Last week, The New York Times grabbed our attention with its headline, We Know How to Fix Homelessness. Look at Denver. But before we get into possible solutions, let's demolish some myths.
Breaking Down the Myths
In a report last year, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health exposed one of the most damaging and common misapprehensions about the unhoused:
"While many people believe that substance use, mental illness, or other individual factors are the main drivers of homelessness, extensive research shows that rising housing costs drive more people into homelessness than any other cause. For example, a 2023 Pew analysis of housing costs and homelessness noted that 'housing costs explain far more of the difference in rates of homelessness than variables such as substance use disorder, mental health, weather, the strength of the social safety net, poverty, or economic conditions.'"
And the numbers help explain why. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), there's not a single state where someone working full-time at the federal minimum wage can afford a modest two-bedroom apartment. Even in relatively affordable South Dakota, a minimum-wage worker would have to put in 71 hours a week to cover the rent.
According to the NLIHC, one would need to earn at least $32.50 an hour to afford rent on a modest 2-bedroom apartment in 16 states. In California, the most expensive state for this type of housing, one would need to earn $52.79 an hour. In Hawaii, it's $49.38, and in Massachusetts, $48.59.
Yes, of course, plenty of unhoused people have substance abuse and mental health issues. But many of them will likely have developed those through the trauma of lacking the security and comfort of having a place to call home.
Another myth is that homelessness is a lifestyle choice, driven by an unwillingness to work. But a 2021 study by the University of Chicago found:
"About 53 percent of the sheltered homeless had formal labor market earnings in the year they were observed as homeless, and the authors find that 40.4 percent of the unsheltered population had at least some formal employment in the year they were observed as homeless. This finding contrasts with stereotypes of people experiencing homelessness as too lazy to work or incapable of doing so."
Bottom line, the biggest problem is housing costs outstripping wage growth.
The Denver Model
The Times focused on Denver as the city that has most successfully tackled homelessness recently. In 2025, it reduced the number of unhoused people within its boundaries 13 times more quickly than the national average rate.
"Since 2023, Denver’s unsheltered population is down 64 percent," says The Times. "'What they’re doing is working,' said Samantha Batko, a senior fellow at the left-leaning Urban Institute, which is independently evaluating the city’s progress."
Denver's formula, in place since Mayor Mike Johnston took office in 2023, is a combination of stick and carrot. The police proactively break up camps built by unhoused people, many of whom find a sense of security in numbers.
But that's been a common practice in many cities since the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson. "The Court cannot say that the punishments Grants Pass imposes here qualify as cruel and unusual," said the justices in their judgment. "The city imposes only limited fines for first-time offenders, an order temporarily barring an individual from camping in a public park for repeat offenders, and a maximum sentence of 30 days in jail for those who later violate an order."
What Denver does differently from other cities is follow up with practical assistance. "With the help of social workers, the city connects those people to services and shelters," says The Times. "Crucially, it has expanded those services to ensure that officers and social workers have something to connect people to."
Denver's Longer-Term Solutions
Practical, medium-term solutions include Elati, a block of tiny homes a 10-minute stroll from City Hall, and the Aspen, a city-owned hotel providing each resident with a room of their own. Both are dedicated to those who were previously unhoused and deliver the level of privacy and personal security that they crave.
Not everyone is a fan of these. Neighboring residents are nervous, and critics say the Aspen in particular has arbitrary rules, and that its hiring of ex-cons could leave vulnerable residents exposed to harm.
And while Elati and the Aspen have addressed an immediate problem, the underlying issue is a long-term one: Housing is too expensive for those on low incomes. Denver has moved forward with some reforms that should help, but it still has a long way to go.
Meanwhile, funding for new Elatis and Aspens has dried up as the federal government has cut housing subsidies nationwide. The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness has a $200,000 proposed budget for 2027 with which it must wind up its operations.
And there's the rub. Without federal help, many cities are unable or unwilling to fund the resources required to move unhoused people off the streets.
Other Models
The two cities with the biggest unhoused populations are New York City (125,683 in 2025, according to USA Facts) and Los Angeles (67,777). But they have very different strategies for dealing with homelessness.
With its freezing winters, New York has to shelter the unhoused or face an unacceptable death toll. So, it shelters 96.3% of them, says USA Facts.
Los Angeles leaves 65.5% unsheltered, and some Californian cities (Long Beach, San Jose/Santa Clara, Oakland, Berkeley) leave even greater proportions on the streets as their climates limit death rates among their homeless populations.
Of course, shelters shouldn't be long-term solutions. They should help unhoused people get back on their feet, find work, and rent their own accommodation.
But as long as modest and moderate wages remain insufficient to rent a home in so many places, finding work is not the solution many believe it to be.
