A Weekend Spotlight by Deverout Graham
Homelessness is not mainly a story about individuals failing. It is a story about homes that do not exist at a price people can pay. Three countries show it clearly.
Britain has 1.34 million households waiting for a social home in England, and a record 135,580 households in temporary accommodation. Shelter calculates that at the current pace of building, clearing the waiting list would take 119 years. A £39 billion programme is under way, but even if all of it went to social rent it would deliver just under 250,000 homes.
America counted a record 771,480 homeless people in 2024, easing to 745,652 in 2025. The best research finds that rents and vacancy rates explain why some cities have far more homelessness than others. Where cities allowed more building, as Auckland and Austin did, rents fell. Housing First, which offers a home without preconditions, keeps people housed, but it cannot work without homes to offer.
Jamaica shows what a small country can do differently. Since 2013, a workers’ housing levy has been drawn into the national budget at J$11.4 billion a year, while an estimated 600,000 people live in informal settlements. The Government holds about a fifth of the island’s land. Forest reserves must stay protected, but a rough estimate suggests that 150,000 homes would need only a small share of the remaining state land. What is missing is a published land inventory, faster titling and serviced sites.
The lesson for small nations is to build rules strong enough to protect the funds meant for housing and resilience, and to use public land for the public good. Knowledge about what works compounds when we share it, so I have set out the evidence and sources in full in our Research library.
Homes first. Everything else follows.
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