Housing First is a Failed model but a boon to the Homeless Industrial Complex
Housing First does not solve the problem it hides the problem.
The Housing First model is a policy and philosophy that offers immediate and unconditional access to housing without requiring the individual to meet specific preconditions like sobriety or other participation requirements. The idea being that until a person’s basic needs are met, they can’t really be helped with something that led them to the streets and/or kept them on the streets. Shelter, being an extremely important basic need this makes sense on paper. Theory, though, is far different than practice.
There are seven key components to Housing First. Voluntary Personalized Services is its biggest flaw. The individual is neither required, expected, nor encouraged to work on any of their barriers once indoors. The hope is that they will volunteer to get sober, go on medication, go to doctors’ appointments, get a job, or really anything that will get them closer to self-sufficiency.
The flaw is that by not preparing the person to leave the streets or getting them to agree to make changes, a high percentage of the time they return to the streets. The reason is that many homeless people have described the streets as being “addictive.” They love the freedom, the nature, the community, and the lack of responsibility.
This homeless woman shared that a majority of her homeless friends who got into housing returned to the streets within weeks. They had spent years trying to get into the housing, but once there, they realized they couldn’t do it. The people who came up with Housing First had good intentions, but had clearly not consulted with the homeless population. If they had, they would have realized that many have many more concerns than a roof over their head. I have interviewed thousands of homeless people, and of the ones that got into housing and then left, the most common reason was the feeling of isolation. Not only physical isolation, but also emotional isolation.
This homeless woman also called the streets addictive and had come up with every excuse why she would not go indoors, despite the voice in her head telling her it was the smart thing to do. I got her to agree to try it and to work with providers on her mental health and addiction issues. I also reminded her she needed a strong support system to stay in housing, and she mentioned family. She has children, but the streets are such a powerful draw to some that sometimes a child is not enough.
This homeless man has been homeless on and off since he was five years old and can’t imagine living indoors. He said there is a major flaw in the system, that the system houses people who are nowhere near ready. He believes social services know this, but they either don’t care or have no alternative solutions. As for him, he will never go indoors as long as he continues to mistrust the system. He brought up the horrific abuse he suffered at the hands of foster parents, which is a reason for his mistrust.
“Being thrown in with the lions”
I met this formerly homeless man sitting in a Starbucks across the street from a large Housing First program that has about a hundred units. He said about a third of the occupants are drug dealers dealing to the other two-thirds. Imagine what a newly recovering addict feels like in that environment.
He shared that over a hundred people a day show up to purchase drugs. He and other tenants I spoke to said the staff have been resistant to sharing anything with law enforcement. Keeping others safe from drugs is apparently not enough for them to even reluctantly work with law enforcement.
The biggest irony of Housing First is that in 2013, President Obama declared it would end homelessness in ten years. Not only did homelessness significantly increase, but many people living on the streets avoid Housing First programs due to the increased risk of violence, and if they are trying to get clean, relapse.
The homeless who have housing
This homeless man has had an apartment for over a year, but still chooses to sleep on the streets a majority of the time. He was not ready to go indoors, and once there, he felt isolated from his friends.
This woman has been on and off the streets for decades. Almost a year ago, she was once again given long-term housing, yet you can find her almost daily sleeping on the sidewalk. To the thousands of people who drive and walk past her every day, it would be easy to assume she is homeless. All she knows and understands is the streets, and because she was not properly prepared to live indoors, it's no surprise where she chooses to sleep.
Before I understood Housing First, I supported Housing First. The phrase makes sense. Immediately place a person in housing. What could go wrong? It was only when I worked in the system and witnessed firsthand its flaws that I realized it was doing more harm than good. While I have known those who were successful in Housing First programs, a high percentage fail because they were not prepared, lacked support, or were simply not ready. Over a hundred billion dollars have been spent on homelessness since Obama declared his bill would end homelessness by 2024.
We need to prepare most of the homeless to enter permanent housing. This might require treatment, intensive counseling, life skills training, a strong support system, day programs, etc. Under the current Housing First model, none of this is required. If we don’t help the individual with what led them to the streets or kept them on the streets, we are not really helping them, and they are at high risk of failing.
This multi-billion-dollar industry has been wildly ineffective, yet every year, budgets continue to grow. It has never been more obvious that if money were the solution, we would have solved it by now. Despite doing this work for over three decades, I continue to be surprised by how little the social system understands homeless people. Many of our current leaders consider themselves experts on homelessness based solely on reading books on the topic. Sorry, but reading Oliver Twist doesn’t paint an accurate picture of a real-life homeless person.
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The sad fact of the matter is that people have to want help. Until they want to get off the streets and clean themselves up, no amount of resources will convince them otherwise. Even worse, a lot of the 'harm reduction' policies have the effect of KEEPING people on the streets, telling them it's OKAY to want to live like that.
I cringe at the taxpayer money spent as well as private donations that have been wasted at the hands of the homeless industrial complex. We could have fixed this problem and gotten 90% of the people off the streets if the money had been spent properly.