>which is the direct result of the housing crisis
The homeless crisis is better described as a mental health and substance abuse and addiction crisis.
The homeless crisis is better described as a mental health and substance abuse and addiction crisis.
There may be a small causal arrow where homelessness causes some addiction or mental health issues, or a very small arrow where addiction or mental health causes some to be homeless, but the bulk of the problem is high housing costs.
It is not always like that. I met people who are homeless and living in the car, they don't have mental health, substance or addiction problem. They are homeless because they couldn't afford the housing cost (including apartments).
The homeless crisis is a direct result of the housing rising costs. Los Angeles and San Diego in Southern California have increasing homeless population due to housing cost. I remember 12 years ago, LA downtown have a smaller homeless popultion and they are usually out of the way. I visited my friend this year who lives in LA and homeless people are in every block of downtown which is barely a thing 12 years ago. This is the result of the housing cost crisis.
You might be wondering why the homeless couldn't move to somewhere else? The thing is they can't because metropolis cities have a better social services they can provide for homeless populations and larger access to facilities within a block than a suburban or rural cities. Majority of them don't have access to transportation that they can afford.
30 years ago, the homeless are a result of mental health, substance abuse and addiction crisis. Now, that changes because of other factors such as rising housing costs which is a bigger factor.
> 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/...