housing is well out of reach of the working poor as well as moderate-income residents, resulting in increased overcrowding and low disposable income for residents. other necessities...... middle of article ......dules/emp-pov.htmPhil Bartle is a professor of sociology and was the chief advisor to the Uganda Community Management Program (CMP) .United Way of Greater Los Angeles “Year 3, Quarter 3 Report” http://www.unitedwayla.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Y3Q3-Final.pdfUnited Way of Greater Los Angeles is an organization that helps people out of poverty by providing housing, education and money. The organization's president is Elise Buik. NewDeal http://www.ushistory.org/us/49g.aspThe Independence Hall Association (IHA) was founded in 1942 to spearhead the creation of Independence National Historical Park. The IHA owns ushistory.org. supports the mission of educating the public about the Revolutionary and Colonial eras of American history. Their primary goal is to teach others about history..