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…is what you say if you’re a real estate speculator trying to distract from root causes. Housing affordability and homelessness are directly correlated: > A la

…is what you say if you’re a real estate speculator trying to distract from root causes. Housing affordability and homelessness are directly correlated: > A large body of academic research has consistently found that homelessness in an area is driven by housing costs, whether expressed in terms of rents, rent-to-income ratios, price-to-income ratios, or home prices. Further, changes in rents precipitate changes in rates of homelessness: homelessness increases when rents rise by amounts that low-income households cannot afford. Similarly, interventions to address housing costs by providing housing directly or through subsidies have been effective in reducing homelessness. That makes sense if housing costs are the main driver of homelessness, but not if other reasons are to blame. Studies show that other factors have a much smaller impact on homelessness. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2023/08/22/how-housing-costs-drive-levels-of-homelessness https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/...

TheBlight 3y ago
Housing is expensive in desirable places. These areas are also traditionally quite affluent and liberal -- because you need to be relatively rich to live there. As a result, they tend to be much more accommodating to the homeless and addiction. That doesn't mean housing prices in LA/SF/Miami/NYC are the reason homeless people gravitate there but it does explain a correlation.
- bugglebeetle 3y ago
  These are just unsupported assertions unless you can disprove the wide body of research I linked to that demonstrates rates of homelessness and housing affordability are strongly correlated. Many “red” cities and states have higher rates of drug abuse, mental illness, and crime, but less homelessness. Why? Because housing is affordable in those places so people do drugs and have mental illness while sheltered. It’s honestly not that complicated. It seems like you’re trying to obfuscate these documented realities to suit your own narrative.

TheBlight 3y ago

Housing is expensive in desirable places. These areas are also traditionally quite affluent and liberal -- because you need to be relatively rich to live there. As a result, they tend to be much more accommodating to the homeless and addiction. That doesn't mean housing prices in LA/SF/Miami/NYC are the reason homeless people gravitate there but it does explain a correlation.

bugglebeetle 3y ago
These are just unsupported assertions unless you can disprove the wide body of research I linked to that demonstrates rates of homelessness and housing affordability are strongly correlated. Many “red” cities and states have higher rates of drug abuse, mental illness, and crime, but less homelessness. Why? Because housing is affordable in those places so people do drugs and have mental illness while sheltered. It’s honestly not that complicated. It seems like you’re trying to obfuscate these documented realities to suit your own narrative.