People Aren’t Homeless, Cities Are
Cities need to become more homeful.
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To get to the heart of a thing it is sometimes helpful to simplify the info and take it to extremes1. It tends to strip away the superfluous and expose the truth of the matter. Take for example, homelessness:
Let’s say there is a community of exactly 4 people; 1 of which is rich, 2 are middle class, and 1 is of humble means. This community also has exactly 4 homes; 1 is upscale, 2 are middle class, 1 is modest. Everyone in the community has a home that they can afford. What a perfect little community. Strangely, this town has passed a law that states,
“Now let it be known that the total number of homes within the city limits shall not exceed 4.”
It’s a stupid law, to be sure, but they are a proud people and stand by it.
What happens, though, if someone moves into this idyllic little town? And, what if that person is rich? That person will outbid someone for their home and start a chain reaction.
Each person with less money moves to the next house down the economic spectrum until one person is left without a house. Who do you suppose that is? The poorest dude in town.
Let’s take it to an extreme. Let’s say 4 people move into town in the exact same economic ratio as the people who already live there. The community now has 2 rich folks, 4 middle class citizens, and 2 economically disadvantaged people and still only 4 homes. What happens?
Welp, the rich newcomer will outbid the others (raising prices) and get a home. The 4 middle class people will fight it out for the remaining 2 homes (raising prices) and the 2 who lose the fight will join the 2 other unfortunate people out on the street.
The town has on its hands, what is commonly referred to as, a “homeless problem”. By simplifying the data and taking it to extremes we can see that homelessness is not just a low-income housing problem. It’s the dire consequences of a housing supply being out of whack with demand.
The US is short some 2.5 million homes2. Turns out people are not “homeless”, cities are. Cities need to become more homeful.
homeful : adjective : When a city’s housing supply and demand are at equilibrium.
Yes, yes, there's more to it than just that, I know. I live in a rust belt town (Duluth, MN) that has seen its population cycle go from bust to boom. Our city is a huge tourist destination which has driven demand for Airbnbs. We have become a climate refuge (apparently dealing with snowstorms is more palatable than wildfires and hurricanes)3. Our zoning codes have yet to shift to these new modern realities and our city government has proven woefully inept at easing the burden of building anything in this town. Add on to that our citizens long diagnosed, but untreated case of NIMBY-ism45 and my hometown’s home supply and demand is crazy off kilter.
Fixing all of that is no small feat. Making adjustments for the future doesn't address the critical problem of our cities not being homeful right now. Yet understanding the underlying problem gives clarity to the direction we should be heading
As you can see, there are a lot of layers to this “lack of homefulness” problem that complicate matters. When that happens people tend to play Whack-The-Symptom6. By simplifying the data and taking it to extremes, we can get to the heart of the problem. It's a lot like the show “Is It Cake” where people need to guess if something is real, or if it's made of cake7. It's good to remember that after stripping away the layers, regardless of what it may look like at first glance, underneath it all it's still just cake.
Did I just invoke “cake” to talk about the inherent inequalities in our increasingly disparate caste system? Marie Antoinette would be rolling in her grave8.
I do this a lot when thinking through complicated issues. This may become a running series here at The Happiness Guy.
US Housing Supply Gap Grows in 2023 - Realtor.com by Hannah Jones - Feb 27, 2024
Is Duluth, MN a Climate Change Safe Haven? Michael Kosta Investigates | The Daily Show
How to convince a NIMBY to build more housing - VOX by Jerusalem Demsas - Feb 24, 2021
Some are even BANANAs - Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything.
I was going to say “…play Whack-A-Mole, treating symptoms and not the disease,” but that seemed to be stacking clichés. Enter “Whack-A-Symptom!” I would like to enter this in some sort of cliché portmanteau contest. If you hear of one, please let me know.
What a world we live in that we can recreate damn near anything out of cake.
Just her body, though. I imagine her head would stay still.
I’ve always said that the solution to homeless people is more homes. Of course.
The other problem is disadvantaged people that won’t be “productive members of society” and will never be able to pay for their food, power, etc. so even if there were plenty of homes, they wouldn’t be able to make it without all of us chipping in.
Thank you… one thing : Because of the capitalist protectionism of the wealthy and middle class NIMBY’s (or similar), “Our zoning codes have yet to shift to these new modern realities and our city government (i.e. Mayor and City Council) has proven woefully inept (i.e. unwilling to disappoint their political donors) at easing the burden of building anything in this town”