But, why don't they do what's done in China: Rent a room and share it with someone. Even if the cheapest rooms cost 1000$ a month, that would be 500$ per person, if there's 2 people per room. In the army, you share a bunk with nearly a dozen.

It certainly doesn't absolve us of having to build much more, but at least it's a short term solution.

Have you tried renting in Cali? The landlord will laugh at your face when you show up four folks for a studio.

The few months I lived in Cali I had a well paying job, and it still took me a month to find a place to stay.

Reasons I was refused rent included:

- I didn’t have too much work experience (grad school doesn’t count as a job)

- I had a girlfriend, who lived in the East coast, and would visit me frequently

- I didn’t have a green card (I had OPT)

- I worked for a start up, and the landlord didn’t like renting to startups folks

Finally I got a condo in real bad shape for 1400/mo.

You might object that 1400 is not that bad, but I was 1.5 hours north of LA.

So leave Cali.

What is with this entitlement to live anywhere we want for any price we want?

They even do this in highly developed Japan. Many young people share not just rooms but single beds (since the rooms are small) to live in Tokyo.

What jobs are they working? How many jobs have they had in the past year? I can only speak to my own experience with the homeless I've come in contact with. Most are mentally ill or are struggling with drug addiction. Sure some of them have jobs, but jobs of the street sweeping, sign holding sort that can't afford them even the most meager housing.

Well, going back to the article, one of the examples they give is a university lecturer. Her income is over twice the current Federal Poverty Level, and she lives out of her car.

I realize I'm going for the ad hominem here, but I get the impression that you were so eager to start victim blaming that you haven't even taken the time to read the article before commenting on it.

I actually did read the article. The article mentions one or two examples of mentally typical people who are homeless. Ok. I've dealt with many many more than that who are most certainly not University lecturers.

But you could perhaps at least see the problem in a university lecturer not being able to afford to maintain a basic standard of living in the community where she teaches, right?

And if you can get that far, then perhaps you can see that the homelessness problem being described in this article goes well beyond the two causes you're trying to reduce the whole thing to?

I don't have much sympathy for the lecturer because it's probably safe to bet she has made a conscious decision to maintain her homeless lifestyle. I find it very hard to believe that someone with a PhD could not find extra work, or do something else entirely, to afford an apartment.

She presumably has other options given her education, unlike other psychologically disabled people who have no other option but to live on the street. Of course pathological stubbornness could be a disability.