Pathways Into Homelessness

Understanding how people become homeless through various life circumstances.

Homelessness rarely has a single cause. Instead, it typically results from a complex interplay of structural factors, systemic failures, personal circumstances, and triggering events. This section explores the various pathways that can lead to housing instability and homelessness.

Economic Precarity and Housing Affordability

Explore how rising housing costs, wage stagnation, and economic inequality create conditions where even minor financial setbacks can lead to homelessness.

Health Crises and Medical Debt

Learn how unexpected health emergencies, chronic illness, and medical debt can deplete resources and lead to housing loss, particularly in the absence of universal healthcare.

Family Breakdown and Domestic Violence

Understand how relationship dissolution, family conflict, and domestic violence can precipitate homelessness, especially for women and LGBTQ+ youth.

System Failures: Foster Care to Homelessness

Examine how youth aging out of foster care without adequate support face heightened risks of homelessness and how system failures contribute to this pathway.

Incarceration and Housing Barriers

Learn how involvement with the criminal justice system creates significant barriers to housing and employment, increasing vulnerability to homelessness after release.

Mental Health, Substance Use, and Inadequate Treatment

Understand how untreated mental health conditions and substance use disorders can contribute to homelessness when appropriate care and housing supports are unavailable.