How can homelessness be solved

The challenge is to understand how do we get out of this mess? We need more money. If we just had more resources, we could do better. So, yes, resources are a critical component in the solution. Over the last 30 years, we spent billions and billions of dollars to the McKinney-Vento programs at HUD funding homeless services across the country.

We spent billions more in health care dollars treating homeless people in hospitals, law enforcement dollars incarcerating them, mental health dollars treating them.

And in Los Angeles, the numbers are increasing. Homelessness is not separate from domestic violence or physical illness or mental illness or substance addiction.

If we believe that a system is a group of integrated parts forming a complex whole, then there is no health care system or mental health care system or homeless service delivery system. There are health care programs and providers, mental health care programs and providers, homeless service programs and providers. But integrated on a large, consistent scale across the country? Well, by now we should all be pretty discouraged and depressed.

Decades of work by smart, dedicated people spending billions of dollars without great results. So before you head for the exits, let me share with you a model of what works, can be scaled up and sustained, and really begin to move the needle on solving homelessness.

Now I know, I know, the poor will be with us always. True enough. Until we have a fully integrated system, we are never going to solve this problem.

At OPPC we work with two local hospitals in our community and, like all hospitals, they have many homeless patients coming into their emergency rooms. The ER has become the default solution, which is no solution at all. Several years ago, we went to these hospitals and we said, rather than discharging your homeless patients to the streets, please discharge them to us. Assistance for the Most Vulnerable Sometimes people need longer-term rental assistance and services supports to achieve stability.

Permanent Supportive Housing. Designing a Crisis Response An effective crisis response system can help people quickly exit homelessness. Crisis Response. Increasing Employment and Income Programs designed to assist low-income people increase their income are critical to supporting housing stability. Income Opportunity and Services. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.

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The problem is, housing in many cities is getting more expensive every month, and as prices rise, so do the costs of programs to combat homelessness. Meanwhile, federal funds for affordable housing have stayed at the same levels for years. So as housing costs go up, those funds are spread more thinly and help fewer people.

But if homelessness is really a problem the country wants to solve by , why not increase the amount of money overall that the government spends on programs to help the homeless? Where could that money come from?

Why not stimulate the creation of affordable housing so to assist both the chronically homeless and those who are homeless temporarily? But solving homelessness can help fix a lot of other problems too, including truancy from schools, food insecurity, drug and alcohol abuse, unemployment. Is it possible that directing more resources toward solving homelessness could actually save society money by helping to fix its other ills at the same time?

Drop your thoughts into an email to l etters theatlantic. Skip to content Site Navigation The Atlantic. Popular Latest. The Atlantic Crossword. Sign In Subscribe. First we need to consider space. We should increase the number of shelters available to the homeless. Affordable housing would be a longer-term solution. That would be better in terms of lasting success, boosting their chances of landing and keeping a job, and maybe helping those who struggle with addiction to stay sober.

Permanent supportive housing might solve this for us.