Increased Homelessness and Low Rent Housing Vacancy Rates

This article addresses the timely issue of the relationship between rates of homelessness and housing market conditions. Several studies using cross-sectional data have found evidence that tighter housing market conditions contribute to higher rates of homelessness. This study employs both time series and cross-sectional American Housing Survey data to demonstrate that higher rates of homelessness are positively related to tighter lower-end housing market conditions. This finding is consistent with O'Flaherty's economic model of homelessness and contrary to Jencks' American Housing Survey-based conclusion that no such relationship exists.