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Homelessness: How Did We Come to Recognize It as Such a 
Problem and the Possible Ways to Solve It 

Steven Russell 
Department of Sociology 

 California State University, Los Angeles 
ABSTRACT 
This paper explores how homelessness in the United States has 
developed into a significant social issue. It examines key causes 
such as economic instability, lack of affordable housing, and 
systemic inequality. Additionally, vulnerable populations such as 
people of color, LGBTQ+ youth, and individuals from low-
income communities who are disproportionately impacted due to 
intersecting forms of discrimination are also discussed. Using a 
conflict theory framework, this paper explores how systemic 
inequalities and corporate interests contribute to the exploitation 
of the working class, deepening poverty and fueling 
homelessness. It also discusses the harsh conditions faced by 
unhoused individuals and assesses potential solutions, all of which 
will come with high financial costs, reaching billions of dollars 
annually. Through a focus on both systemic factors and individual 
experiences of homelessness, my paper emphasizes the need for 
comprehensive strategies to reduce homelessness and its long-
term societal impact. 
 
Homelessness is one of the most pressing humanitarian and 
sociological crises in modern society, shaped by systemic 
economic inequality, inadequate government intervention, and 
structural barriers such as the high cost of living and insufficient 
mental health resources. According to the U.S. Department of 
Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2023 Annual 
Homeless Assessment Report (de Sousa et al. 2023), California 
accounts for nearly 30% of the nation’s homeless population, with 
Los Angeles having the highest number of unsheltered individuals 
in the country. From a sociological perspective, the conflict theory 
framework highlights how economic disparities and power 
imbalances contribute to the persistence of homelessness, as those 
in lower socioeconomic classes struggle to access stable housing 
while wealthier individuals benefit from policies that prioritize 
real estate development over affordable housing (Nickerson 



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2023). Despite national inaction on the crisis, California has 
implemented some of the most ambitious policy efforts to address 
homelessness. Recent initiatives such as Governor Gavin 
Newsom’s (2022) $15.3 billion Homekey and Project Roomkey 
programs, which convert vacant spaces into temporary and long-
term housing, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, City of Los 
Angeles’s (2024) Inside Safe initiative, aimed at rapidly moving 
unhoused individuals into shelters, demonstrate a localized 
commitment to reducing homelessness. However, while these 
policies have made progress, the programs still have room for 
improvement as the crisis persists due to ongoing structural 
challenges, requiring a coordinated federal, state, and local 
response. This paper will explore the root causes of homelessness, 
societal neglect of the issue, and how it relates to conflict theory 
along with comprehensive strategies needed to create long-term 
solutions at both the state and national levels. 
 
CAUSES OF HOMELESSNESS 
Before solving homelessness, it must first be understood how it 
occurs. Homelessness can happen for several reasons including 
the loss of a loved one, accumulating debt, mental illness, 
socioeconomic status, natural disasters, and being kicked out of 
their home as in the case of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer 
(LGBTQ+) youth. Synovec (2020:233) reports, “Individuals 
experiencing homelessness also manage significant personal 
factors, such as chronic health conditions, histories of trauma, and 
limited economic and social support . . . may also have long and 
familiar histories of living in poverty and housing instability.” 
Another reason is mental health issues, as individuals with 
persistent mental illness are more likely to experience repeated 
and longer periods of homelessness compared to those who are 
not experiencing extensive mental health issues, with the 
homeless population having a greater prevalence of mental health 
problems when compared with the general public (Piat et al. 
2014). In fact, a study conducted from 2021 until 2022 (Statista 
Research Department 2023) found that 66% of homeless adults in 
California suffer from some sort of mental health condition with 
anxiety and depression being at the top. Homelessness can occur 
after foster care with an estimated 22% of all children who age-



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out of foster care will become homeless within a year 
(Administration for Children and Families 2024) due to the 
individual not having the proper resources or support to transition 
out of the foster care system. In addition to foster care youth, 
LGBTQ+ youth are also at a disadvantage when it comes to being 
homeless when compared with their cisgender and heterosexual 
counterparts. 
 
