[18172828286177]

I mean, I hate to be cliched, but correlation does not imply causation. There are many possible confounding factors that could be at play here.

[UncleMeat]

Sure. But that's surely better than your "I think" above that is just based in a hunch.

[astine]

Correlation may not imply causation, but where there is causation there usually is correlation. So, if there is a rise in homelessness there is likely some factor contributing to that and if a factor is correlated there is a good chance that it's causal. Homelessness may caused by multiple factors but if it's increasing and those factors are mostly remaining static then looking for the one that is also increasing seems like a good bet.