Myths and Realities
True or False: Most people experiencing houselessness are lazy and don’t want to work.
What is False?
Many unhoused individuals work or are actively seeking work.
This is the most common period in which veterans become unhoused after service.
What is within the first 1-2 years of returning to civilian life?
This economic factor has outpaced wage growth and contributed to the houselessness crisis.
What is rising rent or housing costs?
True or False: Some college students experience houselessness while going to school.
What is True?
True or False: People experiencing houselessness have the same life expectancy as housed individuals.
What is False?
Life expectancy is significantly shorter. Unhoused individuals die on average 12–20 years earlier.
What is the most common cause of houselessness in the U.S.?
What is lack of affordable housing?
This percentage of unhoused families have experienced domestic violence.
What is over 80%?
This city consistently ranks highest for unsheltered houselessness in the U.S.
What is Los Angeles?
This form of temporary housing is most common among unhoused students.
What is doubling up (staying with others temporarily)?
This is the year that Project Lux was founded.
What is 2020?
This racial group is disproportionately represented in the unhoused population, making up about 40% of unhoused individuals but only 13% of the U.S. population.
What are Black or African American individuals?
This government program prioritizes chronically unhoused individuals for permanent housing with wraparound services.
What is Housing First?
True or false: Most shelters operate 24/7 with guaranteed beds for those in need.
What is false?
True or False: Most schools are required to help houseless students under a federal act.
What is True?
(McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act)
This common but often untreated dental issue among the unhoused can lead to infections, pain, and difficulty eating.
What is tooth decay or untreated dental disease?
This percentage of people experiencing houselessness in the U.S. are unsheltered (i.e., not in shelters).
What is about 40%?
What federal department works on reducing veteran houselessness?
What is the Department of Veterans Affairs or VA.
True or False: Many shelters have strict rules that keep people from staying there.
What is True?
This term describes college students who stay in cars, shelters, or on friends’ couches.
What is couch-surfing (or housing insecure)?
True or False: Mental illness is both a cause and consequence of houselessness.
What is True?
This approximate percentage of unhoused individuals in the U.S. are employed, debunking the “lazy” stereotype.
What is 40-60%?
To be classified as chronically unhoused, a person must be unhoused for this length of time or repeatedly over several years.
What is 12 months continuously or 4+ times in 3 years?
This percentage of extremely low-income renters spend more than half their income on rent.
What is over 70%?
This is one major barrier that prevents college students experiencing houselessness from accessing housing or food assistance programs like SNAP.
What is not meeting work requirements or being claimed as a dependent?
This environmental condition, made worse by prolonged exposure, leads to higher rates of respiratory illness among unhoused populations.
What is air pollution?