Analysis

What drives homelessness rates?

Correlations across 17 covariates from federal data sources

Tests housing market conditions, eviction rates, federal funding, and labor market indicators against the CoC-level homelessness rate. Restricted to data-quality-vetted CoCs (n = 361). The dominant signal is housing-market variables (renter share, rent burden, vacancy rate). Unemployment is essentially uncorrelated with the rate, consistent with peer-reviewed research.

Sources: UCSF BHHI ACS-derived covariates · HUD CoC Program Awards · HUD Housing Inventory Counts Sample: 361 higher-confidence CoCs (excluding 29 flagged for likely undercount) Method: Pearson + Spearman correlation; scatter plots for top 6 drivers Updated: May 2026

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Cite this article

Stephens, G. (2026). What drives homelessness rates? Correlations across 17 covariates. Gaither Research. https://gaitherresearch.org/research/drivers

Stephens, and Gaither. 2026. "What drives homelessness rates? Correlations across 17 covariates." Gaither Research. https://gaitherresearch.org/research/drivers.

Stephens, Gaither. "What drives homelessness rates? Correlations across 17 covariates." Gaither Research, 2026, https://gaitherresearch.org/research/drivers.

@article{stephens2026what,
  author = {Stephens, Gaither},
  title  = {What drives homelessness rates? Correlations across 17 covariates},
  year   = {2026},
  publisher = {Gaither Research},
  url    = {https://gaitherresearch.org/research/drivers},
  urldate = {2026-05-01}
}