Analysis Of Affordable Housing: The Primary Cause Of Homelessness

Research shows that the lack of affordable housing is the primary cause of homelessness, where over 5 million homes have already been foreclosed since 2008. The growing gap between wage earnings and the high cost of housing in the United States has left millions unable to make ends meet, increasing the number of people who are now homeless due to foreclosures. According to the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) an estimated 12 million renter and homeowner households spend more than 50 percent of their annual income in order to pay for housing. HUD also notes that an acceptable percentage of monthly income should be no more than 30 percent and anything above 30 percent will prevent people from affording not only housing but
the most basic life necessities as well. Homelessness is essentially the result of a person’s or family’s inability to afford or maintain housing and in order to end homelessness once in for all affordable and permanent housing is vital. Housing First is an approach that centers on providing permanent and affordable housing for the homeless as quick as possible. The Housing First approach has helped achieve this by providing housing assistance, case management and supportive services that are responsive to the individual or family needs after they are housed to reduce the time people spend being homeless and prevent homelessness. This approach has proven to solve and eliminate chronic homeless by giving these homeless people a stability that cannot be found in temporary solutions such as shelters and halfway houses. In the entire state of Utah there are less than 300 homeless people which they achieved using the Housing First approach. Since 2005 Utah has reduced their homeless population by almost 75 percent by giving them access to permanent and affordable housing with “no strings attached”.