Homelessness Relation to the Lack of Affordable Housing

(Laurel Kadas)

The situation around homelessness revolves around many variables. From opioid addiction, unemployment, and the steep rise in the housing market. Focusing specifically on the west coast, cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle, have all experienced a rise in homeless over the last decade. The biggest factor with these three west coast states though, is the lack of affordable housing. 

According to a study by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2016, the estimated national average of homelessness was experiencing an overall decline in homelessness. Even so, California and Oregon, at the time of these studies, had the highest rates of unsheltered homelessness: California with 66.4% and Oregon with 60.5%. Overall, California, Oregon, and Washington combined for a total estimate of 152,207 homeless people.(1) In an article by Willamette Weekly, Nigel Jaquiss also highlights how in Portland, OR. more people are accustomed to living with their parents, showing a trend among young adults of staying with them for a longer period, or opting to live with roommates, in order to decrease the payment in rent they need to make.(2)

According to Juan Carlos Ordóñez, “a quarter of all renters pay more than half their income on housing.”(3) This leads to skipping meals, or avoiding doctor visits. This is a category that I fall under. Looking at my numbers as a college student, I make roughly 1000 a month. I am split pretty thin between classes and a part time job, where I work roughly 15-20 hours a week. I get paid just over the city minimum of 12.00 dollars, and I live in a house where the rent is roughly 2000 dollars. To be able to afford the rent, I live far from the downtown area, with 3 roommates. Putting my rent, not including utilities, at around 500 dollars. Leaving me with just half of my money for the month. But then include the gas bill, the internet bill, and the electric bill, which pushes close to 200, and then include the water bill that comes every 3 months, pushing it up to 300. All these numbers are split between the four of us, as well. So, I usually get left with roughly 100-200 dollars a month to spend on necessities, such as food and transportation to campus. That is from the perspective of a college. Now, let’s say I was working full time, but had a family, this issue would still be a problem that could affect even more people, and push them towards homelessness. 

The issues behind the increase in housing prices, and the struggle to keep up with has led to people not able to have a home, resorting to living in the streets, or looking for any sheltered homes where they could stay for a few days. It’s important to fund resources that could help people in gaining time to bounce back, and having people who volunteer towards helping them have something to eat for the day and having a shelter run well so that people could use it. Especially, since there are so many people who live paycheck to paycheck, where if one thing went wrong, they could potentially end up in the streets. 

Sources

1. https://files.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2016-AHAR-Part-1.pdf

2. https://www.wweek.com/news/2019/10/10/portlands-housing-crisis-would-be-a-lot-worse-if-so-many-20-and-30-somethings-werent-living-with-their-parents/

3. https://www.ocpp.org/2018/03/20/epicenter-oregons-housing-crisis/