LGBTQ+ YOUTH 
When it comes to youth homeless populations, LGBTQ+ 
identifying individuals have a higher chance of becoming 
homeless. Of the estimated 1.6 million youth aged 15 to 24 who 
experience homelessness each year, approximately 40% identify 
as LGBTQ+, even though they make up only about 7% of the total 
youth population (Lesley University n.d.). This is because 
“LGBTQI+ youth are at greater risk of homelessness because they 
are affected both by the factors which precipitate homelessness 
among the young population in general and by additional 
challenges related to sexuality and/ or gender identity which can 
directly or indirectly result in homelessness” (Quilty and Norris 
2022:2). Many LGBTQ+ youth are left homeless because of 
disagreements with their parents or legal guardian for coming out 
or fear regarding their sexual orientation or gender identity. The 
National Coalition for the Homeless mention that in a survey 
administered by the Williams Institute at UCLA, 68% of 
LGBTQ+ youth were homeless due to a history of family 
rejection, 65% because of mental health issues, and 54% because 
they had a history of family abuse. From an online survey 
conducted by The Trevor Project (2021) with 34,759 LGBTQ+ 
youth respondents, 34% live in the South, 25% live in the West 
and in the Midwest, and 16% living in the Northeast. While there 
is no precise number of LGBTQ+ youth in the South, they might 
have a harder time accessing safe spaces with most states that have 
anti-LGBTQ laws and no protection laws for LGBTQ+ 
individuals, are predominantly in the southern region of the 
United States. There are also more LGBTQ+ youth of color in the 
South, with 48%, when compared to other regions. In addition to 
anti-LGBTQ laws, about 46% of LGBTQ+ youth in the South 
reported that they lived in a somewhat or very unaccepting 



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community and had lower rates of access to LGBTQ+ affirming 
spaces in those areas including homes, schools, workplaces, and 
community events (Trevor Project 2021). When LGBTQ+ youth 
are disowned, publicly ostracized, have no access to support 
system, or safe spaces, it could then lead to poor mental health as 
well as attempted suicide. In the 2019 Southern LGBTQ Health 
Survey, it was found that 69% of LGBTQ+ adults, aged 18 to 24, 
had fair or poor mental health (Harless, et al., 2019). The Trevor 
Project (2021) found that LGBTQ+ youth in the South had 9% 
greater odds of suicide attempts in contrast to other regions with 
16% of LGBTQ+ youth attempting suicide in the South when 
compared to 14% divided between the other regions. Furthermore, 
LGBTQ+ youth in somewhat or very unaccepting communities 
had a 20% suicide attempt rate with those in ‘somewhat or very 
accepting’ communities have a 13% suicide attempt rate. There 
are also no federal regulations in relation to LGBTQ+ youth 
services as Lesley University (n.d.) declares:  

There are currently no federal programs specifically 
designed to meet the needs of gay and transgender 
homeless youth. This means that, in many cases, LGBT 
youth are left without the resources and assistance 
provided to other homeless populations. Human services 
professionals should have a clear understanding of the 
unique needs, risk factors, and challenges facing LGBT 
homeless youth in order to design and deliver the best 
possible services.  

Homelessness is a huge social issue and can ruin a person’s life 
and deteriorate their mental health as it disproportionately affects 
LGBTQ+ youth, especially youth of color and those from low-
income communities. Furthermore, homeless individuals do not 
have the best living conditions as they are, for the most part, on 
the streets and are subject to substance abuse, crime, and 
sometimes harassment by the public. 
 
LIVING CONDITIONS 
Just as how someone becomes homeless, each individual’s living 
conditions will vary. The definition for homelessness, as defined 
by the federal government is “An individual or family who lacks 
a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, such as those 



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living in emergency shelters, transitional housing, or places not 
meant for habitation” (SAMHSA 2018). Using this definition, a 
lot more people are considered homeless than just those who are 
unfortunate enough to be on the street, including those who are 
staying with family and sleeping on the floor or anywhere else that 
is not designed to be a sleeping area. Another example of living 
and being homeless is “couch surfing” (Huerta and Gutierrez-Vera 
2020:30) where someone might stay with different people at 
different times to have a place to stay and not overstay their 
welcome at any one location.  

