Walk down any street in San Francisco, Seattle, or even smaller hubs like Boise, and the visible reality of people living in tents is impossible to ignore. It’s heavy. It’s everywhere. But if you ask ten different people what is the main cause for homelessness, you’ll get ten different answers. Some will point to addiction. Others blame mental health. A few might grumble about "personal choices" or "laziness."
Honestly? Most of those folks are wrong. Or, at the very least, they’re looking at the symptoms rather than the disease.
The data is pretty clear: it’s the rent. Specifically, the massive, growing gap between what people earn and what it costs to have a roof over their head. When you look at the research from places like the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), the math just stops working for millions of Americans. It’s not a moral failing; it’s a market failure.
Understanding the "Housing First" Reality
If you want to understand what is the main cause for homelessness, you have to look at Gregg Colburn and Clayton Aldern’s book, Homelessness is a Housing Problem. They did the heavy lifting. They compared cities with high rates of drug use and poverty to cities with high rates of homelessness. You’d think they’d align, right? Wrong. Places like West Virginia have massive opioid crises but relatively low homelessness compared to coastal cities. Why? Because a run-down house in West Virginia is still cheap. In Seattle, that same house is a million dollars.
Homelessness happens when the "housing buffer" disappears. In high-cost markets, there is no margin for error.
A single car breakdown or a missed week of work doesn't just mean a late bill. It means an eviction notice. Once you’re in that system, getting out is like trying to climb a greased pole. Landlords don’t want to rent to people with evictions on their record. Credit scores tank. Suddenly, you're "unemployable" because you don't have a shower or a consistent place to charge your phone. It’s a vicious cycle that starts with a price tag, not a pill.
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The Math of the Minimum Wage
Let’s talk numbers for a second. According to the NLIHC's 2024 "Out of Reach" report, a full-time worker needs to earn about $28.58 per hour to afford a modest two-bedroom rental at fair market rent.
The federal minimum wage? $7.25.
That’s a chasm. Even in states where the minimum wage is $15, you’re still falling short. People are working two or three jobs and still sleeping in their cars because the math literally does not add up. You can be the hardest worker in the world, but if the cheapest studio in town is $1,800 and you’re bringing home $2,200 after taxes, you’re one bad flu season away from the sidewalk.
The Myth of Mental Health as the Primary Driver
We see someone talking to themselves on a street corner and think, "That’s why they’re homeless." It’s a natural human reaction. But it’s a bit of a "chicken or the egg" situation. While mental health issues certainly make it harder to maintain a home, the stress of being unhoused actually causes or worsens psychiatric conditions.
Think about it.
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Try not sleeping for three days because you're worried about being robbed. Try not having a private place to use the bathroom. Your brain starts to fray. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has highlighted that the trauma of homelessness itself leads to cognitive decline and increased substance use as a coping mechanism. We see the person at their breaking point and assume that's how they started. Usually, it's the finish line of a very long, very painful race against rising costs.
Why Some Cities Fail While Others Succeed
Look at Houston. They’ve actually managed to reduce their homeless population significantly over the last decade. They didn't do it by arresting people or just opening more soup kitchens. They did it by focusing on "Permanent Supportive Housing." They realized that if you give someone a door that locks, the other problems—the drinking, the depression, the unemployment—become much easier to fix.
Contrast that with California. The state has invested billions, yet the numbers keep climbing. The reason? They aren't building enough. Regulation, NIMBYism (Not In My Backyard), and zoning laws make it nearly impossible to build the kind of "missing middle" housing—duplexes, townhomes, small apartments—that keep a city affordable. When the supply of housing is choked off, the people at the bottom of the economic ladder are the first ones pushed off the edge.
Systemic Failures and the Safety Net
We also have to talk about the "cliffs." Our social safety net is often designed in a way that punishes progress. If you’re receiving disability benefits or housing vouchers and you get a small raise at work, you might suddenly lose your eligibility for those programs. This "benefit cliff" can leave a person worse off than they were before the raise.
- Foster Care Aging Out: A huge percentage of homeless youth are kids who just turned 18 and were dropped by the foster system with $200 and a trash bag of clothes.
- Incarceration Loops: If you have a felony on your record, even a non-violent one from ten years ago, many corporate landlords will auto-reject your application.
- Medical Debt: One broken leg in a country without universal healthcare can lead to a $50,000 bill. For a middle-class family, that’s a crisis. For a low-income family, it’s an eviction.
The reality is that "what is the main cause for homelessness" is a question with a systemic answer. It's about a lack of inventory and a lack of protection for the most vulnerable.
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Addressing the Substance Abuse Argument
It’s the elephant in the room. Yes, many people on the street struggle with addiction. But let’s be real: plenty of wealthy people struggle with addiction, too. The difference is they have a living room to do it in.
When a person with a house struggles with alcohol, we call it a private struggle. When a person without a house does it, we call it the reason they’re homeless. The "Housing First" model proves that sobriety is much more attainable once the survival stress of living outdoors is removed. It’s hard to go to rehab when you don’t know where you’re sleeping tonight.
Actionable Insights: What Can Actually Be Done?
Stopping this crisis isn't about "awareness." Everyone is aware. It’s about policy and tangible shifts in how we view housing.
- Support Zoning Reform: If your city is debating whether to allow a small apartment complex in a neighborhood of single-family homes, show up to the meeting. Support it. More density equals lower prices.
- Legal Counsel for Evictions: In most cities, landlords have lawyers and tenants don't. Programs that provide free legal aid for eviction hearings have been shown to keep thousands of people in their homes for a fraction of the cost of a shelter bed.
- Expand the Voucher System: Currently, Section 8 housing vouchers are a lottery. Only about one in four people who qualify actually receive them. Expanding this to be an entitlement, like food stamps (SNAP), would provide an immediate floor for the poorest families.
- Medical-Legal Partnerships: Integrating legal help into healthcare settings can help patients fight unfair evictions or secure benefits before they lose their housing.
Ultimately, we have to stop viewing housing as a speculative investment and start viewing it as a basic human necessity. The main cause for homelessness isn't a lack of character; it's a lack of a place to live. Until the cost of living aligns with what people actually earn, the tents aren't going anywhere. We can't "service" our way out of a supply crisis. We have to build, we have to protect, and we have to realize that anyone is just one or two strokes of bad luck away from needing that same help.
The next time you see someone on the street, remember: they didn't choose to be there because they're "broken." They're there because the system that was supposed to house them broke first. The solution is simple in theory, but difficult in politics—make it possible for everyone to afford a place to call home.