Scott Alexander reviewed the book "San Fransicko" by Michael Shellenberger and as part of the review analyzed the top reasons for people to become homeless. [1]
Some takeaways from the review:
- Number one predictor for homelessness are the housing prices.
- 30% of the homeless in SF are from outside the city
That's a widely misunderstood statistic. The Point in Time survey asks homeless people about the location of their shelter when they last became homeless. For example, a homeless person from outside SF who spent a night in county jail or on a friend's couch in a Tenderloin SRO unit would count as "became homeless in San Francisco" for the purpose of the survey.
Some takeaways from the review: - Number one predictor for homelessness are the housing prices. - 30% of the homeless in SF are from outside the city
[1] https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-san-fransi...