Everything You Think You Know About Homelessness is Wrong
"If you want to understand homelessness, you have to follow the rent."
What It’s About
Aaron Carr dismantles common myths surrounding homelessness, emphasizing that the root cause isn't mental illness, drug addiction, or poverty; it's the lack of housing. Carr’s review of the data connects homelessness rates with housing scarcity, clearly distinguishing it as the main issue driving rising homelessness.
Upshot
Carr clarifies three key points:
- Higher Rents Mean Higher Homelessness : The strongest predictor of homelessness is the monthly cost of housing, not personal behaviors or social spending
- Homelessness Worsens Social Issues: The prevalence of mental illness and drug addiction among the homeless is often an effect rather than a cause
- Try Housing First: Houston, Finland, and Tokyo demonstrate that providing housing even to recipients still struggling with drug addiction dramatically lowers homelessness over the long term
Why It Matters
Actors from all corners of society want to stamp out homelessness, but it takes clear-eyed identification of the root cause to solve it. That cause is housing scarcity.
Who Wrote It
Aaron Carr is the founder and executive director of Housing Rights Initiative.