"As of 2019, homeless encampments were appearing in numbers not seen in almost a century," the start of the study notes. "The growth of encampments mirrored the increase in unsheltered homelessness overall and seemed to reflect a complex set of societal factors, including a lack of affordable housing and the persistence of deep poverty and chronic homelessness. Encampments have implications for the health, safety and well-being of the people living in them, and can negatively affect the surrounding neighborhoods and businesses. Nationwide, communities are struggling to respond to public pressures to relocate encampment dwellers and prevent the formation of new encampments with only a weak knowledge base on which to structure that response."