Homelessness: A Social issue

Abstract

The increased prevalence of homelessness in the US is widely thought to have resulted from large social factors: improvements in the institutionalization of the mentally ill, increases in opioid use and alcohol consumption, etc. A systematic test of the alternative theory is stated in this paper that differences in homelessness result from changed factors in the housing market and in the distribution of income.In US urban areas, we basically use all the comprehensive details available on homelessness-census counts, shelter bed counts, transfer payment data, and assessments of administration entities. We use this data to measure the impact on the rate of homelessness of house rates, vacancies, and rent-income ratios.Our findings indicate that basic economic rules regulating housing supply and prices, and the increase in demand for low-quality housing, explain much of the difference in homelessness among US metropolitan housing markets. In comparison, reasonably minor increases in the cost or supply of rental accommodation will greatly reduce the rate of homelessness in the US.