Public Affairs Videos

In "Homelessness is a Housing Problem", housing scholar Gregg Colburn and data journalist Clayton Aldern seek to explain the substantial variation in rates of homelessness apparent in cities across the United States.

Using rich and detailed data, this groundbreaking book explains why homelessness has become a crisis in America and reveals the structural conditions that underlie it. In a departure from many analytical approaches, Colburn and Aldern shift their focus from the individual experiencing homelessness to the metropolitan area. Using accessible statistical analysis, they test a range of conventional beliefs about what drives the prevalence of homelessness in a given city—including mental illness, drug use, poverty, weather, generosity of public assistance, and low-income mobility—and find that none explain the regional variation observed across the country. Instead, housing market conditions, such as the cost and availability of rental housing, offer a far more convincing account. With rigor and clarity, "Homelessness Is a Housing Problem" explores U.S. cities' diverse experiences with housing precarity and offers policy solutions for unique regional contexts.