(ECNS)-- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported in mid-December of 2023 that the homeless population across the country increased 12% over the year of 2022. More than 650,000 people across the country were homeless on the same night in January 2023, according to the report. The number of homeless people is at a record high since the government began its yearly point-in-time survey in 2007.

With the 2024 election poised to deepen divisions in the U.S., the government is struggling to formulate a genuinely effective solution to address various social problems. The homeless population remains high, while at the same time, gun violence keeps an ongoing chronic disease in the United States. As of Jan 24, 2024, the Gun Violence Archive has recorded 51 victims killed in the 26 shooting incidents since the start of this year in the country. Additionally, the number of people who died from a drug overdose in 2022 hit 109, 600, setting a new record, statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found. 

Various social problems are exacerbating the surging of pessimism on the U.S. society and the governance disorder is watering down the “American Dream”. An ABC News/Ipsos poll in mid-January this year found only 27% of Americans say the dream still holds, down sharply from 50% when the question first was asked in 2010. The American Dream has been entangled by social problems; the torch of the Statue of Liberty may project the American Dream into the American Nightmare.