Homelessness is at the highest point in our nation’s history.
Why?
The U.S. homeless population has risen a staggering 18.1% since 2023.
The federal government’s decade-long approach to homelessness, Housing First, has failed.
Adopted in 2013, Housing First is a public policy approach to connect the homeless to permanent housing as quickly as possible.
It was a great sound bite and hard to argue with… at least initially.
It meant that American taxpayers were on the hook to provide all homeless with housing for life— in the form of permanent housing— without any requirements such as sobriety, engagement in treatment services, or pursuit of work, ever.
Shelters with structured rules, transitional housing programs, and treatment services were rendered virtually obsolete. Their funding was eliminated to expand the number of “in perpetuity, unconditional housing vouchers.”
Most non-profits serving the homeless bent the proverbial knee to the federal government approach, as the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is the largest funder of homelessness.
President Obama promised Housing First would end homelessness in a decade, yet, 11 years later, the number of homeless Americans soared to the highest level ever recorded, accompanied by a 238% increase in the homeless mortality rate.
California— the only state to fully adopt Housing First (2016)— now ranks amongst the worst states in the nation.
Beyond these abysmal outcomes was the quiet release of the only long-term study of Housing First that demonstrated it to be ineffective and often deadly. Over the 14-year analysis, nearly half of the individuals died by year five, and only 36% remained housed after year five.
