The unhoused crisis explained: Drivers, challenges, and lessons for change

Abstract

This report distills a year of research on homelessness in America.

It provides background, evidence and a point of view on some of the major drivers of America’s homelessness crisis. The purpose of this research is to inform decisions around philanthropic giving: unlike an academic piece of research, our work here is focused on action.

Homelessness is a big, complex topic and this research was organized to embrace that. We applied a core set of principles to help organize the research effort. Firstly, the starting point for the project is that the phenomenon of homelessness is part of a complex system. Secondly, we acknowledge that the focus of this work is homelessness, not poverty more broadly.

Thirdly, while we aspire to identify solutions that can solve homelessness nation-wide, we acknowledge there is value in focusing where the challenge is most complex, and close to home.

There is no one thing that will solve this crisis. We have to tackle the system.