America is said to be "the land of opportunity," but how can that be true when our own citizens are fighting to keep the "American Dream" from turning into a nightmare? ? There is a problem with the availability of opportunities to improve the lives of Americans across the nation. “In America the new caste system appears to encompass more than just income inequality, but also encompasses inequality in opportunity, life expectancy, happiness, and all other aspects of life itself.” The transient community is homeless, not hopeless, they are valuable members of society but are never given the chance to prove it. If they live in the “land of opportunity” why aren't they given one? With symbolic interactionism, "if the homeless do not have a function in society they cannot compete for available resources, but if we give them back their purpose they will have an equal opportunity for the resources they are entitled to. The homeless and most people in poverty - they find themselves in an endless cycle of disadvantage, because there are no jobs available they cannot establish a place of residence and without a place of residence they cannot find a job or show previous work experience even if they have the skills that qualify them for a job they will not be able to take the next step and become a valued member of society again. Many homeless people are not homeless by choice, many have lost their only family job, many are military veterans who have lost it civilian life, and some are homeless due to natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina “It can happen to any of us. A hurricane, earthquake or out-of-control fire can destroy our home in minutes. We should never say never when it comes to the possibility of homelessness, especially when we consider the impact natural disasters have. Natural disasters around the world bring middle-class people closer to poverty and the poor. That's just the number of people living in poverty, but how do you count homeless people when you have to have a home to participate in the census? When the census is taken, distributors often go to homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and emergency disaster shelters and assess the number of people there for up to 3 days. This data is undercovered by the use of a convenience sample and does not allow for a better representation of the homeless. Because homeless shelters only allow people to stay for a set period of time, this would not provide the Census Bureau with accurate information about the actual number of homeless people in America who are not represented in the poverty category