The Causes of and Potential Solutions for Homelessness in the U.S.

Homelessness: Causes and Solutions

Today, more than 500,000 people are homeless in the United States, and many of these unfortunates are categorized as “chronically homeless,” meaning they have lived on the street for more than a year (McIntosh, 2023). Although the causes of homelessness are unique to each individual, they generally include a fundamental lack of affordable housing; income and resource disparities; family conflict and domestic violence; untreated mental health needs and addiction; post-incarceration barriers as well as systemic racism which disproportionately affect minority groups. Because homelessness translates into multiple social problems, identify potential solutions to this national public health threat represents a timely and valuable endeavor which has personal importance. To this end, the purpose of this paper is to describe the impact of homelessness in the U.S. as well as an examination concerning how this social issue affects both individuals and American society as a whole. In addition, an examination of recent developments and progress in solving homelessness is followed by a discussion concerning potential solutions to this urgent public health threat and a summary of the findings in the conclusion.

Impact of homelessness in the U.S.

Prior to the 19th century, homelessness was handled through localized religious charity. Rapidly creasing urbanization and industrialization, though, overwhelmed such limited relief. During the Great Depression era, a so-called “hobo” culture emerged which raised public awareness of unemployed transients which helped create the first public shelters specifically for the homeless. Nevertheless, public sentiment remained ambivalent between pity and disgust for people who were seen as lazy and even deviant from mainstream American society (DePastino, 2009). Unfortunately, this stigma persists unto the present where an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality characterizes many Americans’ views about the homeless. This mindset is also unfortunate because homelessness has multiple, severe negative impacts on affected individuals and families ranging from trauma to worsened physical and mental health. To the extent that the homeless because more visible will likely be the extent to which their suffering erodes the overall community quality of life and social cohesion while placing increased burdens on emergency services, thereby increasing costs across criminal justice, healthcare and social welfare systems (Cobb, 2020). Given the extent and costs of the problem, it would be reasonable to suggest that policymakers at all levels have worked tirelessly to formulate timely and effective responses, but this has not been the case as discussed further below.

Recent developments and progress

Despite the growing demand for affordable housing and increased nationwide attention on the homeless, the problem is actually getting worse. For example, there has been an approximately 2% increase in the number of Americans living in unsheltered conditions since 2017 (McIntosh, 2023). More troubling still, the Covid-19 pandemic and its corresponding effects on the economy have further exacerbated conditions for the homeless in many American cities. In this regard, McIntosh (2023) emphasizes that, “People living unsheltered tend to be concentrated in cities with booming economies and skyrocketing rents, but the problem is not limited to these locations” (p. 4). This makes homelessness a critically important public health issue today and demands timely and effective solutions as discussed below.

Solutions

Far too many Americans become homeless due to the precariousness of their employment status. Indeed, even people with full-time jobs may not be able to afford housing in many cities, and solving the myriad other problems that face the homeless requires housing them first, without the onerous requirements that many communities place on granting access to public housing. At the societal level, the homelessness problem must be elevated to a position of critical infrastructure where lawmakers recognize the threat that this situation has on national security since people can become trapped in a vicious cycle of homelessness without help (McIntosh, 2023).

There is no one-size-fits-all solution, however, that can address the homeless problem in the United States today. The current status of American cities – and indeed individual communities and neighborhoods – is a unique legacy of decades of antiquated zoning laws that intentionally targeted lower-income populations in general and minorities in particular for exclusion. This legacy, combined with ongoing disputes over which governmental agency and private sector organizations bear the brunt of responsibility for identifying and implementing potential solutions, makes progress in reducing the homeless population painfully slow.

Some proven strategies, such as “tiny house” communities, certainly represent a major step in the right direction in implementing housing first solutions, but even these otherwise-beneficial resources are viewed with the same skepticism and “not-in-my-backyard” mindset that has exacerbated the homeless problem over the years. Fortunately, most Americans have never been homeless but this means that the life-or-death struggles faced by the homeless population are not fully understood or appreciated by most people. Therefore, some policies worthy of advocacy include high-profile, successful outreach programs that publicize homeless remedial efforts as well as community-level public awareness campaigns that emphasize the fragility of many Americans’ housing status today, highlighting the fact that they may in fact be next unless and until something drastic is done to address the homeless problem in America today and in the future.