In which up is down: Local housing advocates claim increasing homelessness a sign of success
Somewhere, George Orwell is smiling. In a brazen example of counterintuitive spin, a collection of the local subsidized housing leaders responded to news that homelessness is rising in the county by saying that—get this—the uptick proves their Housing First programs are working. Astonishingly, the Merc took their comments at face value and—hold on—didn't seek out any voices to suggest that, y'know, maybe the increase is a sign that something's not working. To get more clear-eyed perspectives we talked to ex SJ councilmembers Johnny Khamis (who's also running for county Supervisor) and Pierluigi Oliverio (who's also a Planning Commissioner).
Khamis:
Opportunity Now: The subsidized housing lobby always likes to say that homelessness is mostly caused by high housing prices. I don't think anybody would contend that constrained supply leads to higher prices, but that's clearly not the *only* factor. Are they really saying that everybody living in encampments is there because they're priced out of their rentals? That's not the way it looks.
Johnny Khamis: Three factors drive homelessness: the cost of housing, sure, but also addiction and mental illness. You can't talk seriously about homelessness without taking on all three factors. It's also important to note that recent reports suggest that 19% of our homeless are coming from out of state. We might want to consider why the state is becoming a magnet for travelling homeless.
ON: It's amusing to watch the footwork the Housing First advocates employ to justify a strategy that has, by any reasonable success metric, been an expensive bust. A local political blog called those die-hard advocates "flat-earthers" because they hang on to a theory that's demonstrably false. You were around when SJ's housing policy was adopted, were there other ideas in the mix that got rejected?
JK: I advocated for an approach to housing and homelessness that relied more on market forces and less on subsidized new housing. I suggested we buy property for affordable housing instead of building new housing--it's much more cost-effective.
I also suggested we work with Joint Power Authorities to buy existing housing and convert it to workforce housing. This has the added advantage of unleashing developers to create new market-rate housing, where they can earn a profit. And as more housing comes to market, the JPA's can "filter down" existing stock into affordable housing.
I am also a believer in bigger and more expansive housing voucher programs, as vouchers provide immediate housing relief.
ON: If the homeless don't benefit from our current approach, if the working poor don't benefit, who does?
JK: The San Jose Housing department spends $19m per year just on staff. Nonprofit housing are the big beneficiaries of the current system. Many Housing Department staffers and leaders follow a revolving door into employment in the nonprofits. It's just what you get when you start with a big government mindset, you get a big government mess that is unable to self-correct. And when you have echo chambers in the local media, there's not much pressure on staff to reform.
Oliverio:
Opportunity Now: The people the Merc talked to acknowledged that the homelessness count is up locally--and check this out--they say that increase is a sign that their programs are successful. Help me understand this thinking.
Pierluigi Oliverio: This viewpoint is perplexing, to say the least. Residents and taxpayers typically expect positive, not negative, results, for money spent by any form of government. When we spend more on education, we expect better graduation rates and test scores. When we spend more on police we expect crime to go down. I don't think anybody gave money to the Housing Department hoping that their largesse would result in increased homelessness.
ON: Just because you are spending money doesn't mean you are providing a good solution. SJ Housing Dept's strategy of slow-to-build, expensive new housing--may just be misguided.
PO: The fact that you're spending more on services and failing to reduce street homelessness creates serious doubt regarding the current policy. Look, people can form blue ribbon commissions and say, "We Will End Homelessness By This Date." It never happens. There is homelessness of one degree or another in every country on the planet. Countries and localities deal with it differently: some measure success, some don't care.
San Joseans care, however, and they are not happy with what they see and not happy with expensive government failures to address the problem. People believe the streets are unsafe, blighted, and that their unhoused neighbors are living in terrible, inhumane conditions. Every-day residents understand mental illness and addiction are the majority of the problem, and ignoring that reality makes the unhoused situation even worse, as they remain on the street, victims of dangerous living and exploitation. Congresswoman Karen Bass during a debate for Los Angeles Mayor’s race stated that 50% of the homeless population suffers from mental illness.
ON: It's like many of them are refugees from a broken health system.
PO: "Refugees" is a useful metaphor. Millions of people have been displaced from the war in Ukraine. Nobody is expecting European countries to build new apartments overnight for those refugees. They need shelter and treatment and a FEMA-like environment that can stabilize their situation and transition them to a longer-term solution.
In the U.S., it seems we have a silent war which has resulted in homeless refugees. For the working poor, everyone would agree that a great increase in the stock of affordable housing is the right answer. But for the homeless refugees with more serious afflictions, we need to be clear-eyed and focus on treatment and services that can help them stabilize and start their journey back to rejoining our world, if they so choose. The answer for them is not an $878K new apartment in 10 years. It's treatment now, prioritizing by most needy first.
Follow Opportunity Now on Twitter @svopportunity
Image by Wikimedia Commons