Yes, housing prices are up post-pandemic: Demand is growing, supply stalled. But that isn’t why there are massive homeless encampments plaguing cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle — and even New York, where the de Blasio administration is forced to play whack-a-mole with tent encampments.
Some rough-sleepers would relish permanent housing, yes. But many would also choose to stay on the streets. That’s because untreated mental illness, not a housing shortage, is the real source of the problem for a significant share of the homeless.
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