What is Homelessness?
Homelessness is the lack of a permanent and safe place to live. It’s a problem that affects people of all ages and backgrounds, in urban, suburban, and rural communities. People become homeless for a variety of reasons, including periods of unemployment or waning public assistance programs, domestic abuse, and mental illness. There is a wide range of solutions to the problem, from finding temporary housing to getting jobs and training. Despite these efforts, however, many people remain homeless.
The complexity underlying housing insecurity carries important implications for systematic responses to homelessness. For example, extensive heterogeneity exists in the homeless population: individuals experiencing severe mental health challenges may require ongoing intensive supports to prevent re-homelessness, while pregnant teens with few connections to supportive adults have a different set of needs. This diversity requires flexibility and tailoring of resources to promote stability for all.
It is essential to address the root causes of homelessness. This means addressing poverty, insufficient incomes, a housing shortage, and the increasing prevalence of substandard housing. It also involves addressing urbanization and its impact on low-income communities, land speculation, privatization of civic services, and destruction or displacement caused by conflicts and natural disasters. It is critical to invest maximum available resources in ensuring that States have the capacity to meet their obligations to ensure everyone has access to adequate housing (General Comment No. 3, para. 14).
A definition of homelessness is crucial to understanding the full scope of this issue. The United Nations defines homelessness as a state of being without secure and affordable housing, which is considered an essential right under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The United Nations defines it as “a situation of being without a fixed or regular address, which includes living in shelters that are not fit for human habitation, staying in other places not meant for human habitation, such as parks, under bridges, or in doorways of private buildings, sleeping outside, or using improvised shelter.”
According to New York City Department of Homeless Services data, most homeless people slept in the City’s system in 2023 for at least 412 days, on average. This includes single adults, parents with children, and youth. Black and Hispanic/Latinx New Yorkers are disproportionately affected by homelessness, with 56 percent of heads of households in shelters being Black and 32 percent being Hispanic/Latinx.
In California, based on point-in-time data in February 2022, adults without children made up more than 80% of the homeless population. Families with children and unaccompanied youth were the next largest groups of people who experienced homelessness. The remainder were comprised of people who were unsheltered, staying in motels or hotels, or living in other situations that do not meet the McKinney-Vento Act’s definition of homelessness. The data also indicates that the majority of people experiencing homelessness in California are residing in metropolitan areas. However, the number of unhoused people is growing in rural and suburban counties, as well. This is due to rising housing costs and the overall lack of affordable housing across the state.