A December 2023 YouGov survey asked Americans how serious of a problem they believe homelessness to be in the United States, whom they hold responsible for the problem, and what they think of potential solutions. Among other findings, the survey reveals increases in the numbers of Americans who believe homelessness is a very serious problem both in their communities and in the country. It also finds that while Americans are likely to support many potential solutions to homelessness, they’re less convinced about the effectiveness of most options when it comes to decreasing the number of people in the country who are homeless.
67% of Americans say homelessness is a very serious problem in the United States, up from 54% who said this in April 2022.
Americans are also more likely to see homelessness as a very serious problem in their communities now (34%) than they were in 2022 (27%).
Majorities of Americans think that the federal government as well as their state and local governments should be doing more to address homelessness. 53% think the federal government should do much more to address homelessness nationally and 48% think their state and local governments should do much more in their local community. 24% think the federal government should do somewhat more; the same percentage say their state and local government should be doing somewhat more.
The percentage of Americans who say the federal government should be doing much more to address homelessness nationally has risen 12 percentage points since April 2022. Similarly, the percentage of people who say their state and local government should do more to address homelessness in their community has risen 9 points.
78% of Americans believe that housing is a basic human right. Democrats (94%) are more likely than Independents (79%) and Republicans (61%) to say this.
Most Americans have some level of personal experience with homelessness. 17% say they themselves have been homeless, 18% have had a homeless family member, 22% have had a homeless friend, and 24% have had an acquaintance who was or is homeless. (There is some overlap among these groups.) 41% of Americans say they do not personally know anyone who has been homeless.
As for the causes of homelessness, 73% of Americans say drug and alcohol addiction is a major cause.
According to majorities of Americans, other major causes of homelessness include poverty (67%), lack of affordable housing (66%), and mental illness (65%).
Americans who have been homeless are more likely than Americans overall to say the lack of affordable housing is a major cause of homelessness (84% vs. 66%); they’re also more likely to name lack of housing supply (67% vs. 47%), racism (41% vs. 28%), and gentrification (36% vs. 26%) as major causes.
Americans now are more likely than they were in 2022 to name nearly all of the 13 listed options as major causes of homelessness. For example, in 2022, 66% said drug and alcohol addiction was a major cause, 58% said poverty was, and 57% said lack of affordable housing was.
In December 2023, Democrats were more likely than Republicans to identify several factors as major causes of homelessness: a lack of affordable housing (83% vs. 51%), poverty (78% vs. 54%), and a lack of housing supply (62% vs. 33%). They’re less likely than Republicans to identify as major causes drug and alcohol addiction (67% of Democrats vs. 78% of Republicans) and lack of personal responsibility (29% vs. 47%).
Who do Americans hold responsible for homelessness in the U.S.? 50% blame the mental health system a lot; 29% blame it a little. 45% blame the federal government a lot, 41% blame state governments a lot, and 38% blame billionaires a lot.
Among the 13 listed options, the military and non-profits get the least blame from Americans: 49% and 42%, respectively, don’t blame these entities at all.
57% of Democrats — and 10% of Republicans — blame Republicans a lot for the homelessness issue in the U.S. 16% of Democrats — and 52% of Republicans — blame Democrats a lot.
When it comes to addressing the issue of homelessness, 49% of Americans say their view is closer to the position that getting secure housing first helps homeless people to solve their other problems — which could include mental illness or addiction. This closely reflects the idea behind the "housing first" model. Fewer (37%) say their view is closer to the position that other problems some homeless people have — such as mental illness and addiction — should be solved before trying to secure housing for them. This is the idea behind the "housing readiness" model.
Democrats (64%) are more likely than Independents (51%) and Republicans (32%) to say getting secure housing first helps homeless people to solve their other problems.
Among 17 potential governmental solutions to address homelessness that were asked about, vast majorities support funding more counseling programs for people with mental illness (84%), funding more programs for people with disabilities (83%), and funding more services for veterans (83%). Smaller but still substantial majorities support funding more rehabilitation programs for people with addiction (79%), opening more domestic violence shelters (78%), opening more homeless shelters (72%), and funding more subsidized housing programs (72%).
Less supported potential governmental solutions include arresting homeless people and putting them in jail (14%), banning homeless encampments (35%), and building architecture that prevents homeless people from sleeping or camping in public spaces (49%).
Although majorities of Americans support most of the 17 potential government solutions asked about in the survey, they’re less confident about the effectiveness of these steps in decreasing homelessness in the U.S.
While 84% support funding more programs for people with mental illness, only 50% think it would decrease homelessness; 23% think this action would increase the number of people who are homeless. Similarly, while 83% support funding more programs for people with disabilities, only 48% think this would decrease the number of homeless people in the U.S.
— Taylor Orth and Carl Bialik contributed to this article
Related:
- Who do Americans blame for homelessness?
- Many Americans say not in my backyard to prisons and homeless shelters
- What Americans say the government should do about the homeless
See the results for this YouGov poll
Methodology: The YouGov poll was conducted online on December 19 - 22, 2023 among 1,000 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel using sample matching. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to November 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 31% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty (Brandon Bell)
