- [Announcer] There are
more homeless people
in America today than the populations
of Orlando and Reno combined.
And that doesn't include
people forced to live
with friends or relatives.
That number could be
closer to 7.4 million.
But the American economy is
showing signs it's bounced back
from the 2008 recession.
The GDP is up, unemployment is
down, and homes are selling.
Yet despite all that progress,
the gap in income
inequality keeps widening.
Since 1980, the world's
richest 1% have taken
larger and larger shares
of the world's income,
while the bottom half has
taken smaller and smaller
slices of the pie.
This pattern is pushing
more and more people
to the financial brink.
Estimates show that 150
million people worldwide
may be homeless.
Another 1.6 billion don't
have adequate housing.
So what got us here?
For one, housing prices have skyrocketed
while ordinary people's incomes stagnate.
To afford an average rate
apartment in the U.S.,
a person must earn at least 16.35 an hour.
That's more than double
the Federal minimum wage.
There's no magic bullet.
But innovative solutions are
being tested around the world.
The most promising are
designed to tackle homelessness
from all angles, housing,
substance abuse, health,
and social isolation.
There's the Housing First movement.
That means putting a
roof over people's heads
then tackling issues like
mental illness and addiction
with support services.
It's worked for Finland and Denmark.
While homelessness rises across Europe,
it's declining in those countries.
These new ideas are promising.
And as global wealth grows,
new solutions and ideas
are arising to tackle the
complexity of homelessness.
However if applying these
solutions aren't made a priority
on a global scale, then
the millions of those
who are homeless may
likely continue to grow.
(staccato music)
