Why People Become Homeless…

In Hillsborough County, two trends are largely responsible for the rise in homelessness over the past 20-25 years: a growing shortage of affordable rental housing and a simultaneous increase in poverty. Below is an overview of current poverty and housing statistics, as well as additional factors contributing to homelessness.

Homelessness and poverty are inextricably linked. Poor people are frequently unable to pay for housing, food, childcare, health care, and education. Difficult choices must be made when limited resources cover only some of these necessities. Often it is housing, which absorbs a high proportion of income that must be dropped. Having a low income often means a person is an illness, an accident, or a paycheck away from living on the streets.

Two factors help account for increasing poverty: eroding employment opportunities for large segments of the workforce, and the declining value and availability of public assistance.

Declining wages have put housing out of reach for many workers: in Hillsborough County, an individual would need to make nearly $16 per hour at a forty hour work week be able to afford a two-bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent which is $816.00 per month. In fact, in Hillsborough County a minimum-wage worker would have to work 50 hours each week to afford a two-bedroom apartment at 30% of his or her income, which is the federal definition of affordable housing. In Hillsborough County, over 15,000 people are on waiting lists to obtain a dwelling in this range to be able to provide for their families. Unfortunately many of these families have “worst case housing needs,” which means they pay more than half their incomes for rent, living in severely substandard housing or both.

The declining value and availability of public assistance is another source of increasing poverty and homelessness. Current Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF welfare) benefits and Food Stamps combined are below the poverty level in Hillsborough County; in fact, the median TANF benefit for a family of three is approximately one-third of the poverty level. Thus, contrary to popular opinion, welfare does not provide relief from poverty.

People with disabilities must struggle to obtain and maintain stable housing. People receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits must spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs and are considered cost-burden to afford housing in Hillsborough County.

A lack of affordable housing and the limited scale of housing assistance programs have contributed to the current housing crisis and to homelessness.

The gap between the number of affordable housing units and the number of people needing them has created a housing crisis for poor people. The gap between the number of low-income renters and the amount of affordable housing units skyrocketed from a nonexistent gap to a shortage of 4.4 million affordable housing units - the largest shortfall on record.

Other Factors

Particularly within the context of poverty and the lack of affordable housing, certain additional factors may push people into homelessness. Other major factors that can contribute to homelessness include the following:

Lack of Affordable Health Care: For families and individuals struggling to pay the rent, a serious illness or disability can start a downward spiral into homelessness, beginning with a lost job, depletion of savings to pay for care, and eventual eviction.

Domestic Violence: Battered women who live in poverty are often forced to choose between abusive relationships and homelessness. In a study of 777 homeless parents (the majority of whom were mothers) in ten U.S. cities, 22% said they had left their last place of residence because of domestic violence. Nationally, approximately half of all women and children experiencing homelessness are fleeing domestic violence.

Mental Illness: In Hillsborough County approximately 23% of the single adult homeless population suffers from some form of severe and persistent mental illness. Despite the disproportionate number of severely mentally ill people among the homeless population, increases in homelessness are not attributable to the release of severely mentally ill people from institutions. Most patients were released from mental hospitals in the 1950s and 1960s, yet vast increases in homelessness did not occur until the 1980s, when incomes and housing options for those living on the margins began to diminish rapidly. However, many mentally ill homeless people are unable to obtain access to supportive housing and/or other treatment services. The mental health support services most needed include case management, housing, and treatment.

Addiction Disorders: The relationship between addiction and homelessness is complex and controversial. While rates of alcohol and drug abuse are disproportionately high among the homeless population, the increase in homelessness over the past two decades cannot be explained by addiction alone. Many people who are addicted to alcohol and drugs never become homeless, but people who are poor and addicted are clearly at increased risk of homelessness.

Conclusion
Homelessness results from a complex set of circumstances, which require people to choose between food, shelter, and other basic needs. Only a concerted effort to ensure jobs that pay a living wage, adequate support for those who cannot work, affordable housing, and access to health care will bring an end to homelessness.