Lots has been written in terms of the social context of homelessness. Often attributing the causes due to mental illness, previous criminal activity and addiction.
I've been wondering, how much of a role (if any) does home price or rent play into the phenomenon of homelessness?
Im guessing estimates will be different depending region, but I'd like to know if the relationship is consistent across the board.
So answers for this topic will be a bit... for lack of better term, murky.. or "grey area".
The pricing of homes (or rent) is the strongest correlated factor to homelessness. For example, you can have a great job, make erm... $100k a year salary... and have no debt. But if housing prices are in the multi millions across the board and rent is super high because of it... your salary doesn't matter at that point. Nor does an addiction. Or a mental illness. Yes they have a factor of correlation statistically, but the overwhelming correlative factor is income vs price. If you can't afford it, you wont have it. It gets real grey area when you factor in things like, "well maybe he/she cant afford it because they spend too much on drugs". That is definitely a factor, but the statistical correlation will almost always be a lower significance than the price of not being homeless(aka a house or apartment).
So to answer your question directly: The relationship is highly consistent across the board; but of course you will have your outliers.
