Pioneering Colorado mayor says No to Housing First stranglehold
Image by VisitAurora.com
Joining a growing chorus of municipal officials from all across the political spectrum, Aurora, Colorado mayor Mike Coffman (who's actually spent time living in homeless encampments) reports what many have been saying for too long: Housing First's orthodoxies exacerbate the inhumanity of the homelessness crisis—and has to go. Perhaps Silicon Valley officials will take note. USA Today reports.
I've been the mayor of Aurora, Colorado, for five years. In my first term in 2020, I lived among people experiencing homelessness in Aurora and Denver for a week–not as Mayor Coffman, but just as Mike. I wanted to understand why Colorado's homeless community was growing and how my city could best help.
The leading policy approach to homelessness, and the one that attracts the lion's share of government funding, is "Housing First." Essentially, it prioritizes placing individuals into permanent housing as quickly as possible without addressing other issues like untreated mental illness or drug addiction.
No one can doubt the sincerity of Housing First advocates. But its proponents have been seduced by an illusory "silver bullet."
After spending time in encampments, it became clear that solving homelessness won't have a one-size-fits-all solution. Many individuals were battling addiction and had little chance of holding down a job. Others dealt with mental health challenges.
That's why a broader approach is necessary. Federal and state governments should expand support for other programs that respect individual responsibility and focus on moving people forward ‒ especially addiction recovery, mental health and job training ‒ rather than leaving them to repeat destructive cycles that hold them back.
In its worst iteration, Housing First is a no-strings-attached approach. Beneficiaries receive housing and don't need to attend job training programs or agree to a sober lifestyle. It's a well-intentioned approach, but it simply isn't working.
Since 2019, California has spent $24 billion on homelessness programs, even mandating all state-funded programs to adopt the Housing First model. Homeless resource centers aren't allowed to make housing conditional on participation in addiction recovery or job training programs. Yet chronic homelessness in the state keeps climbing.
This preferential treatment stunts programs that address underlying causes of homelessness. One study showed that more than 60% of chronically homeless individuals reported drug or alcohol abuse.
Mike Coffman is the mayor of Aurora, Colorado.
Read the whole thing here.
Follow Opportunity Now on Twitter @svopportunity
Opp Now enthusiastically welcomes smart, thoughtful, fair-minded, well-written comments from our readers. But be advised: we have zero interest in posting rants, ad hominems, poorly-argued screeds, transparently partisan yack, or the hateful name-calling often seen on other local websites. So if you've got a great idea that will add to the conversation, please send it in. If you're trolling or shilling for a candidate or initiative, forget it.