In the streets of Los Angeles, it’s very common to see 
homeless people setting up tents as a main way of staying 
sheltered, especially in extreme weather such as rain or excessive 
heat. These tents will be set up in various places such as riverbeds, 
on the side of a highway, on the sidewalk, in parks, and more. If 
they do not have a tent, then they are most likely wrapped up in a 
blanket, or otherwise, somewhere on the sidewalk or sleeping at 
covered bus stops. This is also a reason why many bus stops will 
have armrests in between seats to prevent the homeless from 
sleeping there, which has come under fire from activists for its 
unwelcoming environment which is known as architectural 
discrimination or hostile architecture. In addition, some transients 
will use a shopping cart to move the things they have collected 
such as bottles and cans to recycle for money and personal items.  

And because the homeless population usually is not 
sheltered indoors, a study (Montgomery et al. 2016:765) was 
conducted and found that homeless people report poorer health 
compared with those who are not homeless:  

People living in unsheltered situations–staying at a 
primary nighttime residence not intended for habitation 
(e.g., streets, parks, cars, abandoned buildings)–often 
report poorer health and more symptoms of physical 
illness than their sheltered counterparts. Unsheltered 
people frequently have a serious mental illness, cognitive 
disorders, substance use disorders, co-occurring mental 
health and substance use conditions, and chronic health 
conditions.  

This connects to how substance abuse plagues the homeless 
population. Research (Johnson and Fendrich 2007:212) has shown 



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that those “comparing homeless and non-homeless individuals 
have also documented substantially higher rates of drug and 
alcohol abuse among the homeless . . . In Los Angeles, age, 
race/ethnicity, and gender-adjusted estimates indicated that 
homeless people were more than twice as likely than non-
homeless people to have both lifetime and 6-month DSM . . . 
substance use disorders.” The use of drugs could be used as a way 
to deal with stress, to cope with the pressures of being homeless, 
or even help them forget and take them to a ‘better place.’ 
 
TROUBLE GETTING A JOB AND THE COVID-19 
PANDEMIC 
In addition to a person experiencing homelessness’ living 
conditions, it does not improve their situation when other people 
do not look their way or acknowledge them, only to look at them 
in disgust and treat the individual as less than human. Sarver 
(2023) notes that the most common question that crosses people’s 
minds in regard to homelessness is, “Why don’t you just go get a 
job?” But getting a job is not as easy as it may seem. A lot of 
homeless individuals are unable to get a job because applicants 
need to be able to provide or maintain a Social Security number, 
an ID, a phone, their own professional work clothes, reliable 
transportation, good hygiene, and a home address or at least a PO 
box which costs money; most of these things are unobtainable or 
missing for many homeless individuals. Sarver (2023) 
additionally states, “There’s a shortage of good, quality jobs that 
meet workers’ needs and support their well-being, including their 
economic security. This shortage is the result of multiple factors, 
including decades of offshoring, wage stagnation, lack of benefits, 
and increasingly aggressive anti-union activity.” Even individuals 
and families with homes found it hard to get or even keep a job 
during the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. 

The COVID-19 pandemic came like a bullet train, with 
the U.S. not well equipped or prepared to deal with it especially 
as former President Trump and his administration failed to take 
serious action. As a result, an estimated 103 million American 
citizens got sick, about 6 million were hospitalized, and almost 2 
million people died. People lost their family, their friends, any 
kind of social interaction, as well as their jobs. According to a 



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study completed by CEW (2021), a cumulative 23 million jobs 
were lost. This loss of jobs had indirectly contributed to the 
growing homeless population. The pandemic also affected the 
homeless population as they are more vulnerable to sickness, as 
aforementioned, and were not given any personal protective 
equipment, especially the ones living on the street at the time. 
However, since the coronavirus was spread through the air, the 
homeless living in shelters tested positive for the virus compared 
with those living on the streets. According to Yoon et al. (2021), 
out of 2,875 homeless people tested in Atlanta, Georgia, only 46 
total tested positive, with 36 being sheltered and only 3 being 
unsheltered along with 7 positive cases for the staff. 
 
