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housing prices are definitely influenced by supply. and homelessness is definitely driven by housing prices. so, yea. I think it’s more likely that mental illn

housing prices are definitely influenced by supply. and homelessness is definitely driven by housing prices. so, yea. I think it’s more likely that mental illness and addiction are bigger factors, along with an absence of good interventions and an abuse of the prison system. Statistics showing a majority of American homeless people are either mentally ill, addicted to drugs, or both certainly support that view over yours, and reveals the deep complexity of solving the problem. You can’t just shove someone from the streets into a house and call it a day, they need far more support than that.

onlyrealcuzzo 8y ago
Maybe it's a coincidence, but California has twice as many homeless people per capita as the rest of the US. It also has house prices roughly twice as high.
- toufiqbarhamov 8y ago
  It also has sunny weather that tends to be milder in the winter than most other places, which if you’re sleeping rough must help. Beyond that I’d hesitate to draw too many conclusions based on correlation.
specialist 8y ago
The working poor are the fastest growing segment of homelessness in my jurisdiction. That doesn't mean they're all living on the street. RVs, cars, shelters, etc. The causality of homelessness and addiction is more like a negative feedback loop. eg No insurance, get sick or injured, self medicate with alcohol or oxy, loose job, loose housing. The link between mental illness and homelessness is pretty straight forward.
JamisonM 8y ago
Shoving people who need other supports into housing won't help homelessness for the people that need those other supports, but creating more affordability for people who need less serious interventions or are simply priced out of the market with help homelessness for them - whether those people make up the "majority" of the homeless or not. Solving the entire problem is more complex than more housing supply, that doesn't mean that more housing supply isn't an important part of the solution.
lsiebert 8y ago
What statistics are those? Can you cite your sources? Because I've never seen anything that suggests that a majority of homeless people have addiction/mental illness problems. A higher percentage of such issues then the housed population, sure, but not a majority. AFAIK, you can find a direct correspondence between increased rental prices and increased homelessness, and that's the main contributor. https://www.zillow.com/research/homelessness-rent-affordability-22247/ https://www.zillow.com/research/homelessness-rent-affordabil... I mean unless you go back to the 1970's before the U.S. Government literally decimated it's housing budget (https://www.kcet.org/shows/socal-connected/the-rise-of-homelessness-in-the-1980s https://www.kcet.org/shows/socal-connected/the-rise-of-homel...)
- toufiqbarhamov 8y ago
  Depending on your source it ranges from ~33% to over 50%. SAMHSA stats out it over 50%, others like this out it lower around 48%: https://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf https://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf https://sunrisehouse.com/addiction-demographics/homeless-population/ https://sunrisehouse.com/addiction-demographics/homeless-pop... https://mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mentally-ill.html https://mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mental... In January 2015, the most extensive survey ever undertaken found 564,708 people were homeless on a given night in the United States. Depending on the age group in question, and how homelessness is defined, the consensus estimate as of 2014 was that, at minimum, 25 percent of the American homeless—140,000 individuals—were seriously mentally ill at any given point in time. Forty-five percent of the homeless—250,000 individuals—had any mental illness. More would be labeled homeless if these were annual counts rather than point-in-time counts. https://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf https://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf Although obtaining an accurate, recent count is difficult, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2003) estimates, 38% of homeless people were dependent on alcohol and 26% abused other drugs. Alcohol abuse is more common in older generations, while drug abuse is more common in homeless youth and young adults (Didenko and Pankratz, 2007). Substance abuse is much more common among homeless people than in the general population. According to the 2006 National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 15% of people above the age of 12 reported using drugs within the past year and only 8% reported using drugs within the past month. https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/fixing-the-system/features-and-news/2596-how-many-people-with-serious-mental-illness-are-homeless https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/fixing-the-system/fe...
the_cat_kittles 8y ago
i didnt say it was the only factor. but it is a major factor. ive read alot of stuff about it, here is the first thing that comes up when i googled just in case you are unwilling to do it yourself: https://www.inman.com/2018/03/21/rising-home-prices-lead-to-increased-homeless-population-study-finds/ https://www.inman.com/2018/03/21/rising-home-prices-lead-to-....

onlyrealcuzzo 8y ago

Maybe it's a coincidence, but California has twice as many homeless people per capita as the rest of the US. It also has house prices roughly twice as high.

toufiqbarhamov 8y ago
It also has sunny weather that tends to be milder in the winter than most other places, which if you’re sleeping rough must help. Beyond that I’d hesitate to draw too many conclusions based on correlation.

specialist 8y ago

The working poor are the fastest growing segment of homelessness in my jurisdiction. That doesn't mean they're all living on the street. RVs, cars, shelters, etc. The causality of homelessness and addiction is more like a negative feedback loop. eg No insurance, get sick or injured, self medicate with alcohol or oxy, loose job, loose housing. The link between mental illness and homelessness is pretty straight forward.

JamisonM 8y ago

Shoving people who need other supports into housing won't help homelessness for the people that need those other supports, but creating more affordability for people who need less serious interventions or are simply priced out of the market with help homelessness for them - whether those people make up the "majority" of the homeless or not. Solving the entire problem is more complex than more housing supply, that doesn't mean that more housing supply isn't an important part of the solution.

lsiebert 8y ago

What statistics are those? Can you cite your sources? Because I've never seen anything that suggests that a majority of homeless people have addiction/mental illness problems. A higher percentage of such issues then the housed population, sure, but not a majority. AFAIK, you can find a direct correspondence between increased rental prices and increased homelessness, and that's the main contributor. https://www.zillow.com/research/homelessness-rent-affordability-22247/ https://www.zillow.com/research/homelessness-rent-affordabil... I mean unless you go back to the 1970's before the U.S. Government literally decimated it's housing budget (https://www.kcet.org/shows/socal-connected/the-rise-of-homelessness-in-the-1980s https://www.kcet.org/shows/socal-connected/the-rise-of-homel...)

toufiqbarhamov 8y ago
Depending on your source it ranges from ~33% to over 50%. SAMHSA stats out it over 50%, others like this out it lower around 48%: https://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf https://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf https://sunrisehouse.com/addiction-demographics/homeless-population/ https://sunrisehouse.com/addiction-demographics/homeless-pop... https://mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mentally-ill.html https://mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mental... In January 2015, the most extensive survey ever undertaken found 564,708 people were homeless on a given night in the United States. Depending on the age group in question, and how homelessness is defined, the consensus estimate as of 2014 was that, at minimum, 25 percent of the American homeless—140,000 individuals—were seriously mentally ill at any given point in time. Forty-five percent of the homeless—250,000 individuals—had any mental illness. More would be labeled homeless if these were annual counts rather than point-in-time counts. https://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf https://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf Although obtaining an accurate, recent count is difficult, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2003) estimates, 38% of homeless people were dependent on alcohol and 26% abused other drugs. Alcohol abuse is more common in older generations, while drug abuse is more common in homeless youth and young adults (Didenko and Pankratz, 2007). Substance abuse is much more common among homeless people than in the general population. According to the 2006 National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 15% of people above the age of 12 reported using drugs within the past year and only 8% reported using drugs within the past month. https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/fixing-the-system/features-and-news/2596-how-many-people-with-serious-mental-illness-are-homeless https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/fixing-the-system/fe...

the_cat_kittles 8y ago

i didnt say it was the only factor. but it is a major factor. ive read alot of stuff about it, here is the first thing that comes up when i googled just in case you are unwilling to do it yourself: https://www.inman.com/2018/03/21/rising-home-prices-lead-to-increased-homeless-population-study-finds/ https://www.inman.com/2018/03/21/rising-home-prices-lead-to-....