A new study from Case Western Reserve University, a nonprofit research university in Ohio, is shedding light on a leading cause of homelessness in America. 

Meagan Ray-Novak — a research assistant at the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School’s Center on Poverty and Community Development — led the research by conducting 40 extensive interviews with people in her community experiencing homelessness. 

She says the study challenges outdated assumptions about homelessness. 

“We were asking people very broadly what life was like before they became homeless, and what we found is that the majority of the population had actually experienced some type of loss,” Ray-Novak told News 5 Cleveland — a local ABC News outlet. 

“Some kind of death, divorce, separation, and caretaking responsibilities that had significantly impacted their ability to stay in their home.”

Ray-Novak went on to explain that the study didn’t just show that grief was a unifying theme for people who were chronically homeless (living unhoused for more than 12 months […]