You would then expect the percent of homeless per state to be roughly similar, when it in fact varies tremendously: https://www.statista.com/statistics/727847/homelessness-rate...

NYC, HI, CA >40 per 100k homeless in 2020 (higher now)

States with lots of poverty but also extremely cheap housing at the bottom with a 5x lower rate of homelessness: LA, AL, MS

Similarly, WV very low on the list despite being high on all of the other supposedly causal factors such as mental health and drug problems

Poor people with mental health and addiction problems can still live with a roof over their head as long as they're not competing with tech salaries to buy any kind of shelter.