COST OF LIVING AND HOUSING COSTS 
In today’s economy, the homeless population continues to grow 
not only due to an individual’s mental and physical health, 
substance abuse, or being displaced, but also because the federal 
minimum wage has been stagnant since 2009, and housing costs 
are on the rise all across the country. Sarver (2023) states, “It’s 
now more evident than ever that homelessness is the result of 
failed policies that have perpetuated inequitable access to quality 
education, health care, and economic opportunity and that 
communities with rapidly increasing housing costs have faced the 
brunt of the homelessness crisis.” This is because, federally, the 
minimum wage is $7.25 and, according to Rent Cafe (n.d.), the 
average monthly rent in the United States is $1,713 with the 
average square foot being 899. The lowest rent in the United States 
is in Oklahoma with an average of $989 for an average of 856 
square feet, which is not sustainable enough for those making only 
$7.25 per hour. The highest rent in the country being in 
Massachusetts at an average of $2,714 with an average of 888 
square feet, which is not sustainable enough for those only making 
$15 per hour. The average rent in California is $2,531 along an 
average square foot of 851 with a minimum wage of $16. High 
rent costs and low wages force people to live with one or maybe 
two more people to cover the cost of rent only, not including the 
utilities, groceries, and other monthly bills such as insurance, a 
phone bill, car payments, and so forth. The rising cost of living 
has become so noticeable that it has permeated pop culture, 



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particularly among Generation Z, who often use humor as a 
coping mechanism. This is exemplified by internet memes 
containing exaggerated statements such as, “It costs me $20 to 
breathe,” which, while humorous, it reflects a deep concern and 
frustration with economic challenges. However, it is a sad reality 
that no one in the U.S. government is trying to have its citizens 
make a comfortable and livable wage. And because people fall 
behind on rent and get evicted, it only pushes them further to being 
homeless as an individual cannot pay the excessively high rent 
along with several late fees. And once evicted, it will show up on 
their credit report and make it even more difficult to get into a 
different apartment. Unless rent is controlled and capped, more 
people will eventually become homeless in the United States. 

The rent prices in the country at this current moment are 
quite egregious and most blue-collar Americans cannot afford to 
live on their own. As mentioned before, many individuals within 
the homeless population suffer from certain disabilities, whether 
it be mental or physical. Burns et al. (2021:1719) explain, 
“Skyrocketing housing prices have been contributing to a major 
public health problem in America for years . . . Persons with 
disabilities are at heightened risk for not only feeling the economic 
impact of the [COVID-19] pandemic but also for having poor 
health and safety outcomes resulting from the associated 
affordable housing challenges.” Not only are housing costs 
expensive for the average American but, those living with a 
disability statistically have it harder as it is just an added obstacle 
for them to deal with. Burns et al. go on to say that the average 
monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment is roughly 131% of 
monthly income for a person living with a disability and although 
affordable living options exist for people with disabilities, they 
typically involve lengthy waitlists. This issue is linked to the 
persistently high cost of housing, a challenge that can be traced 
back to the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and its long-term 
impact on the housing market.  

In 2007, the Great Recession started and peaked in 2008 
when the U.S. Gross Domestic Product fell 4.3%, the 
unemployment rate doubled to over 10%, the price of a home fell 
about 30%, and the S&P 500 was down 57% from its usual highs 
(Duggan 2023). Burns et al. (2021:1720) note:  



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Since the Great Recession of 2008, homeownership rates 
have fallen drastically resulting in spikes in foreclosures 
and short sales. As a result, more people have been renting 
homes leading to significant increases in rental costs for 
individuals and families . . . the COVID-19 pandemic has 
had a swift and substantial economic impact, further 
contributing to the crisis. Housing costs are increasing 
significantly in many cities as the demand for housing is 
high.  

The United States is not the only country in the world facing a 
housing crisis, take Australia for example. Worldwide concerns 
about housing affordability were further validated in mid-2007 
with the release of Australian census data revealing that over 1.2 
million households were experiencing housing stress, commonly 
defined as spending 30% or more of their income on housing 
costs. Additionally, from 1960 to 2006, real house prices grew at 
an average annual rate of 2.7%, outpacing the 1.9% annual 
increase in real household incomes (Yates 2008). In other words, 
housing prices increased more than the household income, which 
has also happened here in the United States. 

