Philadelphian Emerson Max starts own beat Homelessness throughout City

Emerson Max, a junior journalism student at Temple University, plans on taking an in-depth look into the lives of the homeless throughout the city of Philadelphia.

You see, Max comes from a small town in North Jersey called Union County and for a suburban kid, college in the big city can be a bit of an eye-opener. In this case, it was the city of Philadelphia’s homeless population that caught Max’s attention.

“Coming from a small town, Philadelphia has provided me with a different perspective on a lot of subjects,” Max said during an interview about his new beat.

So much so, Max decided to start his own beat about the issue.

“But no one ever talks about homelessness as an everyday problem because we never hear from the homeless themselves and I want to change that,” he later stated.

Max also plans on offering businesses and organizations that help the homeless another outlet to voice their opinions on the topic. He believes they have the most knowledge about the homeless and could provide reasonable solutions in hopes of minimizing the homeless population throughout the city.

Another question Max wishes to answer is what actually classifies homelessness? “There are a ton of citizens out there bordering upon homelessness but nobody really knows what constitutes being homeless,” he mentioned during the interview.

It’s an extremely interesting topic that can be broken down from a variety of different perspectives and that’s really what Max is trying to focus on with his new beat. He tells us, “I didn’t know or understand much about homelessness before coming to the city of Philadelphia and here you really witness at first hand how everyone lives differently. I’m sympathetic towards the homeless but you also come to the realization that this is a real way of life.”

“Everyone tells a different story” seems to be the motto behind Max’s beat this semester as he plans to hear from as many people as possible on this topic and listen to stories from the homeless and those who help them throughout the Philadelphia region, and he couldn’t be more excited to get started.