Fact Check

Based on currently available numbers, there are about 31 vacant housing units for every homeless person in the U.S.

  • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
    2511·
    4 months ago

    There are 126M homes in the US. The average American moves 11 times per life, or maybe once every 8 years. That means 1/8 of homes, or 15.75M homes, might be “vacant” just to support people shuffling around. That’s not real vacancy.

    I realize I pulled these numbers from my butt, but so did the original image. Either way, it hopefully shows that we need way more houses built in areas people can live, and it’s not as simple as sticking homeless in existing housing.

    • morrowind@lemmy.ml
      243·
      4 months ago

      Yes, and

      • second homes of rich people
      • Airbnbs which probably have a higher natural vacancy
      • damaged and unfit housing
      • useless houses in the bumfuck nowhere

      You may disagree with some of these existing (especially 1), but still vacant =/= homeless people can or want to move in tomorrow

      • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
        191·
        4 months ago

        damaged and unfit housing

        This one can not be overstated. I drive past many of these on my way to work every day. Many of them are damaged and unfit because someone died, and no one wants to move out to bumfuck nowhere, even if the house is cheap. So they just rot. Even when I lived in Chicago, there were always houses that had just been allowed to fall apart through lack of maintenance, houses that had become too expensive to either repair, or demolish and re-build.

      • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
        2·
        4 months ago

        useless houses in the bumfuck nowhere

        I would like to contribute that this covers all of suburbia, from a logistical standpoint. None of that is walking distance to, well, anything. So our homeless person trying to get on their feet will also need a car and insurance, or a whole heap of bus passes (assuming the bus even goes there).

    • ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works
      4·
      4 months ago

      Before I bought my home I had to move every single year, if not more, depending on the whims of the property owner. I was over a dozen moves as an adult by 30.

    • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
      2·
      4 months ago

      The average American moves 11 times per life, or maybe once every 8 years. That means 1/8 of homes, or 15.75M homes, might be “vacant” just to support people shuffling around

      That assumes it takes a full year after buying the property to fully move into it. If we cut that number in half ( 1/16 of homes, or 7.87M homes) that provides more than enough homes for the homeless population and assumes 6 months for people to move which is still absurdly long.