Quote:
Originally Posted by pdxtex
^^^^^ppl overthink it. homeless individuals represent about 1/10 of a single percent of the entire US populous so 99.9 percent of Americans figured out how not to be homeless. the things we need to address most are upstream. mental health treatment, addiction, stuff like that. by the time someone is sleeping in a tent in downtown Portland, a whole litany of shit has already transpired. tons of policy makers try to blame housing affordability but thats just one factor in a complex situation.
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While "point in time" homeless count estimates have
been around 650,000 in recent years (ie. on any given night, there will be that many people without a home to go back to), or 0.2% of the American population; by some estimates there are as many as 26 million people in the US who
have at some point experienced homelessness.
In Canada, where the cost of living is even worse, up to 1% of the population will be homeless at some point in the year, and
11% of the population have experienced homelessness in their lifetimes.
While the chronically homeless tend to have addiction and/or mental health issues, there are a hell of a lot more poor & working class people who are just a missed paycheck away from sleeping in their car, crashing at a friend's place, or ending up in a shelter. See the rise of the
"working homeless".