Why do people become homelessness?

People become homeless for different reasons, some being that they had problems at home, and couldn't stand it any longer.

They may choose to be like that thinking it will be a better life, but it's really not. One way you get homeless is that you fail mostly every subject in school and you can't get money to have food. People become homeless because they have no money and they can not afford to have a home or they think that being homeless will save them money.

Another way people become homeless is due to mental illness or substance abuse. For instance, a respected surgeon became an alcoholic. He came to work intoxicated and made a mistake that cost a patient his life. The patient's family sued him for wrongful death and won. The surgeon lost his medical license and no pay to pay his part of the settlement. So his nice house and vehicles were all taken from him. He just reached a point of not caring after that. All he had to live for was collecting enough change for his next bottle of cheap wine.

Then there are the homeless people who have delusional disorders such as schizophrenia. They often hallucinate and become paranoid, which in turn causes them to destroy every relationship they have. If they live at home, their parents will become afraid of them and put them out. If they have a spouse or romantic partner, there may be accusations of cheating when there isn't or even accusations of attempting to harm, spy on, or kill them. Sometimes abuse enters the relationship. So needless to say, they don't usually stay together for long. They would have problems keeping employment because they may randomly accuse others of things, talk to themselves, have problems with their hygiene, or have trouble doing their job. For instance, someone who is a phone salesperson might have trouble avoiding launching into political tirades, accusing their prospects of random things -- "You're from the government spying on me, aren't you? Who sent you?" Either they have nobody in their lives who care, or they've pushed everyone away, and thus there is nobody around to care about their mental health or to help them seek treatment. Often, the homeless who are mentally ill will do well enough on medications, but once they consider themselves cured, have their medications stolen, or can no longer afford their medication, their illness gains control of their lives again.

Then of course are those who are homeless for a short period of time. These are families and individuals who are down on their luck. Maybe they made unwise investments and lost everything, maybe they suffered through natural disasters and personal tragedy, maybe they had major medical problems, or maybe they were crime victims. They tend to be likely to rally for assistance or to pull themselves back up and start over.

There are former prison inmates who have difficulty assimilating into society. They were taken care of for so long and protected to a degree, that they lost their ability to function in normal society. They might have been housed in a supermax facility, and might also lack occupational skills. They may have learned to associate society with getting in trouble, so they try to hide from society, rely on their street smarts to commit petty crimes for survival, or they may try to live off of the land.

There are also those who choose to be homeless for whatever reason. That is a minority of the total who are homeless. This type might have atypical religious views or simply want freedom. They might have poor social skills or a major personality disorder, but they are rather functional. They don't have substance abuse or major psychiatric disorders, just a different way of looking at life.