While official, government-backed national strategies — where they exist — often struggle to make progress, individual cities are reducing, and even ending, homelessness, showing it need not necessarily be an issue that is too complex, to big or too intractable ever to be solved.
We will tell not just the story of their death, but the story of their life — what they were like as kids, what their dreams were, their hobbies, what people loved about them, what was infuriating.
We will also examine what went wrong with their lives, how it impacted on their loved ones, and if anything could have been done differently to prevent their deaths. As the series develops, we will invite politicians, charities and homelessness organisations to respond to the issues raised.
We will also ask readers to offer their own stories and reflections on homelessness. We want the stories we tell to become the fulcrum of a debate about homelessness; to make a difference to a scourge that shames us all.
Another 47 have achieved measurable reductions. Its methodology, developed by a non-profit organisation, Community Solutions, is based on the conviction that homelessness is not just a housing, public health or policy issue, but a complex problem that requires everyone working on it to collaborate in counting down, individual by individual, to zero.
A centralised, command-and-control approach, which Community Solutions likens to the coordinated, community-wide surveillance systems that once led, for example, to the eradication of smallpox, is informed by comprehensive, detailed, real-time and by-name data on every person in the community who is homeless. Only this depth of data will allow communities to really know their homeless people, find appropriate solutions for each one, optimise their resources, develop a successful strategy and share what works with other cities, the organisation believes: it is not just about resources, but devising a faster, smarter, more coordinated system.
How do we get him housed as fast as we can? Elsewhere, other cities have adopted different approaches. In the , Italy passed new mental health legislation paving the way for state mental hospitals to close and be replaced with a robust network of community-based mental health services instead with an emphasis on respect, social inclusion, community participation and support when needed.
Recognised by the World Health Organisation as global best practice for mental health care, the city, with a population of ,, closed its 1,bed mental health institution in and now has only six psychiatric hospital beds in an unlocked ward, with staff in plain clothes.
Solutions We know what it takes to end homelessness. The solutions are highlighted below. Housing Housing provides a foundation from which a person or family can access the services and supports they need to achieve stability, begin the recovery process, and pursue personal goals. Click for more. Integrate Health Care To treat and manage chronic health and behavioral health conditions that often affect their ability to stay housed and achieve their personal goals, people experiencing homelessness must have access to comprehensive health care.
Build Career Pathways One of the most effective ways to support individuals as they move out of homelessness and into permanent housing is increasing access to meaningful and sustainable job training and employment. Foster Education Connections For children and youth experiencing homelessness, schools can be a lifeline. Strengthen Crisis Response Systems An effective crisis response involves coordinating and reorienting programs and services to a Housing First approach, and emphasizes rapidly connecting individuals and families to permanent housing, while mitigating the traumatic effects of homelessness.
Reduce Criminal Justice Involvement Our national data shows that the number of Americans caught in a revolving door between the streets, shelters, and jails may reach the tens of thousands.
Build Partnerships Recognizing that the solutions to homelessness cut across federal, state, and local jurisdictions, we need to build a robust interagency, cross-sector approach to preventing and ending homelessness. While some of those increases have been reversed, Houston has not yet recovered to where it was before the storm, said Catherine Troisi, an epidemiologist at The University of Texas Health Science Center, who verifies the annual homeless count. Houston and surrounding Harris County have decided to use part of the unprecedented amount of federal homeless aid to help launch a two-year housing initiative.
The new program, which involves local providers and government agencies, expects to house nearly 5, people by , with the goal of eliminating chronic homelessness in the city of Houston and Harris County. Experts say that homeless systems can remain successful only if they get continual financial investment, regular data analysis and ongoing coordination among stakeholders. Over the last decade, San Diego embarked on a very different journey, launching a series of one-off projects — some modeled on Housing First principles.
And, according to one study, millions in taxpayer dollars were saved compared to taxpayer-funded services frequently used by the homeless. In the past, the city focused its funding on emergency shelters and caring for homeless people with disabilities. However, from to , the San Diego area had one of the highest percentages on the West Coast of people returning to homelessness after two years, and the length of stay in emergency shelters also increased.
In , the city created three short-term, or bridge, shelters after a hepatitis A outbreak spread through the unsheltered homeless community. Outside consultants hired to evaluate the program later said that while the goal was to provide short-term shelter and services that could eventually lead to permanent housing, these shelters lacked adequate staffing, training and resources and were not a successful bridge.
Experts say part of the problem was misunderstanding about what constitutes a Housing First approach. Chris Megison, president and chief executive of Solutions for Change in north San Diego County, says Housing First has been around for years, and he has not seen any significant results.
The nonprofit believes in sobriety before housing and provides a range of supportive programs focused on well-being, workforce development and community service. Otherwise, he says, homeless people get caught in an endless cycle of services and shelters that provide temporary assistance but fail to prepare them for self-sufficiency. However, to continue qualifying for state funding Solutions for Change recently removed its requirements for sobriety and regular drug testing at most of its housing sites, reducing the number of families served in its sober living program from to 60, an organization spokeswoman said.
In San Diego, those structural problems are largely a lack of affordable housing compared to current wages and public assistance. Officials estimate San Diego will need more than 2, permanent housing units for its homeless residents over the next 10 years. Craig Curry said he has been on the waitlist for housing assistance since
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