 
PROFIT OVER PEOPLE 
The famous phrase, “The poor get poorer, and the rich get richer,” 
directly relates to the sociological concept of conflict theory, 
where the rich are prioritizing profit over the middle class’s 
struggles. This signifies the continuing uphill battle that many 
Americans face, especially noticeable at the height of the COVID-
19 pandemic lockdown, when millions were laid off and stuck in 
their living spaces with little to no income. Although there were 
about three stimulus payments made that were passed by 
Congress, those were still not sustainable enough for the people 
who were suffering. Notably, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and 
Economic Security (CARES) Act was passed in 2020 because of 
the devastating pandemic that it caused for working families, 
individuals, and small businesses, has been seen to cater to big 
companies and wealthier individuals who may not have been 
impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. Gross (2020) describes how 
the CARES Act gave $174 billion in temporary tax breaks to 
wealthy individuals and larger companies when it was intended to 



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help small businesses. And while the CARES Act was marketed 
toward the working class and small businesses, it was manipulated 
by Congress to help large, wealthy companies, as well as powerful 
families like the Trumps, by allowing them to report losses on 
their tax returns and not lose money business-wise. Gross (2020) 
interviewed New York Times’s investigative reporter Jesse 
Drucker, who states:  

one of the provisions that they put in the CARES Act is a 
provision that allows business owners to use losses from 
their businesses . . . to offset the tax bills . . . And the 
reason that’s potentially particularly beneficial . . . is the 
concept of losses on your tax return is very complicated . 
. . And the result is that people like Jared Kushner and 
Donald Trump - to the degree that we have had some 
insight into their taxes over the last few years, we have 
seen that they have reported big losses on their tax returns. 

These companies and individuals, who were getting these tax 
breaks, did not need to show proof that they were suffering 
because of the pandemic, especially at a time when families and 
individuals were losing their homes and jobs. This is a huge factor 
as to why the homeless are still homeless and why individuals 
become homeless. Many corporations in the United States 
actively pursue tax breaks and deductions as strategies to reduce 
costs and maximize profits, often in ways that disproportionately 
affect working-class consumers 
 
MISUSE OF FEDERAL FUNDING 
But also, it is a question of, why does the United States 
government does not provide any federal funding to states to 
combat homelessness. It is because they have the wrong numbers 
as well as not using the funds in a helpful, effective way and mis-
proportioning the funds focusing on other areas. For example 
(National Priorities Project 2023), in the 2023 fiscal year, $1.14 
trillion, or 62%, was approved to go towards defense which 
includes the military, law enforcement, prisons, and other things 
of that nature while housing and community, the second highest, 
only got $133 billion, or 7%. It is a disturbing amount of money 
the U.S. government spends on militarization when a lot of the 
funds could be spent on other areas that need the most help while 



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also continuing to have the title of the biggest military power in 
the world. The federal budget is a direct contributor to the reason 
why community resources and programs along with homelessness 
do not get the attention needed, either on a state or national level. 
 
COUNTING THE HOMELESS POPULATION 
For homelessness, the neglect and funding problem also comes 
from how the population is counted. When it comes to population 
counts in the United States, the Census Bureau collects 
information from households every ten years but at first, it did not 
get the population of those who were unhoused. The bureau 
started to count the homeless population in 1970 when they went 
around to 

hotels and motels in an evening called Transient Night 
and then sent enumerators to short-term homeless 
shelters. In 1980, Census enumerators went to areas with 
high transient populations and encampments, in an effort 
named Mission Night. Local governments then began 
providing the Census Bureau with the address of 
homeless encampments in 1990. From that information 
provided by local governments, the Census Bureau found 
that between 29 and 72 percent of the homeless 
population had not previously been counted. (Huerta and 
Gutierrez-Vera 2020:28) 

This just shows that it is not clear how many American citizens 
were homeless before the 1970 count and even how much it grew 
within those 20 years between the 1970 and 1990 census. 

