There are more homeless people than vacant homes in America.

I live in San Francisco. True story. About two years ago I was taking Lyft to get to my destination. The car was possibly five years old at most. As my ride was quite long, and no other passengers, I had the chance to talk to the driver ( female around thirty years old ) . I had to put something in the trunk, and noticed a sleeping bag ,and backpack. As the ride progressed the conversation got personal. She was homeless . She started her day,everyday , at five AM ,and generally finished around nine PM . I offered to give her a room for the night, she was reluctant, but came about. She arrived at my place around nine thirty . I had fresh towels so she could shower ( she said she would wash up every morning in a Starbucks or gas station ) , I fed her ,gave her a couple of sweaters to keep ,as it was very cold and damp outside . She ate like she hadn’t had a decent meal in a week. She didn’t want to accept anything ,and she was sincere about that . I learned a lot that evening . Too long to get into, but the point being there are many homeless people that are there as a recipient of circumstance. It’s terrible . I tried to give her clothes ,and money to eat, she would accept neither. She did tell me she was not the only driver living in her car ,and she was not some anomaly. I didn’t see her in the morning as she had to rise at 4:30 to start picking up the tech people at 5:00 AM. My daughter is one of those tech people ,about the same age as this woman. What separates them is about $225,000.00 a year . Before you cast the stigma shadow on ALL of the homeless people , do yourselves a favour ,and speak to some of these people ,and get their backstory. What I saw absolutely blew my mind . Life is indeed not fair ... Ps. This woman had a child staying with her mother during this time .

So, in very simple terms, why are there any homeless people? Same thing applies here in the UK .. there's no need for anyone to be be homeless .. all down to finance .. international shame.

So. Give homeless people homes.

Sad but true. Some people think the owners of the empty homes should let the homeless live in those empty home. Sounds good until you realize that the owners of those homes are in business either renting or selling those homes. Plus running a home (heating, lighting, water, & maintenance) all costs someone one money. If you say the government should pay for it, remember where the government gets it's money as well as it track record on spending the money it gets....... BTW this is not about party politics but rather bureaucracy in action.

Unfortunately, a large part of the homeless population could not or would not take care of a house if you gave it to them. A better solution is to rehab closed military bases into group housing centers.

George Soffa, I don't mind your political commentary. In fact, I agree with much of it. But could you show a little maturity? Instead of making up foolish names, just call them Republicans. Perhaps then we'd all pay more attention to what you say.

It seems like a simple solution, just give those people the homes. Obviously if you think that way than you are simple. These people that own these properties are in business to make money and the last thing they will do is just allow people to live there for free. Capitalism, sad but true.

Sad, but true.

All data (that matters) is fake.

Several years ago, I was looking for a new place. Either I could afford it, but it was too small or it was the right size but too expensive. And I don't just mean sky-high rent. Half the time I would think, well, if my husband and I go on a tight budget, we can squeeze by. However, the renting companies refused to rent to a person that did not make 3x the rent. So even if the rent was only $800, you had to have an income of $2400 a month. Most places were $1000 and up, so an income of at least $3000 is needed. I understand the thinking behind it; you have enough to pay rent, utilities, get food, pay off debt and maybe even save some if possible. Only problem is not everyone gets paid that much. And if you are on SS, you get even less. I know a woman who gets SS and her daughter works in fast food. Her daughter makes more than she does, but they couldn't afford half the places for rent, much less buy a house!

jmw, if only it were that easy. Even it was done, so many couldn't pay rent or utilities

Got this wrong because all I keep hearing in the news is how there is not enough housing, making the housing there is, too expensive for regular workers…much less all those people that are being automated out of their jobs. Wait ti AI really gets going!

It is a disgrace that a country that has our wealth has un homed people. And it absolutely infuriates me that many of the homeless are veterans. That should never be!

There have to be more than 3 million homeless people if you count the immigrant population as homeless??? yesterday an est. 9400 crossed our southern border in one day...

Thank you Jakob for sharing your story.

The answer has to be a guess!

Homeless due to either not wanting to pay hyper-bill$, or evading life through drug usage, or inability to work due to physical or mental disability? It could be from inappropriate social behavior

Do not know if that is true today.

Better check those vacant homes again!

Lawrence M Peltier, duh!

But still theres more greed than homlessness

Jakob Gerber, thank you for writing your comment! I've had similar experiences and changed my thinking on this subject accordingly!

Keep hiking interest rates and real estate may become affordable soon enough.