Missionaries of the Sacred

A few of the factors that contribute to homeless­ness include:

Lack of affordable housing¹

• Only about 1/3 of low-income families eligi­ble for housing assistance actually receive it.
• Millions of low-income American households pay more than 50 percent of their income on rent (well above the rule of thumb that a household should pay no more than 30% of their income for housing).

Insufficient income

• Over 39 million people in the US are in poverty (2008, US Census Bureau).
• The nationwide unemployment rate recently exceeded 10%.

Health Care and Mental Health Care

• A large medical bill can mean financial ruin for people who have no insurance. The US Cen­sus Bureau estimates that 47 million Ameri­cans didn’t have health insurance in 2008.
• 25% of homeless people suffer from a serious mental illness bipolar disorder or schizophre­nia.²

Difficulty Reentering Society

• 1 in 5 people who leave prison become home­less shortly thereafter.³

1. http://www.nlchp.org/hapia_causes.cfm
2. http://www.endhomelessness.org
3. http://www.endhomelessness.org