Homelessness in Greater Boston: Trends in the Context of Our Broader Housing Crisis

The public's perception of homelessness in Greater Boston often centers on visible encampments at locations such as Mass & Cass and the recent influx of immigrant families in need of support from the state’s shelter system. These issues are real, but they represent only a portion of the broader and more complex story of homelessness in our region. 

Factors usually associated with homelessness include substance use, mental health challenges, poverty, and former incarceration. While these factors increase the risk of homelessness at the individual level, they cannot explain population-level trends in homelessness. Greater Boston has similar, and often lower, rates of these factors than many other U.S. regions. But we still experience much higher rates of homelessness. What is different is our region’s severe shortage of affordable market-rate housing, limiting the ability of people of more modest means to find decent housing without public support.  

Key findings from the report include: 
 

• Among comparable U.S. cities and Continuums of Care, Boston has the second highest homelessness rate overall but also the eighth lowest rate of unsheltered homelessness. 
• Most unhoused people are in family units, and many of them are recent immigrants. 
• Black residents are far more likely to experience homelessness in Greater Boston than people of other races. 
• Broader housing market conditions are the central cause of homelessness in Greater Boston.