Why Housing Is Not the Answer to Homelessness

We write a lot about housing on this blog, as well we should. Securing housing for those who are unhoused is, logically, a part of the answer to ending homelessness. However, it is not the definitive answer. Homelessness is a complex issue. I would venture to say it is a more complex issue than most homeless advocates admit. By failing to appreciate the true complexities of the reasons individuals and families fall into, and sometimes persist in, homelessness, we do those we aim to serve a massive disservice.

In the comment sections on this blog, often on my own pieces, again and again I read people arguing that housing is the essential, conclusive answer to ending homelessness. Indeed, one being domiciled is antithetical to the homeless state. But this reductionist approach wrongly simplifies homelessness into a binary situation whereby there are those who are housed, and those who are not.

This thinking is wrong. While it is plainly true that providing people homes will momentarily resolve the homeless state, homelessness is the result of myriad social ills. One of those ills is in part a dearth of affordable housing, as noted in the Economist: "Expanding the supply of affordable housing would be a good first step. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, there is a shortage of 3.1 million low-cost rental units."

However, if we actually want to end homelessness, we must move past "a good first step" and address the causes, rather than simply the consequences, of homelessness.

This argument may seem off to some, especially those who take the verbiage, rather than the concept, of "Housing First" too literally. To be clear, my argument is not meant as an affront to Housing First. Housing First is an important and effective strategy. But Housing First has been misconstrued by some, becoming the rallying cry for advocates who wish to promote the simplistic fallacy that housing is the answer to homelessness.

They are wrong. It is not.

Housing First is an effective strategy for chronically homeless persons and individuals and families who are trapped in the shelter system. But for those cyclically homeless persons, Housing First, on its own, does not address why someone becomes homeless. Since it is a reactionary intervention rather than a preventative one, it cannot in itself be called a solution.

In a famous New Yorker story by Malcolm Gladwell, Gladwell interviews a homelessness researcher who "found that eighty percent of the homeless were in and out [of shelters] really quickly ... In Philadelphia, the most common length of time that someone is homeless is one day. And the second most common length is two days."

Gladwell goes on to argue that because the chronically homeless are most visible, we wrongly assume they make up the majority of the homeless population. Given this rampant misperception, I can see how many believe that providing unhoused persons housing is the only possible answer to homelessness.

Housing First is a great first step, but it is not the final step. As homeless advocates we must do better than simply screaming for housing at the top of our lungs. The majority of unhoused persons are work-able individuals who experience brief homeless spells. While Housing First is cost-effective for the chronically homeless, for most homeless persons, the smartest way to spend money is to intervene before they fall victim to homelessness in the first place. In order to do that, we must address the root causes of homelessness.

This is no trivial task, especially given how little we communally know about this social phenomenon. As a community of advocates, we need to be supportive, rather than combative, of efforts to learn more about what causes homelessness. Glib retorts like "a lack of housing causes homelessness" are counter-productive. In order to end homelessness we do need housing, but we also need smart social interventions, insightful research, and a united voice and collective ethos that is open to new ideas and is more committed to solving homelessness than adhering to stringent ideology.

Photo credit: fumigene