Living right around the corner from San Francisco, an urban metropolis, it is impossible not to notice the immense number of homeless individuals living on the streets. Recently, I have noticed that many homeless individuals have some sort of neurological disorder, whether that be a physical or cognitive disability.
According to a Homelessness Benchmark Report in 2023, nearly 35% of homeless individuals in San Francisco identify as disabled. This statistic is not exclusive to San Francisco, as nearly 1 in 4 people with disabilities live below the poverty line globally. Why are people with disabilities likely to end up in poverty, and what can be done to prevent it?
One of the main reasons why people with disabilities deal with economic insecurity is because of the absence of accomodations in the workplace. As a result, many employers feel as though hiring a person with a disability is a worthless expense, as they will have to install disability related infrastructure. It is also more difficult for people with disabilities to find work outside the knowledge economy. Only 82% of people with disabilities do not have a bachelor's degree, and since their condition makes it difficult for them to perform manual labor, they are left out without work. Parents of disabled individuals struggle to send them to college in the first place, since it costs nearly $72,000 per year to care for a person with a disability in California. This cost drains the funds of parents who otherwise would have been able to send their child to university.
People with disabilities who are able to secure a job and college degree are not exempt from the struggle. Landlords are more often to deny renting properties for people with disabilities. When landlords do provide the property, people with disabilities have to pay the hefty expenses of adding disability related infrastructure to the house. If an individual requires a caretaker to help them with accessibility related tasks, they will be prevented from building wealth, as paying a full time or even part time caretaker is no easy feat.
Over 69% of people with disabilites are dependent on their parents as a result of the heavy adversity they face in the job and housing market. When their parents pass away or are unable to take care of them, they are left to be homeless or institutionalized.
The way I envision disability related homelessness to decline is by reserving seats in all universities for people with mental or physical disabilities. Additionally, all companies with more than 100 employees must have at least a single person with a disability employed. It should be illegal for a landlord to prevent an individual from renting a property based on disability status. States such as California must start forcing the hand of property owners, businesses, and schools in order to prevent people with disabilites from falling into homlessness.
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