More Americans Are Ending Up Homeless—at a Record Rate - WSJ The data so far this year are up roughly 11% from 2022, a sharp jump that would represent by far the biggest recorded increase since the government started tracking comparable numbers in 2007. The next highest increase was a 2.7% jump in 2019, excluding an artificially high increase last year caused by pandemic counting interruptions. This year’s surge reflects a host of pressures around the U.S. such as rising housing costs, lack of affordable rental units and the nation’s continuing opioid crisis, according to reports from nonprofits and government agencies counting the homeless. “The Covid-relief funds provided a buffer,” said Donald Whitehead Jr., executive director at the National Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group. “We’re seeing what happens when those resources aren’t available.” “We are beginning to feel the full economic fallout of the Covid-19 era,” said Jamie Rife, executive director of the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative, the local continuum. Denver reported a 32% increase in homeless numbers in this year’s point-in-time count, among the largest increases in big cities. I bet this will only get worse, I'm surprised it wasn't higher, yet we have those that believe this economy is great
Rent, rent, rent. Only going to get worse and worse. Too many peoploe for too few homes. I've live in and around Denver for 22 years now and homelessness here has exploded in lock step with massive rent increases. There are always going to be those that choose to be homeless and drink and do drugs all day but over the past five years it has been normal people getting booted to the curb. There are no answers for this chit from either political party either.
It's pretty tragic ... anyone have a solution? I sure don't. Build more affordable housing? Is that subsidized .. and for how long?
That is one solution. I grew up in the 50s & 60s. The average house was around 1,000 sf with 2 or 3 BRs and 1 bath. Today the average new house built is probably over 3,000 sf.
Govt will eventually go after landlords/owners and force rents lower. Rent controls will increase and spread.
In a way they are. But developers are already banking on grants to build affordable housing. The whole thing is a mess. The real problem is people get upset if you actually want to discuss the root of the problem. The Family Unit! We are two focused on the 57 plus identities people have that handouts to developers and tax payer funded rent makes more sense than actually addressing the real issue.
I think he saying houses have become increasingly unaffordable because builders are opting to build 3000 sq ft houses, often on tiny lots, that are out of reach for the average person, much less poor people… in addition to drainage, run off, and growth porblems… The other horrible thing that is happening is that any small affordable house in a low/mid income areas are being snatched up almost instantaneously with cash offers from investment corporations.. They are bascially becoming corporate bidding wars that normal first time buyers can’t compete with. Florida needs a law that gives non-investors an opportunity to buy a home before they can sell to investors…. Not sure how that would work, but when my wife was doing real estate she would make dozens of full price offers on houses on behalf of her middle class clients, only to lose out to companies that went above the asking price and could close quickly due to it being a cash deal. I get why sellers perfer that, so not sure how to fix it… people are paying more in rent than a mortgage would cost them….
Yeah, I'm sure it's becasue of Capitalism. I blame the user NOT the product. Do you think that a socialist system, or a Communist system would be better? Honest question.
Tax breaks for wealthy vs artificially holding housing rates down for too long and creating a shat storm?
I don't know how it would be implemented, but I see no reason why a corporation should own any homes. I understand that people start LLCs and own 2-3 rental properties, and that's fine. But corporations like Zillow and Blackrock don't need to own single family homes. On top of that, like you mentioned, their target are the same homes entry level home buyers target. I don't care how the politicians solve that, but they need to. Rising home prices also leads to rising insurance costs, which we know Florida is already screwed on. Mix in the ever growing wealth gap. And here we are with people working full time that can't afford a home. No wonder the homeless population is growing. I believe Canada has talked about, or even implemented prohibiting foreign corporations from buying homes.
Yes, generally those systems look to house their population at state expense and build enough supply, not commodify housing and leave it to the market in which scarcity increases profits. Cuba has plenty of problems, but homelessness and healthcare arent among them. Even if you say Cuba crams a lot of people into small spaces, well, a social living situation beats a large scale homeless population living on the street.
I agree with a lot of this. It is a problem. But the root of the problem is we have so many splintered families. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. As eventually they are going to overbuild what can be afforded it seems.
I don’t know the current figures, but a couple of years ago, 25 percent of single family homes in duval county were owned by investment firms.
This is the longest a thread like this has ever gone without someone blaming Trump or Biden. Everyone give yourselves a big pat on the back.
Those systems may work to a minimum extent, while making everyone equally poor. That's not really an options for me. In the end we have the best system on earth and no other system is even close to as good as what we Americans have enjoyed... while socialist nations have continued to crumble and fallen behind the America. I'd rather we fix the Homeless than jump into a failed way of governance and ideology that lacks true freedom.
