The Economic Consequences of Homelessness in The US

The peak in the spontaneous one-night count stems now, however, from a new
problem facing big cities—a lack of affordable housing.
“Where we’re not making great progress are in places like Los Angeles and New
York City,” Carson told NPR. “These happen to be places where the rents are
going up much faster than the incomes.”
Homelessness statistics for Los Angeles this year depict an increase of nearly 26
percent compared to last year alone. When it comes to homelessness among
veterans, the national statistics would show an encouraging drop of 3.2 percent,
were it not for Los Angeles, whose own numbers push the national average for
homeless veterans to an increase of 1.5 percent.
Major cities contributed to the overall rise, with New York’s homelessness
increasing by more than 4 percent. It is in these cities where wages have
frequently failed to keep up with housing costs. According to The Guardian,
poverty rates have returned to pre-recession levels, while median wages remain
at around $17 an hour and rents have increased.
As a whole, chronic or long-term homelessness is a growing problem, as 12
percent more people experienced it this year compared with 2016. The one
positive finding was that family homelessness was down by 5.4 percent.
Recent figures show there were 58,000 families with children living without a roof
over their heads or in shelters earlier this year. The number of unaccompanied
homeless youth and children neared 41,000.
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Affordable Housing
U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness
Last updated on June 22, 2018
For many people, the gap between their current income and the cost of housing in their
community puts them at immediate risk of a housing crisis. Housing needs to be
affordable to those households with the lowest incomes who are most at risk of
homelessness, and efforts to increase access to affordable housing must be
proportional to the local need.
The Solution
The Council is working on the following strategies to increase the supply of affordable
housing for those who most need it:
Support additional rental housing subsidies through federal, state, local,
and private resources to individuals and families experiencing or most at risk of
homelessness.
Expand the supply of affordable rental homes where they are most needed,
through federal, state, and local efforts. Rental subsidies should better target
households earning significantly less than 30% of the Area Median Income.
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