Well talking from my experience
I am profesional fully qualifed top tile person
I lost everything after my divorce of 25 years my family, my girls my dog and all my assets.
on top of that i lost my job made redudant on top of that i lost my mum who was a rock to me.
Point of despair, mentaly, physically, emotonially drained i was nearly homeless if not of my brother who took me straight away and looked after me.

Is not everyone's cup of tea for being homeless- circumstance make some of them and other well i cannot comment.
So i look at each person on its own and go to the root of thier problem rahter than labelling everyone

it takes a lot of time for some one to climb out of an abbyss

I still have not seen my girls now nearly 5 years and i just lost my dog so yeah i journey and experience it and it made me a stronger person and i will move on and i will like to meet someone and share my new journey with that person .

The issues is the issue ?

As someone who has only visited the USA 3 times and looking in from the outside, I would say that

• the US minimum wage isn't high enough
• I can't comment on the welfare system but no doubt it plays a role
• the medical system is clearly a mess as productive people can end up in massive debt due to medical bills
• services for mental health are insufficient
• support for veterans - they seem to get discarded the moment they come back from 'serving their country'.

Homelessness exists everywhere but I've seen it increase in both the UK and Oz as they've cut funding for welfare, education, health and support services. Its not rocket science.

There will always be a percentage of the population who find it hard to get by in society, pay bills, keep jobs etc. This is almost always due to mental health issues.

I'd happily have my taxes go towards paying for tiny houses in every town to help house those who struggle with life in order to give them a place to recuperate and perhaps get back on their feet.

Lack of a living wage.
Can we fix it? Yes.
Will the government help? No. Why? Homeless people have no permanent address so they are not registered voters for the most part. Politicians care less about people who can't or don't vote.
Most of the homeless are not there by choice but by circumstance.
Some people prefer to be homeless.
Homelessness is a systemic failure of society not doing what is right.
If you think homelessness is that individuals fault and they don't warrent a home then you walk up on stage on live tv in front of a group of 30 kids, pick out 1, and tell them they don't deserve a place to feel safe or warm or have a meal. Will you do it? Call a local tv station and have them record you telling each individual woman in a Womens Shelter that they don't deserve the shelter from abuse, by living at the shelter they ARE homeless you know.

I would apologize for sounding so crass... I'm not apologizing, perhaps crassness and more is needed. This is not an issue about choice, this is an issue about power and can be resolved if those in charge choose to do so.

There is no one issue. I knew someone who went medically bankrupt and was homeless for a while; a person who should have gone to domestic violence services but didn't want to follow the rules - she also had drug and mental health issues; someone who was a crack addict and lived on the streets; a few people who were in the foster care system who escaped to be homeless; lots of people with chronic severe mental health issues like schizophrenia, or bipolar I, or a personality disorder who couldn't maintain med compliance and / or were using street drugs; and, you know, poverty.

I did my therapy internship in community mental health...

A really good question.
hmmmm...
Inability to find a home?
Ha!

I have no definitive answer. But i can ramble for a bit. Obviously, our social model could use some work. There needs to be a balance between the orientation of our models emphasis on the product of the individual contributed to society, and the society providing a structure for the individual to thrive, at the least. why stop there? We could imagine a more utopian existence where ecologically beneficial technologies create an environment where it isn't necessary to work so much, or at all.

Education, Mental Health, Availability of Employment, Habitability of the Environment, Bad Decision Making, Addiction, these are things that can factor into the ability to find a home in America. But these things might not be causes of homelessness in models that are designed to either prevent such conditions from arising in the first place, or do a better job of helping people who find themselves suffering such conditions. Hopefully both. There are many social "ills" that seem to be bubbling up at the moment. I can't help but feel they all have some underpinning root, but perhaps that just my desire for things to be "simple" and "easy to understand". Something I can explain away with "common sense" .

It's hard to put in to words, but there is a "connection" that seems absent or weak at the moment. A sense of rapport between our individual bodies and our social bodies. I like to "step back" sometimes when thinking of these questions... zoom out, until people are particles with charges... bouncing around in various states of energy, interacting, exchanging charges and information. What's going on in the social chemistry? If you, for a moment, pretend you are not yourself... but just observing these objects, with their affinities, gravitations, fields of movement. What patterns do you see? An interesting exercize.

There are a lot of mentally ill people who are homeless, as well as people who simply have no support system.

