How Cultural Change and Political Will Can Transform Lives for Homeless People
When I moved to New York City in 2009 from a small sugarcane town on the island of Oahu, I, like many immigrants, believed I was stepping into a world of endless opportunities. In some ways, I was right. However, those opportunities came with a price, often only accessible to the wealthy—or through taking on debt. While I did receive a college education far beyond what my peers back home could have imagined, I also accrued nearly $75,000 in student debt. Living in Manhattan meant facing high rents, cramped spaces, and subsisting on instant ramen and dreams to get by. Unsurprisingly, that dream eventually fizzled out.
As I walked to and from the train station each morning and attended classes, I couldn’t help but notice that I encountered more homeless individuals on a single block in New York City than I had seen in my nearly 20 years in Hawaii. Although the cost of living in Hawaii was also high, moving out of your parents’ house was unrealistic unless you planned to split the costs with several friends.
Life was tough there: wages were low, and living expenses were steep in a town characterized by makeshift houses with aluminum roofs. But when I arrived in New York City, I was struck by the stark contrast—wealth seemed to be everywhere, yet so was poverty.
The Wealth-Poverty Paradox in Major Cities
Where there is wealth in the United States, there is that much more poverty, with New York City and Los Angeles being the clearest examples. With poverty comes homelessness, and in the case of the wealthiest cities in the United States, street homelessness specifically. What I want to highlight here is that street homelessness at this scale is not the norm in every wealthy, developed nation; however, it is the norm in America.
While the United Kingdom is experiencing a rise in homelessness, they do not experience the kind of street homelessness that we do in America. According to Our World In Data, 3.9% of the UK’s homeless population lived on the street or in public places in 2023, compared to 65% in the US.
Although the majority of the UK’s homeless are staying in temporary housing or shelters, homelessness has been rapidly growing in the UK for years. The diagram in the above link shows us just that. What’s worse? Street homelessness has also recently shot up another 27%, so we’re very much expecting those street homeless statistics to be much higher this year.
In London, the increase of criminalization legislation, coupled with a continued rise in housing costs, has also led to more homelessness, or more specifically, the most homelessness they’ve ever had.
In the US, street homelessness is still that much more prevalent, increasing each year since 2015. Furthermore, the number of people experiencing homelessness is always larger than the number of available shelter beds. According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, their 2024 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress showed a -218,118 shelter bed shortage for homeless individuals. In addition, shelter investments and permanent housing development haven’t kept up with the need either. Homelessness will only continue to rise as long as rents continue to be too high and wages are too low.
Understanding the Root Causes of Homelessness
While homelessness continues to grow in many wealthy nations, the question remains: why?
There is, of course, no short answer. It’s not a lack of resources. At its core, we know that the issue is systemic because it can only be systemic when you can find a multi-million dollar mansion across the street from a homeless encampment. That wealth inequality has been rooting itself deep in our system for many years. That is classism, anti-poor, and anti-homeless ideology that’s also rooted deep into the hearts of our people and into our laws for many, many years. But still, that doesn’t mean it has to remain that way, right?
I’ve heard all kinds of people say this is just the way it is, and there is no other way. We have to shut those voices down.
Last year, Invisible People released a documentary on how Finland solved homelessness using the Housing First approach. They put housing at the forefront of their intervention, combined with other essential support services to target the root causes of homelessness. Hennepin County in Minnesota is also finding significant success with this approach. While we see how governments across the United States and the UK have shelved shelter investments and affordable housing development for criminalization efforts, Finland and Hennepin County did the opposite.
Building a Culture of Support and Security
But it’s not just about prioritizing the development of affordable housing and making sure all homeless people are housed right away—it’s about building a culture dedicated to making sure everyone has a safe and secure place to live. Further still, it’s about quality of life and really considering what a person needs to live a happy life where they’re able to thrive, not just survive.
It is about how culture continues to influence Finland’s laws. If the people of Finland believe Housing First is the right thing to do—if they collectively believe that developing affordable housing is doing right by their citizens, that every person, no matter what deserves housing—then at that point, it can happen and be sustained.
So yes, the answer is Housing First, but it’s also political will, which requires better messaging around homelessness and homeless people. That message is not only “everyone deserves a home” but also “everyone deserves a chance to thrive.” Everyone deserves a chance at a happy life.