The leading cause of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing.
Across Greater Cincinnati, tens of thousands of residents can’t find a home they can afford. The region faces a shortage of nearly 50,000 affordable rental units for families with the lowest incomes.
That means for every 100 extremely low-income households, only about 41 affordable homes exist.
As rents rise faster than wages, more people are forced to make impossible choices between rent, food, and medicine.
Earlier this week, GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan said in an interview that there’s a noticeable shift: a growing number of fundraising campaigns are now for “essentials” — things like food, groceries, rent, utility bills, and car payments.
“In some cases, very sadly, that is happening. We’re seeing it more and more.” This is different from the platform’s more traditional use, which has often been for medical emergencies, disaster relief, etc.
Why this matters:
- If everyday bills are getting pushed into the crowd-funding space, it indicates many are falling through the cracks of what typical support systems cover.
- It may also mean that GoFundMe (and similar platforms) are becoming a stopgap for basic safety nets, rather than just for one-off catastrophes.
Affordable housing is homelessness prevention. When people can afford rent, they stay stably housed — and our entire community benefits.
Why the Lack of Affordable Housing Is the Biggest Driver of Homelessness
If affordable housing is not available, every upstream problem (job loss, health crisis, eviction, domestic violence) becomes exponentially harder to survive.
Cost burdened and rent spikes
Many renters are already cost-burdened—meaning they pay more than 30% (or even 50%) of their income on housing. When rents increase or income dips, the margin for error is very small.
Evictions, displacement, and loss of subsidized units
Even where affordable or subsidized housing exists, loss of subsidies, deteriorating stock, or conversions to market units put tenants at risk of eviction or displacement. Many older, lower-rent units are under pressure from redevelopment.
Lack of safety net for those teetering
When someone falls behind on rent, eviction often comes before there’s time for intervention. Limited financial assistance, lack of affordable legal representation in eviction cases, and insufficient emergency shelter capacity intensify the risk of eventually becoming homeless.
Because housing is the first “line of defense,” without it, a family cascades into crisis. Couch-surfing, in and out of shelters, mental and physical health deterioration, children in unstable housing, increased strain on social services, and higher public costs over time (ER visits, policing, social services).
Let’s keep the focus where it belongs: keeping families safely housed through early intervention and preserving the affordable housing available in our community to ensure fewer people are forced into homelessness because rent is out of reach.