One cannot escape the thought of how hunger versus homelessness would define suffering and thereby lead convulsions on the philosophic view of pain from human perspective. Hunger is an acute, biological pain, to which the body cannot even attempt to negotiate. With starvation, the energy one has dissipates, with the first thing to fail being important organs, the immune system collapses, and death may show within one or several weeks. Hunger thus, induces pressure on the person in the most acute and vital sense, leaving little room for segregation of thoughts beyond the thoughts of survival.
Homelessness, on the other hand, means the loss of safety, warmth, and security. Rather, a house symbolizes stability, privacy, and dignity. Without it, a person is exposed to the elements, to violence, to social scorn, and, worst of all, the haplessness of not having a place to which they can return. Homelessness, in an extreme sense- brutal winters especially-can be just as deadly as hunger. But in milder climates, it assumes the melodramatic realization of a slow, excruciatingly painful psychological wound- one of loneliness, one of loss of therapeutic anchoring, one of loss of acceptance from society.
Like anguish, homelessness is a chronic disease that rots the soul for a lifetime; hunger, in contrast, is an acute destruction to the body that comes fast. One kills quickly; the other, haunts for a lifetime. Yet they rarely exist in such an isolated mention. Losing shelter is more likely with a hungry person; those with no home are far more vulnerable to hunger. They become a vicious circle of human suffering.
Not only does such a question bring comparisons between pains which one suffers-human priority-does it really matter which pain is the greater weighage? Should a society necessarily ensure that all of its members-suspects and otherwise-are found filled in their stomachs and allowed to live, or will it be okay if the society ensures that every one of them has a proper roof over their heads while keeping intact their dignity? The truth is that neither could possibly stand alone. Both food and shelter are the irreducible bases to human existence, and true compassion means recognizing them as ends that cannot be separated.