When people lose their jobs, they can’t pay their bills. When they can’t pay their bills, they tend to lose their homes. When they lose their homes, they become homeless. This is what is happening, for according to the Los Angeles Times by way of MSN News, homelessness is set to increase by 45% due to the COVID-19 induced economic crisis.
With the coronavirus-induced shock to the economy crippling businesses of all sizes and leaving millions of Americans out of work, homelessness in the United States could grow as much as 45% in a year, according to a new analysis conducted by a Columbia University professor.
a group of people sitting on a bench: Tyrone Dixon, 53, center, arrives with fellow homeless people from Skid Row via bus at the Echo Park Community Center, one of 13 Los Angeles area recreation centers that has become temporary shelters for homeless due to the growing coronavirus pandemic in Echo Park, Calif., on March 20, 2020.© Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS Tyrone Dixon, 53, center, arrives with fellow homeless people from Skid Row via bus at the Echo Park Community Center, one of 13 Los Angeles area recreation centers that has become temporary shelters for homeless due to the growing coronavirus pandemic in Echo Park, Calif., on March 20, 2020.
That would mean an additional 250,000 or so people would be without permanent shelter compared with the 568,000 who were homeless in January 2019, according to government data.California is likely to see a smaller increase in homelessness than the nation overall — up 20% from about 150,000 to 180,000 people. The analysis relies on the largely constant rise in unemployment across the United States. Therefore, states with fewer homeless people are likely to see bigger percentage increases than California, which is already home to a quarter of the nation’s homeless population.
Dan O’Flaherty, the professor who conducted the analysis and has studied the economics of homelessness for decades, says the downturn is exacerbating what’s already a public health crisis on many American streets.
“This is unprecedented,” he said. “No one living has seen an increase of 10% of unemployment in a month.” (source)
Being homeless is really bad. It’s a horrible life, very dangerous, and is incredibly destructive.
However, this is what is becoming “normal”. People are being impoverished to a point where they will be stripped of everything.
This is not the “great depression”. This is the “greater depression”, and it is going to be a lot worse than the Great Depression a century ago.