Economic Inequality and Homelessness

MacEwan examines the causes of economic inequality and homelessness in the US. Homeless people are often portrayed as suffering from mental illness or some form of addiction. Indeed, estimates suggest that 20% to 25% of the homeless are mentally ill and as many as 50% are dependent on alcohol or other drugs. Also, some 40% of the homeless are African Americans. These numbers, however, while telling us who is homeless, do not tell us why they are homeless. Surely, a good part of the why lies in economic problems--such as poverty, high housing costs, and inadequate public social-support systems. This agglomeration of problems is, in turn, a manifestation of the high degree of economic inequality in the United States. Inequality works directly and through the political process to cause homelessness.