A remarkable story about “Housing First”, a program for getting the most vulnerable homeless people into housing with no strings attached. And they are thinking big:
Perhaps the most ambitious program is the 100,000 homes campaign, a nationwide effort first launched in New York that aims to eliminate chronic homelessness by providing homes for 100,000 people by 2013.
Since its formal launch last July the campaign has housed more than 7,200 people, including more than 1,000 in Washington alone, with a 90 percent retention rate.
Too many programs that seek to address problems faced by the very poor or destitute have a punitive component to them; one that whether intentionally or not punishes people for being down on their luck:
Under traditional federal housing programs, applicants had to spend years on waiting lists and were barred from housing by drug or other convictions, a process that offered little hope for the most vulnerable.
For the moment, the government seems to be on board. They are including Housing First into a comprehensive $1.4 billion projects that hopes to eliminate all homelessness by 2020.
