Title: How do People Become Homeless? - How Homelessness Works | HowStuffWorks
Headings: How Homelessness Works
How Homelessness Works
How do People Become Homeless?
David's Story

Content: The two biggest factors driving homelessness are poverty and the lack of affordable housing. In 2004, 37 million people, or 12.7 percent of the American population was living in poverty, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless. Many of these people live from paycheck to paycheck with nothing saved in the bank. The loss of a job, an illness, or another catastrophic event can quickly lead to missed rent or mortgage payments and ultimately, to eviction or foreclosure. Advertisement
Losing a job happens much more readily today than it did a few decades ago, when most people worked for the same company until retirement. The decline in manufacturing jobs, outsourcing of jobs to other countries, and an increase in temporary and part-time employment has nicked away at the foundations of what was once a more stable job market. Jobs today are not only far less secure than they were in the past, but many also pay less when considering the rate of inflation. In the late 1960s, a minimum-wage job could sustain a family of three above the poverty line. That isn’t the case today. In May 2007, Congress passed the first minimum wage increase in nearly a decade, from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour (by 2009).