Low Incomes, a Lack of Affordable Housing, and Weak Safety Nets Drive Record High Homelessness
When people cannot afford to pay rent, homelessness increases. America’s housing affordability crisis is caused by deeply rooted challenges:
- not enough deeply affordable housing development and preservation;
- inadequate rental assistance programs, persistently low incomes, and weak safety nets like social security that help people pay for housing;
- the end of federal COVID-19 relief funds, which temporarily expanded assistance programs and household incomes; and
- discriminatory policies and practices that make it even harder for certain groups to find housing.
The lack of deeply affordable housing is the primary cause of homelessness. For many, rising costs create an impossible choice between paying for housing and other necessities like healthcare, groceries, or clothing.
Only 35 affordable and available rental homes exist for every 100 extremely low-income renter households. Year after year, this number stays the same or shifts incrementally as the development and preservation of affordable housing does not keep up with demand. Meanwhile, elected officials have failed to fix the problem, especially by allocating too few resources to programs that help people pay for increasingly expensive rents.