Stefan Jung

Benjamin Noonan
Root Causes For Homelessness in Marin
Marins Homeless is the Invisible problem that wont disappear. There are many reasons for
homelessness in Marin, but the main cause is high rent paired with low wages. In 2009 there were 1,770
homeless people in Marin and around 3,000 who were on the verge of becoming homeless. A survey
found that more than 90 percent of homeless families and 80 percent of homeless, single adults suffer
from nothing more than poverty and a lack of low-income housing in Marin. Around 40 percent of
homeless people lost their jobs due to them being homeless. For 90 percent of the homeless, their last
permanent housing was in Marin and now most of these homeless people live in San Rafael, Novato and
Sausalito. More than half of these people are white, three quarters are single, 60 percent are male and 334
are children.
As big of a problem as the homelessness crisis is, what is arguably the bigger problem is minors
who are inadvertently sucked into a cycle of poverty and homelessness, through their parents who are also
homeless. The youth are important for the future of our time, and to not have them in school is going to
become a big problem very quickly. Many homeless adults still have an income, either from a job or a
social service payment, but it is usually still not enough for them to afford Marins high rent. This leads to
the controversy of building low-income housing in Marin. Many people in Marin oppose building new
affordable housing, because they are worried about their property values going down. They are afraid that
the low income housing will increase crime and/or m ake the area less appealing. That is the exact
opposite of what would happen. Their property value would either stay the same or increase in just the
smallest bit, because taking homeless people off the street can lower crime rates, since they arent
struggling to find shelter. The recent recession caused many people to become impoverished and
homeless in Marin, causing an increase in homelessness, which has had a slow recovery.
There are many solutions to homelessness. The non profit organization Homeward Bound says
housing first is a good solution, because having a homeless man or women on the streets is more
expensive than putting him or her into a shelter. A homeless person costs the state around $35,000$40,000 a year, on the other hand having someone who is homeless put into a shelter costs around
$20,000 a year.
The amount homeless people in Marin is a huge problem. There are many reasons for the
problem, including drug addictions,domestic violence, and mental health issues, but the main cause for
the problem is simple. Houses are too expensive and people arent making enough. Families would need

to make 33.85 an hour, full time, in order to afford a two bedroom apartment, and a household in Marin
must work 169 hours a week at minimum wage in order to afford a moderately priced two-bedroom
apartment. An easy way to fix the problem is to add more affordable housing. There are 10,000 people on
waiting lists to go into affordable housing, but many wealthy people in Marin are afraid of homeless
people ruining their community, so they oppose the building of more affordable housing.
Works Cited:
Swenerton, Jeff. "Homeless, in Marin." - Marin Magazine. Marin Magazine, Mar. 2010. Web. 29 May
2015.
McClenon, Felice. "Marin County 2013 Point in Time Count Comprehensive Report Findings." County of
Marin Health & Human Services, 2014. Web. 29 May 2015.
"Causes of Homelessness in Marin." Homeforallmarin.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2015.