The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently released its Annual Point in Time (PIT) Homeless count, revealing a concerning 12% increase in homelessness, totaling 70,650 more individuals without stable housing.
This revelation has prompted experts to delve into the intricate relationship between homelessness and the escalating cost of rent across American cities.
Across New Jersey, there is a shortage of rental homes affordable and available to extremely low-income households (ELI), whose incomes are at or below the poverty guideline or 30% of their area median income (AMI).
Many of these households are severely cost-burdened, spending more than half of their income on housing, and poor households are more likely than others to sacrifice other necessities like healthy food and healthcare to pay the rent or experience situations like evictions.
“The surge in homelessness is a direct consequence of rising rent prices,” said Lisa McCormick, who said voters must demand immediate and comprehensive action from policymakers at all levels. “People are advocating for affordable, quality, and safe housing as a fundamental right for all, and for urging a collective commitment to solving the homelessness crisis, but elected officials seem only interested in raising money so until citizens start voting smarter it would be unrealistic to expect changes.”
An analysis conducted by The Pew Charitable Trusts scrutinized rent prices and homelessness data from 2017 to 2022, uncovering a clear correlation between high homelessness rates and soaring rents in urban areas.
The study identified a direct connection, indicating that homelessness tends to increase in tandem with rising rent prices.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated housing instability and homelessness across the country, including New Jersey,” said McCormick. “New Jersey faces a shortage of affordable housing units, making it difficult for low-income individuals and families to find stable living situations. While rents have been rising, wages have not kept pace, making it harder for people to afford housing.”
McCormick warned that institutional housing investors are buying us single-family homes and corporate landlords are quick to resort to evictions, aggressive rent increases, or slacking on repairs to ensure big profits to shareholders.
In early 2022, 28% of home sales were to investors buying single-family homes. This increase in investor activity persisted even as owner-occupant purchases declined, research from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies found.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, introduced the Stop Predatory Investing Act to address the adverse effects on communities where large private investment companies, are buying properties, raising rents, and providing inadequate maintenance.
“Places like Newark, Camden, Trenton, Elizabeth, Paterson, Passaic, Jersey City, Atlantic City, and Long Branch, have witnessed alarming spikes in homelessness,” said McCormick, who said academic research consistently supports the notion that housing costs play a pivotal role in driving homelessness.
Factors such as rent, rent-to-income ratios, price-to-income ratios, and home prices have a substantial impact on homelessness rates. Interventions addressing housing costs, either through direct housing provision or subsidies, have proven effective in curbing homelessness.
“On any given night in America over 580,000 people experience homelessness, including individuals and families living in shelters, transitional housing, or on the streets,” said McCormick. “There are more than 15 million vacant housing units, representing more than ten percent of the country’s total housing inventory.”
The National Homelessness Law Center emphasized the critical role of policy and budget choices in influencing homelessness trends.
“More people are homeless because housing is simply too expensive. Politicians must resist the false bill of goods being sold by venture fund billionaires that further their arrest and police heavy response to homelessness and stay focused on the proven solution: housing,” said Law Center Executive Director Antonia Fasanelli. “Our work must be driven by the foundational question, ‘what do we need to do so that, next year, the PIT shows that nobody in America is homeless.’”
Fasanelli lamented the high rent burden faced by a growing number of Americans, citing policy decisions impacting housing availability, minimum wages, and economic stability. The center affirmed its commitment to advocating for the right to affordable, quality, and safe housing for all.
Reflecting on the PIT results, Fasanelli urged Congress and the Biden administration to prioritize homelessness as a critical issue, emphasizing the need for action and funding. They called for investments in proven solutions, drawing attention to successful approaches that have significantly reduced veteran homelessness.
Concerningly, the surge in homelessness coincides with a well-funded effort to undermine effective solutions, such as the housing and services approach.
Fasanelli also decried the criminalization of homelessness, pointing out that punitive measures exacerbate the issue and divert resources that could be used to provide essential support.
“The PIT results highlighted the disproportionate impact of homelessness on people of color, particularly Black, Latinx, indigenous people, and Asian Americans,” said Fasanelli, who urged those in power to address homelessness through a lens of racial justice, emphasizing the need for collective solutions to systemic issues.
The nonprofit sector, represented by various partners across the country, is working tirelessly to connect individuals with housing. Despite these efforts, decades of disinvestment in housing and essential needs have led to an increase in homelessness.
Fasanelli stressed the urgent need for communities to create affordable housing for all segments of the population.
The surge in homelessness, as indicated by the PIT results, underscores the critical need for comprehensive and collective solutions.
With housing costs identified as a primary driver of homelessness, the call for action is now more urgent than ever. The focus should be on real solutions, according to McCormick who suggested housing coupled with services, to ensure that no one in America is left without a home.