How do people become homeless?
The root of homelessness is extremely complex. People can suffer from poverty and become homeless due to lack of food security, employment opportunities, childcare, health care, public assistance, and education. The odds of experiencing homeless in the course of a year are about 1 in 200 for the general population, and the odds for someone at or below the poverty line fall to 1 in 25 according to estimates.
“We’ve got a big segment that’s women that have been in domestic violence, and they’re fleeing a perpetrator and become homeless. We have a youth shelter for those who timed out of foster care, and they don’t have any family network to keep them from falling through the cracks. We have immigrants. Sometimes they’ve come in here to the United States and they just don’t have any resources which leads to homelessness. People that have lost their jobs, you know Los Angeles is a very expensive place to live– the average one-bedroom apartment is $2,100. That’s expensive for people to be able to afford so they lose that, they end up living in their car and then ultimately, they find themselves homeless on the streets. You have people with substance abuse disorders and that becomes a real problem, and they find themselves having burned bridges and now living homeless on the streets. The same is true for mental health services. People experience mental health issues, and they can’t hold down a job, people don’t know how to deal with them so they just reject them, and then they’re living on the streets.”
– Ken Craft, CEO of the non-profit organization Hope of the Valley
Currently, there are over 550,000 people in the United States that are experiencing homelessness.
Although the face of homelessness is diverse, one of the major drivers is inaccessibility to affordable housing. A recent Harvard study stated that more than 38 million families are severely cost-burdened spending more than a third of their income on housing. The NLIHC also reported that the U.S. has an insufficient supply of affordable housing for low-income renters with about a 7 million housing shortage. By this, most households can be just one bill away from living on the streets.
█ HOUSING DISCRIMINATION
The experience of discrimination can influence access to housing, thus increasing the risks of homelessness and overall well-being. Discrimination is the unjust or prejudicial treatment towards different groups because of their race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, and/or religion. While the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination concerning housing-related activities, has helped decrease explicit forms of discrimination, there are still differences in treatment worth comparing that need to be addressed.
There is an issue of inaccessibility to affordable housing for marginalized populations such as Black, Native American, and Hispanic households with incomes at or below the poverty level. A meta-analysis published in 2020 of housing discrimination by race and ethnicity discovered that although trends of discrimination are declining, housing discrimination is still evident in recent decades.
White applicants still receive privileges such as greater options and better treatment in the searching process for housing, and their advantages in mortgage costs have remained the same. Lack of housing options for low-income and people of color populations influences accessibility to job opportunities, funding for education, inexpensive and nutritious food, and community spaces. As a result, these communities tend to be segregated and live near toxic facilities which increase health risks like chronic illness, cancer and asthma, and puts them more at danger during natural disasters.
Home equity is also a key source of independent wealth in America and discrimination plays a role in the distribution of wealth across all demographics. According to statistics, the homeownership rate among white Americans was 73.3% and 42.1% among Black Americans in 2019. This 31.2% gap was the largest since the beginning of the Census’ series in 1994. These disparities are the outcome racial discrimination that has carried on over decades.
In addition, studies found that Black renters were inordinately threatened with eviction and were disproportionately evicted from their homes as the Black eviction rate was more than double the White eviction rate.
Other examples of housing discrimination can include:
Age
Some property managers might favor a single young adult over a senior citizen or a family with young children. Families with young children have constituted the third most common form of discrimination complaint filed with fair housing groups. This may be due to the potential liability risks, increase in utility expenses, or because they’re pickier when housing markets are narrow. For lower-income seniors especially, there is a lack of independent housing choices that are affordable, appropriate, and integrated into the community. Usually, their only options are similar to nursing homes or nursing homes themselves. Age discrimination can affect these groups from securing their right to safe, affordable housing therefore causing high-cost burdens that can lead to homelessness.
Disabilities and Illness
People with disabilities may be discriminated against because of the belief that they are incapable of living independently and housing providers’ unwillingness to modify prohibitive policies against them. Homeseekers who are deaf are less likely to be informed about available housing units and are less likely to be spoken with. People who use wheelchairs are less likely to find accessible units and more likely to be ignored and/or denied reasonable accommodation requests. People with mental illnesses or substance abuse disorders also have difficulties receiving the stable accommodations they need, such as veterans who suffer from PTSD.
Sexual Orientation
The risks of homelessness are already high for the LGBTQ+ community. It was conducted in a survey that they may face eviction from their housing situations by relatives, child welfare placements, foster homes, and group homes and some also run away from their living situations when they feel unsafe due to domestic violence or violence from parents/parental figures. A community that already at risk of homelessness merely based on their sexual orientation also has significantly less access to a targeted rental unit than heterosexual couples. Studies reported that same-sex couples are less likely to receive an email response regarding advertised units and more unfavorable treatment than heterosexual couples in online rental housing markets. Although further studies are necessary to conclude, it’s also possible that in-person housing providers might discriminate against same-sex couples based on observable cues that would determine the home seekers’ sexual orientation.
Gender
Women are greatly impacted by discrimination as they are often primary caregivers in their family and are most likely to be victims of domestic violence. There have been reported cases where women have been denied loans because of being on maternity leave and out of work. Women also may be sexually assaulted and harassed by their landlords, real estate agents, mortgage lenders, and housing staff. For women, especially lower-income women, they may be afraid to report their abuse out of fear of being evicted from their home.
Discrimination is not secluded to just housing alone and is something that has been imbredded throughout decades in our society. A reality we must face is that being able to have access to opportunities and the ability to thrive is due to the sheer luck of our circumstances because the sooner we accept this reality, the sooner we can address the inequality across all domains of our planet that put restrictions on socioeconomic mobility.