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Causes of Homelessness

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How many times have you heard someone tell you that they want to be homeless?
Chances are – probably never. America’s homeless population has exploded since the mid 1980’s – in the northeast the homeless rate per 10,000 populations jumped from 4.2 to 20.5 between 1981 and 1989.

People become homeless as a result of multiple factors – with poverty being perhaps the most frequent underlying cause.

At the end of 2007 there were over 671,000 people experiencing homelessness on a given day in the United States. 42% of these individuals and families were living on the streets or in places not meant for human habitation. Throughout the course of 2007, at least 3.5 million people – more than 1% of the U.S. population – experienced homelessness at least once.

This issues explorer looks at several of the leading cause of homelessness, both at the systems level and at the individual level.

Now that you've learned about this issue, continue to learn by going to the next issue:

Homeless Populations ›