Politics City officials need incentive to address homelessness

let me know when you have a point worthy of… my reading time!

 

I'm not sure how the solutions aren't worth your reading time... But, again like I said above... You can't get past not wanting it to work so you will look for endless excuses as to why it can't.

Even in the face of overwhelming statistical evidence.

This is like flat earthers, moon landing deniers, climate change deniers, 6000 year old Earthers, Covid deniers, etc, etc...

Doesn't make sense to me, but people like to believe whatever makes them feel better.

 

Because being homeless isn't against the law. Nobody is opposed to arresting people who break the law.

What other avenues and where have they worked better than housing first?

?

Examples please?

As the courts have ruled, is the government's responsibility...

Government housing is not a reward. No capable person would enjoy living under housing first, and hense would choose to pay for other arrangements.

So... keep homeless children... homeless? So they learn not to take handouts?

I'm not following the logic here...

 

Just train them to be "hunting guides" in Eastern Oregon. Good honest work... In demand. Room for advancement...

 

They wake up in a bathtub of ice.

 

Simple eh? You don't think people have been trying to figure out how to house the homeless for decades?

So, how are you going to pay for it? What houses will you put them in? What services will you provide? What job programs are you planning on? What mental health programs will you offer?

"Simple". What's simple is your thinking.

 

This has been done successfully many times. Look at Finland. Salt Lake City virtually eliminated homelessness for 10 years. They went from spending $20k per person to $8k per person. Then the housing first program was canceled and their homeless problem came right back. And now they spend the same $30k-40k per homeless person that everyone else does...

You have to fund it, but it costs about half as much per person as allowing them to remain homeless.

What is simple thinking is the idea that allowing them to remain homeless or putting them in jail is cheaper than housing them, despite all of the evidence to the contrary.

https://endhomelessness.org/resource/housing-first/

 

Now we are throwing money year after year servicing the homeless, the money needs to be spend addressing the problem. What they are doing doesnt work or address how its affecting business and residence.

 

And that's what Housing First does. Far less expensive than what we're doing now (also far less expensive than jail), and the treatment is far more effective, with lower rates of recidivism.

 

But Portland has the worst homeless problem which means you have lying eyes.

 

Housing First
April 20, 2016 | Publications

What is Housing First?
Housing First is a homeless assistance approach that prioritizes providing permanent housing to people experiencing homelessness, thus ending their homelessness and serving as a platform from which they can pursue personal goals and improve their quality of life. This approach is guided by the belief that people need basic necessities like food and a place to live before attending to anything less critical, such as getting a job, budgeting properly, or attending to substance use issues. Additionally, Housing First is based on the theory that client choice is valuable in housing selection and supportive service participation, and that exercising that choice is likely to make a client more successful in remaining housed and improving their life.

How is Housing First different from other approaches?
Housing First does not require people experiencing homelessness to address the all of their problems including behavioral health problems, or to graduate through a series of services programs before they can access housing. Housing First does not mandate participation in services either before obtaining housing or in order to retain housing. The Housing First approach views housing as the foundation for life improvement and enables access to permanent housing without prerequisites or conditions beyond those of a typical renter. Supportive services are offered to support people with housing stability and individual well-being, but participation is not required as services have been found to be more effective when a person chooses to engage. Other approaches do make such requirements in order for a person to obtain and retain housing.

Who can be helped by Housing First?
A Housing First approach can benefit both homeless families and individuals with any degree of service needs. The flexible and responsive nature of a Housing First approach allows it to be tailored to help anyone. As such, a Housing First approach can be applied to help end homelessness for a household who became homeless due to a temporary personal or financial crisis and has limited service needs, only needing help accessing and securing permanent housing. At the same time, Housing First has been found to be particularly effective approach to end homelessness for high need populations, such as chronically homeless individuals.

What are the elements of a housing first program? Housing First programs often provide rental assistance that varies in duration depending on the household’s needs. Consumers sign a standard lease and are able to access supports as necessary to help them do so. A variety of voluntary services may be used to promote housing stability and well-being during and following housing placement.

Two common program models follow the Housing First approach but differ in implementation. Permanent supportive housing (PSH) is targeted to individuals and families with chronic illnesses, disabilities, mental health issues, or substance use disorders who have experienced long-term or repeated homelessness. It provides longterm rental assistance and supportive services.

A second program model, rapid re-housing, is employed for a wide variety of individuals and families. It provides short-term rental assistance and services. The goals are to help people obtain housing quickly, increase self-sufficiency, and remain housed. The Core Components of rapid re-housing—housing identification, rent and move-in assistance, and case management and services—operationalize Housing First principals.

Does Housing First work?
There is a large and growing evidence base demonstrating that Housing First is an effective solution to homelessness. Consumers in a Housing First model access housing fasteriv and are more likely to remain stably housed. This is true for both PSH and rapid re-housing programs. PSH has a long-term housing retention rate of up to 98 percent.vi Studies have shown that rapid re-housing helps people exit homelessness quickly—in one study, an average of two months—and remain housed. A variety of studies have shown that between 75 percent and 91 percent of households remain housed a year after being rapidly re-housed.

More extensive studies have been completed on PSH finding that clients report an increase in perceived levels of autonomy, choice, and control in Housing First programs. A majority of clients are found to participate in the optional supportive services provided,ix often resulting in greater housing stability. Clients using supportive services are more likely to participate in job training programs, attend school, discontinue substance use, have fewer instances of domestic violence, and spend fewer days hospitalized than those not participating.

Finally, permanent supportive housing has been found to be cost efficient. Providing access to housing generally results in cost savings for communities because housed people are less likely to use emergency services, including hospitals, jails, and emergency shelter, than those who are homeless. One study found an average cost savings on emergency services of $31,545 per person housed in a Housing First program over the course of two years. Another study showed that a Housing First program could cost up to $23,000 less per consumer per year than a shelter program.