In recent years, California counties have developed 
strategies to count the homeless population and report them to 
HUD, including mandating local governments to submit a count 
of their homeless population every two years through a “point-in-
time count” (Huerta and Gutierrez-Vera 2020:29). Huerta and 
Gutierrez-Vera (2020:29-30) also state, “HUD defines ‘point-in-
time count(s)’ as a count of all individuals experiencing 
homelessness, whether they are sheltered or unsheltered, on a 
single night of the year. Although a ‘point-in-time count’ typically 
indicates a visual street count, the methodology for a point-in-time 
count is left to the city’s discretion.” Now, the problem with 
“point-in-time counts” is that they do not account for constantly 



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moving transients or, as aforementioned, those who are staying 
with a relative or friend and is “couch surfing” (Huerta and 
Gutierrez-Vera 2020:30) on a single night of the year. Adler 
(2021) describes, “At least 580,000 people experienced 
homelessness on a given day in January 2020 . . . but many 
homelessness advocates argue that these numbers fail to account 
for the true scope of the homelessness crisis in the U.S.” Not 
getting an accurate count of the total homeless population is 
detrimental because government agencies and local communities 
rely on federal data to determine funding, services, and policy 
decisions. Accurate data collection is essential because without a 
true representation of children, youth, and families in federal 
records, they risk being overlooked, leading to insufficient support 
and ultimately contributing to ongoing homelessness 
(SchoolHouse Connection 2024). The funding given now is a big 
part of the reason why the homeless problem has not been solved 
because it is not even enough to make a dent or make real change. 
 
THE SOLUTIONS AND COST TO END HOMELESSNESS 
One of the main problems present when it comes to solving 
homelessness is the cost, but if homelessness needs to be solved, 
then it is evident that more affordable housing is needed by 
building more homes so that demand goes down. Advocates must 
stay persistent when it comes to building more homes with 
dedicated leaders and a whole rework of the current government 
structure to make change happen. As previously mentioned, some 
of the projects that were started to help combat homelessness in 
California and the City of Los Angeles to get people off the street 
are Governor Gavin Newsom’s Project Roomkey, Homekey, 
Mayor Karen Bass, Los Angeles’s (2024) Inside Safe initiative, 
and Housing California’s, a nonprofit organization, Roadmap 
Home 2030 plan. 

Governor Newsom launched Project Roomkey in 2020 in 
order to help homeless individuals get off the street during the 
COVID-19 pandemic by securing hotel and motel rooms across 
the state. After a study was conducted in March 2020 (California 
Governor’s Office of Emergency Services 2021), it found that 
people experiencing homelessness and who were infected by the 
virus were two to four times more likely to require critical care 



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and two to three times more likely to die from the virus compared 
to those who are not experiencing homelessness. According to the 
report (Fuchs et al. 2021), the project helped over 42,000 people, 
significantly reduced the number of people going to hospitals, and 
provided over 20% of those in the program with permanent 
housing. Piggybacking off the success of Project Roomkey is 
Homekey, a statewide initiative which expands the original plan 
of Roomkey to include more vacant spaces including office 
buildings and apartment buildings for more permanent housing 
while also focusing on at-risk populations such as youth and 
Native Americans. As for its lasting impact, Espinoza (2024) from 
the California Department of Housing and Community 
Development (HCD) has said, “To date, the innovate program has 
funded 250 projects that will include 15,319 homes, serving more 
than 167,164 Californians over the projects’ lifetimes.” Next, is 
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s Inside Safe initiative which was 
launched in December 2022 with the purpose of bringing people 
inside from tents and encampments, to prevent those 
encampments from returning, and provide permanent housing. 

Two years later, Inside Safe has provided 23,000 people 
with temporary housing, with permanent housing move-ins nearly 
doubling, program application wait times dropping 75%, and–
according to the 2024 Point-In-Time counts–a 10% decrease in 
street homelessness (Mayor Karen Bass, City of Los Angeles 
2024). Housing California’s (2024) initiative Roadmap Home 
2030 lists goals such as:  

Create affordable homes [around 1.2 million homes for 
low-income Californians], protect low-income renters [to 
protect around 1 million low-income renter households 
from losing their homes, including more than 300,000 
who face eviction each year], and ensure racial equality 
[to close the racial equity gap in housing and 
homelessness created by years of racist housing policies 
that have harmed Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other 
people of color.]  

