Can We End Homelessness?

Often people believe that substance abuse, mental illness, or other personal factors are the main reasons for homelessness. Research shows, rising housing costs contribute to more people experiencing homelessness than any other reason. A 2023 Pew analysis of housing costs and homelessness says “housing costs explain far more of the difference in rates of homelessness than variables such as substance use disorder, mental health, weather, the strength of the social safety net, poverty, or economic conditions.”
National Low-Income Housing Coalition charts show the hourly wage required to afford a two-bedroom apartment in each state. A person working full-time at the federal minimum wage can’t afford a 2-bedroom unit in any U.S. state. even in South Dakota, having the country’s lowest housing costs, you would need to work 66 hours per week to be able to rent an apartment.
“There are 17 states where you need to make at least $30 an hour or more just to afford an average two-bedroom rental unit,”. “There’s this increasing gap between what things cost and what people are making.”
“We know that homelessness is a housing problem,”. “The Government Accountability Office has shown that when median rents increase in a community, homelessness also increases in that community.”