Despite some misconceptions that substance use and mental health issues are the primary causes of homelessness in Columbia, other contributing factors that may be overlooked are a shortage of affordable housing and increasing housing prices. Making an effort to understand the complexities of homelessness in our community may help reduce these beliefs and decrease the possibility of exacerbating the issue.
Jane Williams, co-founder and executive director at Love Columbia, a local nonprofit organization that provides services such as housing coaching and career development for people experiencing homelessness, says that the lack of affordable housing is a major obstacle toward addressing the housing crisis in Boone County.
“There are so many people who are now unhoused,” Williams said. “The issue is not mental health or substance use at all. It’s just the economy.”
There is a gap between the supply and demand of affordable housing that continues to widen. Columbia’s population is growing at a rate of 0.78 percent annually and has seen a 3.19 percent increase since its last census in 2020, but the income-based housing units available in the last 50 years have not kept pace with the growing number of people in need of affordable housing.
According to COMO Business Times, Columbia has a five percent rental vacancy as of February 2024, meaning that five percent of the rental properties on the market are unoccupied.
As reported by Zillow, the median rent in Columbia rose from $1,050 in January 2024 to $1,350 in January 2025. This $300 increase marks a 28.57 percent rise in rental prices, making it more difficult for people to secure stable housing.
Randy Cole, chief executive officer for the Columbia Housing Authority, a government agency that provides quality and affordable residences to low-income families, said that the waitlist for affordable housing now consists of about 1,200 people.
Additionally, some landlords in Columbia have started increasing rent prices. According to Williams, in May 2021, Love Columbia faced challenges with providing enough housing to all those in need because of the tightening market.
“Landlords started charging double deposits,” Williams said.
Even after Columbia changed chapter 12 of the city code to include source of income protections, meaning that landlords could no longer discriminate against those using housing vouchers, instances of housing discrimination still continued.
According to Williams, landlords would rather not go through the steps of completing paperwork for residents with housing vouchers, and some may have biases favoring tenants from different backgrounds than those experiencing homelessness.
“If you’ve got 20 people with cash in hand standing at your door to rent that one apartment that’s available, you can be very selective,” Williams said. “And so, housing or property management companies do things like raise the credit score … and many people in poverty have struggled paying their bills, so they may not have that higher credit score.”
Also, property management businesses may require renters to have an income three times the rent, but those who use housing vouchers often cannot meet this requirement.
In 2023, Love Columbia had to relocate 22 families outside of Boone County because there was no housing available to them. Then, the organization began fixing cars for people experiencing homelessness to sleep in. Williams said that Love Columbia only resorted to repairing cars for individual persons experiencing homelessness, not those living with families.
Columbia seems to have a variety of resources available for those seeking support. Organizations like Turning Point Day Center — which is a resource center that provides people experiencing homelessness with a physical mailing address, shower and laundry facilities, temporary storage, internet access and more — serves approximately 100 people daily.
Even with these resources, Angelene Powell, a person who has experienced homelessness and has used services that Love Columbia offers, points out that some people who may want assistance might not feel comfortable seeking it.
“They feel defeated,” Powell said. “They feel like they need to be a certain status to get help, a certain color [or] a certain education.”
Carolyn Perry Hunt, a program assistant at Turning Point Day Center, who works with clients regularly and plays an active role in strategic planning for the organization, said that she understands that some individuals seeking affordable housing may feel like they are facing unnecessary challenges obtaining housing because of their race or education level.
Hunt said that she believes most local organizations working with people experiencing homelessness want to help by providing their resources.
Having worked with many organizations in Columbia that offer services to those experiencing homelessness, such as the Columbia Housing Authority, Hunt said that it is likely that incidences of discrimination stem from actions of specific employees rather than local organizations as a whole.
“I think the problem can be [that] an individual might treat someone in a discriminatory way, but they are not totally representing their organization,” Hunt said. “I don’t want to say that homeless people have not faced it, but I can also say that the organizations themselves are not discriminatory.”
According to Hunt, a reason why people experiencing homelessness might feel discriminated against is because the housing process is complicated, and they may feel like it takes too long to get support.
“Trying to help the homeless, especially with housing issues, is pretty complicated because there are a lot of barriers to overcome,” Hunt said. “A lot of times people don’t have the documents they need in order to go through with the process. “So I think it can feel to the homeless like people are putting up unnecessary barriers.
While homelessness is a complex issue, there are ways for the local Columbia government and private donors to help improve the circumstances for some experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity in Columbia.
Having the Columbia City Council allocate more funds from the city budget to expand public housing programs through the CHA, supporting rapid rehousing initiatives like those from Love Columbia and donating to organizations like the Voluntary Action Center to provide food and housing, could all contribute to long-term solutions that would drive systematic change and help ease some of the challenges of homelessness.
Private donors could also make monetary contributions to support services for those experiencing homelessness that cater to public health issues. One of these organizations in Columbia is Phoenix Programs, Inc., which provides inpatient and outpatient treatments for people affected by “substance use and dual diagnosis disorders.” Expanding access by offering treatment and support to a wider range of people through services like these could connect more people affected by substance use with supportive resources. help
Interested parties can also volunteer – organizations in the area such as Loaves and Fishes Soup Kitchen are always looking for more help.
While organizations helping individuals experiencing homelessness often offer many resources, it’s not enough to bridge the gap between temporary relief and long-term solutions. To address homelessness in a way that will create lasting change, the community may have to shift how it thinks about the varying challenges people experiencing homelessness in Columbia are affected by.
This could mean becoming educated on what affects individuals experiencing homelessness the most, having community-wide discussions about the issue and distributing funds through donations and city government investments to support services that need it the most. Then we could begin to dismantle misconceptions that stigmatize homelessness and work toward creating long-term solutions that minimize it.
Edited by Preston Smith | psmith@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Emma Harper and Natalie Kientzy | nkientzy@themaneater.com
Edited by Emilia Hansen | ehansen@themaneater.com
Edited by Emily Skidmore | eskidmore@themaneater.com
