Do you want to reduce homelessness, reduce rent, and make life more affordable? Build a lot more housing. It's that simple.
Every health issue gets better with a good night sleep. It's a miracle drug.
Similarly, every social problem gets better with abundant housing. Crime. Health care. Poverty. Traffic.
Conversely, restricting housing that limits opportunities creates scarcity and increases costs and impairs affordability. Rent increases are the number one factor in increasing homelessness. Without enough supply, the housing market is like a cruel game of musical chairs.
Study after study make this clear: homelessness is a housing problem. It's also the title of one of the most important books on this topic. It's in the title. In Homelessness is a Housing Problem, housing scholar Gregg Colburn and data journalist Clayton Aldern seek to explain the substantial variation in rates of homelessness apparent in cities across the United States.
Using accessible statistics, the researchers test a range of conventional beliefs about what drives the prevalence of homelessness in a given city—including mental illness, drug use, poverty, weather, generosity of public assistance, and low-income mobility—and find that none explain why, for example, rates are so much higher in Seattle than in Chicago. Instead, housing market conditions, such as the cost and availability of rental housing, offer a more convincing explanation.
The importance of building a lot more housing was backed up by a new study that came out during the election (July 2025):
Housing shortages don’t just drive up costs—they’re regressive. Maintaining restrictive zoning that exacerbates the housing shortage puts vulnerable tenants in a more precarious position by burdening them with steep rent increases. Allowing enough homes for everyone improves affordability overall, but the evidence shows it benefits low-income renters most.
Read the Study:
https://www.pew.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2025/07/31/new-housing-slows-rent-growth-most-for-older-more-affordable-units
What about luxury housing?
What does the construction of luxury housing do to homelessness? Turns out, building any new housing, even "luxury housing" helps create capacity in the community and provides opportunity. The luxury housing of today becomes the affordable housing of tomorrow by creating "moving chains". If you are skeptical of housing supply arguments, please watch her entire video and let me know your thoughts.
Check out these videos from former journalist turned City Councillor Justine Underhill:
