A New Record

Homeless man in New York City, Photo by Linda Fletcher, Author Adjoajo (CC BY-SA 4.0 International)

The United States last year had the highest rate of homelessness since 2007 [1].  This is not a record of which we can be proud.  Some 650,00o people nationwide are now homeless.  Fully 50% of those experiencing homelessness are families with children.

Causes

There are multiple causes for homelessness.  Among the most common are poverty, a lack of affordable housing, domestic violence and other trauma such as rape, disability, a criminal history, mental illness, and drug addiction [2][3][4A].

Typical Scenarios

• A gainfully employed individual living in a single room occupancy (SRO) hotel or rental apartment who is laid off work may quickly run out of funds and become temporarily homeless [4B].
• A family subsisting on part-time employment can be rehoused following a fire or eviction only if local employment and housing conditions are favorable [4C].
• A woman fleeing domestic abuse may find short-term safety in a shelter or on a friend’s couch [4D]. But she is all too often unemployed, unskilled, and penniless.
• Teenage runaways (often, themselves, victims of abuse) comprise another vulnerable group of the homeless [5].

Downward Spiral

A return to normalcy for those who even temporarily become homeless can be extremely challenging, and is likely to be compounded by secondary factors such as the loss of tools, the loss of a vehicle, family break-up, depression, and substance abuse [4E].

This creates a downward spiral.

Systemic Issues

Along with the personal difficulties an individual or family may encounter, there are, also, systemic issues contributing to homelessness.

A.  Lack of Affordable Housing

Affordable housing is increasingly unavailable.   In the past 40 years, low-income housing has declined by 2.5 million units [4F][6].  Loss is due to abandonment and decay, fire, demolition or conversion.

Replacement has not kept pace.  Federal support for the development of new low-income housing has largely disappeared.

With demand exceeding supply, rents have skyrocketed.

B.  Economic Changes

With decades of outsourcing, employment possibilities for unskilled labor have been reduced [4G].  Since 2000, the United States has lost over a quarter of all domestic manufacturing jobs [7].

C.  Inflation

Inflation has not only eroded paychecks and increased household spending on essentials.  It has reduced the number of jobs for skilled and unskilled labor projected to flow from the $550 billion infrastructure bill [8].  States have been forced to cancel or delay projects, as costs soar.

D.  Deinstutionalization

The large-scale deinstitutionalization of mentally ill patients has greatly contributed to the problem [4H].

The intent was to replace psychiatric hospitals and lengthy confinement with community-based mental health facilities and halfway houses [9][10].  The desire to save state and federal funds was among the motivations.  But few of the requisite community facilities and halfway houses were ever built.

No Easy Solutions

The National Alliance to End Homelessness urges rapid rehousing (which its need for more subsidized housing) and permanent supportive housing a/k/a pallet houses [11].

The US Interagency Council on Homelessness focuses on improving federal programs for housing, mental health, drug abuse treatment, and drug trafficking control [12].

Admittedly, there  are no easy solutions.  That does not lessen our obligation.

“‘…inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me‘” (Matt. 25: 40).

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[1]  CNN, “Homelessness hits highest level as rents have soared” by Ann Bahney, 12/15/23, https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/15/business/homelessness-highest-reported-level-rents-up/index.html.

[2]  Erie News Now, “What Causes Homelessness”, https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/48373328/what-causes-homelessness.

[3]  National Alliance to End Homelessness, “What Causes Homelessness”, https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/what-causes-homelessness/.

[4A through 4H]  National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, “Dynamics of Homelessness”, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK218240/.

[5]  Love to Know, “Teenage Runaway Facts” by Marcelina Hardy MSEd, https://www.lovetoknow.com/parenting/teens/teenage-runaways.

[6]  Huffington Post, “US Homelessness Soars to Highest Reported Level as Rents Soar” by Kevin Freking, 12/16/23, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/us-homelessness-soars-to-highest-reported-level_n_657d2da2e4b0e142c0bdc1bb.

[7]  Senate Joint Economic Committee, “Decades of Manufacturing Decline and Outsourcing Left US Supply Chains Vulnerable to Disruption”, https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/94bf8985-1e87-438b-9a3a-e3334489dd30/background-on-issues-in-us-manufacturing-and-supply-chains-final.pdf.

[8]  Politico, “Biden’s incredible shrinking infrastructure plan” by Tanya Snyder, 6/17/22, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/17/democrats-shrinking-infrastructure-plan-00039588.

[9]  Wikipedia, “Deinstitutionalisation”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinstitutionalisation.

[10]  AMA Journal of Ethics, “Deinstitutionalization of People with Mental Illness:  Causes and Consequences” by Daniel Yohanna MD, 10/15/13, https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/deinstitutionalization-people-mental-illness-causes-and-consequences/2013-10.

[11]  National Alliance to End Homelessness, “Solutions”, https://endhomelessness.org/ending-homelessness/solutions/.

[12]  United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, “What Is the Federal Strategic Plan?”, https://www.usich.gov/federal-strategic-plan/overview.

READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse 
https://avoicereclaimed.com