Who’s unhoused in California? Largest study in decades upends myths
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
The divorce was a shock to the finances but not a big one. I make over $100k and am just now zeroing out my debt, much of which was education related.
The reason I haven’t signed a serious lease for a proper apartment in the city is because I look at apartment prices and just can’t bring myself to pay $2300+ for a place for myself. Studios below that price or living out of the city do not appeal to me, nor does living with roommates after a few recent experiences with that. I don’t do drugs or have any mental health issues.
I think there are others like me in the city - willing to accept Spartan accommodations rather than throw thousands of dollars to live in slightly better conditions - but I have not yet met any.
I feel like I am basically gentrifying the lowest level of housing before homelessness.
My finances are healthy and I am saving at a decent clip which is similar to a huge raise in salary.
I get that SF is one of the most expensive cities in the world, but when I look at other housing markets, I’ve noticed that rents are more similar to SF than in the past.
Millennials are pretty strained financially right now, Gen Z even more so. Minor shocks that would have been inconsequential for previous generations have become embiggened.
Inflation is brutal. As the head of a 6 person household, rent, groceries, and gas are eating up way too much of my budget. I make just under 6 figures and with trying to maintain the modest activities my children were in before inflation hit and paying down debts it’s pretty much paycheck to paycheck living.
That seems interesting to me because even the cheapest motels in my area that are the last resort before homelessness run about $40/night and the cheapest studios in the same area are usually a bit lower than that on a monthly basis.
Edit: Different market so prices may be different. Just find this surprising.
This is a senior citizen health and housing crisis... When my dad got old and demented, it nearly broke us trying to take care of him physically, mentally and financially. I can totally see how families give up forcing senior citizens into the streets.
https://msmagazine.com/2023/06/16/mccarthy-debt-deal-snap-wo...
I know my illness is made worse by the stress of living in a minivan, but no one cares.
I am nearing 60 as well. Being mentally ill and white is a death sentence in “the richest country in the world”.
How would it be better if you weren't white? Is there some racism going on in social services provided?
Also, this isn't really the richest country in the world on a per-capita basis. Switzerland, for example, is a lot richer than America.
It is my experience, so I am not saying this is statistical proof, but many of the lower income areas are African American and the services run by the same group. And by that community I am seen to have some kind of advantage because I am white that never appears for me. And I was literally told I would not want to work with a group because it would put me in a densely African American apartment complex.
I am not claiming "reverse racism" or anything, that would be stupid. Just saying how it is for me. People claiming that white people have it easy are projecting the same stereotypes or people living with mental illness.
A completely competent person would have difficulty navigating the Byzantine and Kafkaesque world of government and social services help. I don’t see an easy path for someone with difficulties.
I'm not saying that social programs are easy to navigate, but saying that the game is rigged against white men is absurd.
Yes.
But for an individual white man with no family nor means, it does not look like that
The real absurdity is the avarice, bigotry, and prejudice that bought us here
I don't think $960 could afford 6 months of rent along with other daily expenses, regardless of where you live in the US. I get that the rent is high, but that income isn't going to support you anywhere, so it's not true to say homelessness is primarily caused by high rents.
That's basically two sides of the same coin. Affordability is either/both the price of the good or the income someone receives.
I think it's worth calling out that that's way below full-time minimum wage in SF (napkin mathed out to $2,720 pre-tax, $17/hr40hrs4weeks). Not to hold it against them, but it sounds like this may be a benefits issue more than a pay issue.
> “People are homeless because their rent is too high. And their options are too few. And they have no cushion,” Dr Margot Kushel, initiative director and lead investigator, told the Associated Press.
This part doesn't jive to me with this part:
> Researchers reported that participants had endured significant trauma, with two-thirds reporting mental health symptoms, more than a third experiencing physical or sexual violence during homelessness, and more than a third visiting an emergency department in the past six months. Access to care and treatment was also a major challenge cited, with one in five who use substances reporting that they wanted treatment but could not obtain it.
The latter snippet makes more sense to me for "why are people homeless?". The former is certainly still a problem, but if that's the sole issue, it could be easily solved by helping people move an hour or two away to somewhere they can afford. It makes more sense to me that people can't afford rent in SF, but can't afford to move away and lose access to services that are presumably much better in a major city than the boonies.
$960/month is less than my california rent from a decade ago, so I suspect it goes less far today, but a lot farther than $960/6 months.
And I’m sure even a few months of homelessness will play tricks with your memory and thinking.