Housing California continues with homelessness solutions 
including interventions to prevent someone from experiencing 
homelessness and supportive housing that is designed to help 
those who have experienced homelessness with services such as 



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case management and to help with substance abuse, mental health, 
and medical treatment. Other solutions mentioned were rental 
subsidies to help low-income renters pay their rent, in addition to 
eviction prevention. These ideas are a good step in the right 
direction for policy changes to be implemented, not only in 
California but the entire country. The solution to homelessness 
must be aggressive and decisive. But how much would it cost to 
make a change and potentially end homelessness? 

Addressing homelessness and trying to solve the problem 
is not easy. However, continued investment, raising the minimum 
wage, and capping rent prices can effectively and potentially stop 
the cause. Compared with the rest of the country, California has 
been on the frontlines and taking the initiative when it comes to 
minimum wage increases as well as housing support for 
individuals and families. California has also done well with 
investing money into housing solutions (State of California 
Department of Finance 2023) as the state has invested more than 
$17 billion to aid local governments in addressing homelessness 
since 2019, but it is not enough to stop the problem as there is a 
more costly solution that will span over the next decade. Tat 
(2022) reports, “The state could end homelessness in California 
by 2035 if it invested $8.1 billion annually in each of the next 12 
years - $6.9 billion more than its current average annual 
investment.” This amount according to the Needs Assessment 
would effectively make homelessness non-recurring in Los 
Angeles, but also California as a whole. As for the rest of the 
United States:  

According to the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, it would cost $20 billion to end 
homelessness in the United States. That is a big number, 
yes, but let’s put it into perspective: Americans spend $19 
billion a year on unplugged appliances, Americans spend 
more than $35 billion a year on gym memberships, The 
U.S. government spent around $718 billion on its military 
in 2019 alone. (Adler 2021)  

Per the examples provided by Adler, according to the HUD, 
solving homelessness is within reach, but why is action never 
taken? It is not all about ending the current homeless problem 
now, but it is also to end it for good and that means attacking the 



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root cause. The minimum wage should be adjusted to align with 
the cost of living in different regions as a means to address 
economic disparities. This is a concept known as location-based 
wage structuring. This wage structure could help alleviate some 
of the costs of living in dense metropolitan areas where the job 
market tends to be more competitive. Luna (n.d.) explains further, 
“This means that you pay employees differently based on their 
location. In some cases, this refers to additional compensation 
given to employees to account for higher costs of labor or cost of 
living in the areas where they reside and work.” For example, a 
location-based wage structure could result in higher minimum 
wages in areas with elevated costs, such as $27 per hour in 
California, compared to $16 per hour in states with lower living 
costs, like North Dakota. Additionally, implementing rent caps 
should be put in place for low-income renters to improve housing 
affordability. These caps could be based on an individual's income 
and financial capacity or set in relation to the median income of a 
given area. Given regional differences in housing markets, rent 
regulations would likely vary between high-cost locations like 
Beverly Hills and more affordable areas such as Bakersfield. No 
matter what, something must happen fast. 

 
CONCLUSION 
Homelessness in the United States is a deeply rooted issue shaped 
by systemic economic disparities, policy shortcomings, and a lack 
of coordinated governmental response. As discussed, the 
persistence of this crisis can be understood through the lens of 
conflict theory, which highlights how economic structures and 
political influence have prioritized corporate interests over social 
welfare. While homelessness has existed for decades due to 
various structural factors including unaffordable housing, job 
insecurity, and insufficient mental health services, recent efforts 
made in California demonstrate that targeted policy interventions 
can make a difference. However, sustainable solutions require a 
continued commitment from federal, state, and local governments 
to ensure that individuals experiencing homelessness receive the 
support they need. Ultimately, addressing homelessness is not just 
a matter of economic policy but a moral imperative to uphold the 
fundamental dignity and rights of all individuals in society. 



Research | Articles | Russell 43 

CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 7 

Nothing will change if we continue to disregard human life and 
this trend of capitalistic greed.  
 

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Steven Russell (He/Him) is a third-year Sociology major with a 
focus on Law and Society and a Political Science minor at Cal 
State LA. He is passionate about social justice and plans to pursue 
a career in law. Steven’s academic interests center on the 
intersection of legal systems and inequality. In the future, he hopes 
to use his knowledge and experiences to help others and advocate 
for positive change in underserved communities.


	Homelessness: How Did We Come to Recognize It as Such a Problem and the Possible Ways to Solve It - Steven Russell



