The Solution…

Los Angeles, California spends over 1 billion dollars annually on homelessness. Where does it go? That’s the question that should keep people awake at night. Audits from 2023 by the City Controller found that only sixty percent of funding reaches actual services. The money doesn’t reach the people who need it because 40% evaporated into bureaucracy. The bureaucracy makes it financially impossible to build housing at scale. Homelessness has now become an industry. Five to seven billion dollars flows annually through California’s homeless services sector. There are structural incentives to maintain the problem rather than solve it.

The solution, give people housing immediately. Don’t make them get sober first. Don’t make them prove they deserve it. Don’t require them to jump through hoops or complete programs. Just house them. Roof over their head, provide support services, addiction treatment if they want it, mental health care, job training, life skills. But the foundation is stable housing. The logic is straightforward. It’s nearly impossible to address addiction, mental illness, or unemployment when you’re sleeping on the street. How do you get clean when you are surrounded by drugs? How do you take psychiatric medication when you have nowhere to store it? How do you show up for job interviews when you haven’t showered in a week? ‘Housing first’ removes those barriers. Houston, Texas did something Los Angeles, California refuses to do. Unified leadership. They created the way home. One coordinating agency with actual authority over 100 different organizations, non-profits, government agencies and service providers. No bureaucratic fragmentation. No turf wars between non-profits competing for funding. One strategic plan executed coherently by all partners. The results speak for themselves. The cost benefit math is clear.

Houston, Texas invested $40 million in housing first programs. They saved $60 million in reduced emergency room visits, jail costs, and police responses. Housing people is cheaper than leaving them on the streets, significantly cheaper. Emergency room visits for untreated chronic conditions cost thousands per visit. Jail costs $80,000 per person per year. Permanent supportive housing services costs about $20,000 annually. Now, let’s look at Helsinki, Finland. In the 1980’s Finland had a homelessness crisis proportional to what LA faces now relative to population size. Thousands of people living on the streets, in shelters, in temporary housing. By 2023, they virtually eliminated street homelessness. Fewer than 50 people sleep on Helsinki streets on any given night. 50. How? The Y Foundation, a non-profit housing organization, implemented a massive ‘housing first’ program starting in 2007. They bought buildings, renovated them, converted them into supportive housing, and rented them at subsidized rates. The rent 30% of income, whatever that income is. If you have zero income, you pay zero rent until you find work.

They invented ‘housing first ‘ as a model. It was developed in Finland, proven effective there, then exported worldwide. Ninety percent of people housed through Finland’s program remain stably housed after 5 years. The model works. It’s been replicated successfully in dozens of countries, Canada, France, Scotland, Austria, everywhere. It’s implemented seriously. It works everywhere except apparently the United States. So, what would it take in Los Angeles, Ca? Let’s do the math, 78,000 people currently on the streets. Add another 72,000 who are precariously housed one paycheck from homelessness. You need 150,000 housing units built in 5 years to make a real dent. Is that possible? Absolutely. In World War II, the US built 16 million housing units in 4 years for war workers and returning soldiers. The country constructed entire cities from scratch. We have the industrial capacity, the construction knowledge, the materials. We lack the political will. The investment needed is $3-5 billion dollars over 5 years. That sounds massive until you remember Los Angeles, Ca already spends over $1 billion annually with negative results. Spending $3-5 billion to actually solve the problem would save money long-term by reducing emergency services, health care costs, and incarceration.

The model needs to be mixed, not one size fits all. Permanent supportive housing for people with severe disabilities, chronic health conditions and serious mental illness. These are people who need ongoing support services integrated into their housing. Transitional housing for people getting back on their feet who need temporary assistance but can achieve independence. Rapid rehousing with short-term rental subsidies for people who just need help with first month, last month deposit, plus integrated services, all on site. Mental health care, addition treatment, that’s voluntary, not mandatory, job training, life skills, case management. The housing is permanent, the services are available, but participation is voluntary. That’s key. Force doesn’t work, support does. Legal reform is essential. The regulations that make housing costs $700,000 per unit need to be eliminated. Streamline permitting so projects don’t take 5 years to approve. Reduce environmental review requirements for supportive housing. Override local zoning that prevents construction. Make it financially viable to build at scale. And here’s the hard part politically. It requires one coordinating authority with actual executive power. Not 20 different agencies competing for funding and credit. Not non-profits protecting their turf. One leader, one agency, one plan with clear goals, timelines, and accountability.

Houston, Texas proves this works. They dramatically reduced homelessness while LA’s crisis has exploded. In 2011 Houston, Texas had 85,00 people experiencing homelessness by 2023 that number dropped to 3200. That’s a sixty two percent reduction in twelve years. During that same period LA’s homeless population increased by over three hundred percent. What did Houston do differently? Housing first. The fragmented approach has failed for decades, but let’s be realistic about the future because hope without honesty is just delusion. There are three scenarios for Skid Row by 20, 35 years from now. Actual solution. This requires political will we haven’t seen yet, but remains possible. ‘Housing first’ implemented on a massive scale, 150,000 units in 5 years. Prevention through real rent control and strong tenant protection so people don’t become homeless in the first place. Coordinated services with one authority managing everything. Legal reform eliminating barriers to construction. This scenario requires elected officials to prioritize solving homelessness over appeasing homeowners who oppose construction. It requires spending money upfront to save money long-term. It requires looking at what worked in Houston, and Helsinki and swallowing pride to copy it. The evidence exists. The blueprint exists. What’s missing is courage. The question is, what are we going to do about it? Because doing nothing is a choice. Accepting the status quo is a choice. Allowing this to continue is a choice. And everyday we make that choice, five more people die in the richest city in one of the richest countries in human history. That should be unacceptable. The fact that it isn’t tells you everything you need to know.

Source: GNC News