How Homeless People Become Homeless

Invisible People ^ | December 28, 2019 | Kayla Robbins

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Common life events that can cause homelessness

You’ve heard it before: the root cause of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing.

That’s still true. However, anyone can become homeless. Setting aside the structural factors and systemic failures, here are the most common individual causes of homelessness.

Because this is a more personal look at the subject, I’ve included examples of someone who became homeless in these various ways.

Eviction or Foreclosure

Unsurprisingly, losing your home can result in homelessness. It did for William when he lost his Detroit home to foreclosure in 2007 while undergoing treatment for colon cancer. It’s a huge change, and with the limited notice you’re sometimes given, it’s incredibly difficult to scrape together enough money for a security deposit along with first and last month’s rent. Rosalind is one such person who was evicted from her apartment and subsequently became homeless. That was four years ago now.

With housing prices rising across the country, many find themselves suddenly priced out of an apartment they’ve rented for years. Without the extra funds when prices increase by 50, 100, or even 200 percent, people must prepare for eviction.

Even worse, you may not even be given the option of paying ridiculously inflated rent. Your landlord may just decide to kick you out in order to sell the property for a hefty price. Or, he may turn your unit into a more lucrative, short-term vacation rental. This increase in malicious evictions is what led the UK government to ban no-fault evictions, though many individuals and families who became homeless as a result of these evictions in previous years are still without housing.

[Askel5]

He calls himself a hermit, whose business it is to pray — a staretz, to be precise

I’ve been thinking a lot about this sort of thing in preparation for a Camino of sorts next spring.

Another reason I want to canvas the lot. They’re good company for redirecting one’s thoughts. I even rebought last year a few books I already had because I needed the counsel of old friends. =)