ABSTRACT
Background Researchers studying the causes of homelessness have frequently engaged in a polarized debate. Many have looked to the personal factors of homeless individuals as causes of homelessness [1,2]. One personal factor that has been hypothesized as a cause of homelessness is drug abuse. Research has shown that substance use problems aict anywhere from 28 to 67% of homeless individuals [3-7] and that substance abuse increases individuals’ vulnerability to homelessness [8-10]. Others have argued that structural changes, for example the loss of manufacturing jobs and aordable housing stock in inner-city neighborhoods, are the causes of the increase in homelessness over the past two decades [11,12]. More recently researchers have argued that both are important considerations. While personal characteristics, such as drug use, may not in themselves cause homelessness, they
make certain individuals more vulnerable to homelessness given an increasingly competitive housing market [13-18]. Structural factors determine why pervasive homelessness exists in this historical time, while individual factors explain who is least able to compete for scarce aordable housing.
