5 facts Elon Musk should learn about homelessness

Elon Musk attends the 2024 Breakthrough Prize Ceremony on April 13, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images)

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has been appointed by President-elect Donald Trump as the co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Despite its name, DOGE is not a department or part of the federal government. But it appears that Trump will look to Musk and DOGE to determine what government programs are essential and what should be eliminated as unnecessary.

So it is notable that, on Tuesday, Musk posted on X that homelessness is a "lie" and a "propaganda word." He suggested that most unhoused people are "violent drug addicts" who cannot be helped.

Musk was commenting favorably on a post that claimed providing shelter to unhoused people was counterproductive. The post ostensibly cited a San Francisco Chronicle article published in April 2022. The article does not support the contention that providing shelter to people who need it is fruitless or that all unhoused people are criminals. Rather, the article details how the converted hotels in San Francisco were "underfunded and understaffed," leading to substandard living conditions. The city outsourced the management of the buildings to non-profit groups, but failed to provide any oversight. The safety issues resulted from inadequate maintenance and "a small group of tenants who do not receive the support they need."

If Musk is going to advise the president on government spending, he should educate himself on the reality of homelessness. These are five key facts to get started.

17% of unhoused people are children

A reality that Musk did not mention in his post is that a significant percentage of unhoused people are children. According to the 2023 report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), on a single night in 2023, “roughly 186,100 people” or almost “three of every 10 people experiencing homelessness” was “part of a family with children.” The same report found that in a single night in 2023, 17 percent of unhoused people were children under the age of 18, amounting to 111,620 unhoused children.

According to data from the National Center for Homeless Education, during the 2021-22 school year, “[n]early 1.2 million children were either literally homeless (living in a shelter, or in unsheltered locations such as a car or tent) or doubled-up (sharing housing with friends or family beyond a unit’s designated capacity)” nationwide. Studies have found that unhoused children are at greater risk for health conditions, including respiratory infections and asthma, and developmental delays.

Tens of thousands of unhoused people are veterans

Veterans also make up a significant portion of unhoused people. According to the HUD’s 2023 report, on a single night in 2023, “35,574 veterans were experiencing homelessness,” or “22 of every 10,000 veterans in the United States.” But, according to the report, the “actual number of veterans experiencing unsheltered homelessness could be larger than reported.” Black veterans were disproportionately affected, and “comprised 36 percent of veterans experiencing sheltered homelessness and 25 percent of veterans experiencing unsheltered homelessness,” despite making up “only 12 percent of all U.S. veterans.”

Veterans experience homelessness at a higher rate due to multiple factors. Frequent and extended deployment can make finding and maintaining stable, affordable housing more difficult. A large number of veterans also live with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and struggle with substance abuse. According to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, 70 percent of unhoused veterans have problems with substance abuse. Veterans can also be “at a disadvantage when competing for employment,” as specific military work and training do not always translate to civilian employment.

Unhoused people are much more likely to be crime victims than perpetrators

In Musk’s post, he calls unhoused people “violent.” But, in reality, unhoused people are more likely to be a victim of a violent crime than to commit a violent crime. According to the Washington State Department of Commerce, an unhoused person “is no more likely to be a criminal than a housed person,” with the exception of camping ordinances, as unhoused people “break that law merely by being homeless.” In 2023, the New York Times reported that it is "relatively rare” for “homeless, mentally ill people” to commit a violent attack.

According to the Washington State Department of Commerce, unhoused people are in fact “more likely to be the victim of a violent crime,” especially unhoused women, teens, and children. Research found that approximately “14% to 21% of unhoused people are estimated to have been the victim of violence, compared with around 2% of the general population,” ABC News reported.

The false perception pushed by Musk that unhoused people are more violent can lead to stereotyping and dehumanizing of unhoused people, contribute to violence against unhoused people, and hurt efforts to help the unhoused.

Many people lose housing to escape domestic violence

While Musk implies that homelessness is the result of a moral failure by people with a mental illness or substance abuse disorder, the facts show that there are many factors contributing to homelessness that can affect anyone.

One of those factors is domestic violence. Each year, more than 7 million people in the U.S. experience domestic violence and among those people, 500,000 need to find new housing as a result. It can be difficult to accurately track how many victims of domestic violence end up experiencing sheltered homelessness because shelters that exclusively house domestic violence victims do not report information about their clients.

According to HUD, 11 percent of all beds in shelters that do track client information were designated for domestic violence victims in 2022.

Affordable housing is scarce, even for people with jobs

Another factor driving homelessness in the U.S. is a severe shortage of affordable housing.

For people making extremely low wages (either at or below the federal poverty line or 30 percent of their area’s median income), there are only 34 affordable rental options per 100 families in need of housing.

Working full-time, even for higher than minimum wage, is no guarantee that permanent housing will be attainable. In fact, according to a report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the average full-time worker would need to make over $32 per hour to afford to rent a modest two-bedroom home or over $26 per hour to afford a one-bedroom.

There is nowhere in the country where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford to rent a two-bedroom home at a regular market rate. Even accounting for states and localities that have set their minimum wage above the federal level, the average minimum wage worker would have to work 113 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom home or 95 hours to afford a one-bedroom home.

A 2021 study from researchers at the University of Chicago found that 53 percent of people experiencing sheltered homelessness (meaning people living in shelters or transitional housing) had some kind of formal employment and 40 percent of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness were employed.