3 ms·

No, but for a lot of them, you'd be hard pressed to show that they weren't a contributing factor.

• toasterlovin 8y ago
  I'm skeptical. Growing up in Los Angeles, I basically never saw Central American immigrants living on the streets. As members of the very lowest rungs of the lower class, these are the people you would expect to see living on the streets if housing costs were the driving force behind homelessness.
  • hindsightbias 8y ago
    Back in the day (before the housing bust) a tour of Mission or Sunset real estate listings would contain "unpermitted structure in back yard" (not basement). They weren't storage sheds, they were housing with a/c units in the window. Bunk beds or cots in them. A lot of their work dried up after the housing bust. It was also one thing to house the non-resident (and non-rent controlled) worker cooking at the neighborhood restaurant or working construction vs what we think of as indigent street homeless. Many of those units are still there, but today's owners are probably less open someone in their back yard. There's also a trait in some cultures of taking care of their own and multiple families living together. My neighbor told me my predecessors were 6-7 FOB Irish youth, bunk beds in the living room. [edit - link below]
  • dahdum 8y ago
    I believe that's because the vast majority of immigrants, Central American and otherwise, are here because they want to build a better life for themselves and their families. They are by large self selected for above average ambition and work ethic, whether they came by visa or illegally.
    • toasterlovin 8y ago
      Right, but clearly housing costs are not the driving force behind homelessness.