The article is about countryside homelessness, not big-city homelessness. The problem with that average is that it overestimates the cost of countryside living,

The article is about countryside homelessness, not big-city homelessness. The problem with that average is that it overestimates the cost of countryside living, which means that people who are homeless in the countryside are seriously screwed, not "living in the wrong place". The current trend is that more and more people can't afford below-average priced housing. This is a serious problem.