Some places also have a terrible high cost of living and that contributes as well.

America itself. Or rather, the corruption of the original American idea which exists today. Individual liberty is a concept which much of the world has embraces wholeheartedly. But it's been taken way too far. Countries in Europe understand that individual freedom can't be absolute, if wellbeing for all is to be assured. So, European countries have implemented benefit and support systems, free healthcare, mandatory paid leave etc. The USA has not. 643,000 people in the USA go bankrupt every year due to medical bills, because the healthcare industry is being run as just that; an industry, and not a universal right.

The causes vary by the individual. Mental illness and economics seem to play the largest roles, imo.

Amazing what one may find on the internet using a search engine. Actual facts, rather than opinions presented as facts. [nlchp.org]

1. The #1 cause of homelessnes is insufficient income and lack of affordable housing. Not mental illness. Not laziness.

2. After paying rent and utilities, 75% of ELI (extremely low-income) households end up with less than half of their income left to pay for necessities such as food, medicine, transportation, or childcare.

3. The foreclosure crisis also played, and continues to play, a significant role in homelessness:
   o In 2008, state and local homeless groups reported a 61% rise in homelessness since the
   foreclosure crisis began.
   o Approximately 40% of families facing eviction due to foreclosure are renters; the problem may continue to worsen as renters represent a rising segment of the U.S. population

4. For women in particular, domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness.

5. Top causes of homelessness among families were:
   (1) lack of affordable housing,
   (2) unemployment
   (3) poverty
   (4) low wages

Top four causes of homelessness among unaccompanied individuals were:
(1) lack of affordable housing
(2) unemployment
(3) poverty
(4) mental illness and the lack of needed services
(5) substance abuse and the lack of needed services

Empty homes outnumber homeless people in the US 6 to 1.
[mintpressnews.com]

Everything starts at school.

There is a plethora of "reasons" about why people are homeless. Some people may have decided that they no longer wish to "play the game". To label people as "mentally ill" because they no longer wish to conform to society's expectations is demonstrate total disrespect for freedom of choice and individual liberty.

Owning a home is something that is desirable for the vast majority of people and it is usually purchased by a loan which can take many years to repay. Some people prefer to rent because it gives them the flexibility to easily move from one place to another.

Anything can happen and many things do happen between signing a contract and the final payment on your apartment or house, marriages breakdown, people lose their jobs for a variety of reasons. Drug addiction, alcoholism and all kinds of other reasons seems to be amongst the most popular reasons given for being homeless by the homeless themselves.

I really think the same cause in any developed country. Too many people, not enough affordable housing. Then of course the why is there not enough affordable housing? People only invest in anything including housing when the returns justify the investment. So basically the whole economic system is at fault.

In my opinion? Conservative pseudo-Xtians. Literally all the other causes, such as insufficient wage, mistreatment of minorities and the mentally ill, etc, can be laid squarely on their doorstep. They either cause it or perpetuate it.

Well thats hard to say. So many factors. Saw so many homeless people in Las Vegas of all places. They were camping out on the street in front of Veterans Center and Catholic Charities in tents, tarps, blankets, etc. They were on and off the city buses. The Strip blocks them from downtown by taking away seats at Bus Stops which you have to stand at, otherwise in the North end of the City they camp at bus stops-anywhere storefronts. I never asked anyone why they were homeless. I could smell them on the buses. They carried all their wordly possessions with them. There were veterans with walkers, wheelchairs and prostheses. Some families. I never asked why they were there.

Mental healthcare deficiencies

Where I live, homelessness is largely a mental health problem.

There are homeless people all over the world, why single this out to just one country?

Ultimately the largest contributor is neo-liberal (AKA trickle down) economics.

Incompetence, in every conceivable way.

I have known some homeless who actually chose to be. I think it must be a minority, but some actually chose that lifestyle. For some of those, a mental illness component may have come into play, but not all.

Lack of rent money?

Well, if you have to pick on, I'd say that the fact that economic factors are it. Just look at the distribution of wealth in the US.

And not having a place to live, obviously.

Crystal Meth Amphetamine...

Judgement, and fear of judgement.

A lack of social consciousness. We say we care and Americans give a lot to charities but the political will to resolve this problem is not there. No easy fix however. Even with lots of shelters in a nearby city, some homeless prefer the street.