Many corporations now use overseas laborers. Also, a diminishing amount of low-skill jobs, due to industrialization has increased the chances of low-skilled workers finding employment. The Chicago coalition for the homeless states that a person must be employed full time and earn more than $8.29 per hour in order to exceed the federal poverty level for a family of four. According to the 1997 census report 2.3 million people worked full time but were still below the poverty line. Another reason for the increased number of homeless is the lack of affordable housing, especially in urban areas. The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless reports that, nationally, 10.5 million low income renters compete for 6.1 million rental units that are within their price range, leaving 4.4 million without affordable housing. Many low-income areas are being bought out by wealthy entrepreneurs who remodel and restore them and restore them and sell them for a large profit. The mainstreaming of institutionalized mental patients is another reason for homelessness. According to Microsoft Encarta nationally 20-25% of the homeless population suffers from some sort of major mental illness. .
These people are less likely to be able to obtain support such as treatment, case management and the help that is necessary to find and maintain permanent housing. The most recent cause of homelessness in the United States is the feminization of poverty. .
High expense of child care and the increasing numbers of single mothers, the number of homeless women and children is on the rise. The lack of affordable housing forces many homeless people to dwell in more remote and isolated places and many homeless people who are available to be interviewed are too incoherent or paranoid to do so. An additional reason for so little being known about the homeless is that homelessness is such a controversial issue that many of the interviewers are biased and base the findings of their interviews on the personal beliefs.
