Back home in Los Angeles, where homelessness has increased by 12 percent, the sprawling tent cities of America's homeless remind me of the desperate refugees half a world away.

Comparing Wisconsin and Nicaragua reveals that distinguishing between developed and developing countries is becoming less useful. As poverty grows in places like Wisconsin, poor communities around the world gain more in common with each other.

Earlier this year, a federally-mandated homeless count revealed that Los Angeles' homeless population increased, even though the city and county housed 10,000 people who were homeless in the past three years.

Homelessness is a poverty issue. People living on our streets are a result of our nation's inability to save people from falling through a broken social safety net.