The Economic Consequences of Homelessness in The US

May 620 417 712 348 903
August 951 509 930 439 997
November 757 445 779 458 955
*Starting in 2014, unsheltered counts include increased coverage of the Kensington area
and other communities that were not previously included, causing street count numbers
to increase.
Causes of Homelessness in Philadelphia
The causes of homelessness are diverse and related to many systemic and institutional
structures within our country. We recognize that there are many causes of
homelessness and many are interwoven. Unfortunately, there is not always good data
to demonstrate the impact of these forces.
For our purposes, we have chosen to highlight only a few causes of homelessness in
Philadelphia with supporting data
1. Poverty from a lack of jobs at competitive living wages.
Philadelphia has a 26% poverty rate, one of the highest in the nation. Of that
26%, nearly half (12.2%) are living in deep poverty, with incomes below 50% of
the federal poverty limit.
2. Disparity between housing costs and minimum wage, public supports, or
earned benefits.
In Philadelphia, a person would have to work 106 hours per week at the
minimum hourly wage of $7.25 to afford even a modest one-bedroom apartment.
Pennsylvania’s Supplemental Security Income payment is only $750 per month,
while the average fair market rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,003 per
month -- nearly double the amount of the SSI payment.
Page 21 of 289