Finally, the failed era of Housing First is over

America was supposed to end homelessness through Housing First. But over the last several months, President Trump has made it clear that Americans have waited long enough for Housing First’s promises to materialize.

Now, the country is changing course. Over the last few months, the governors of Oklahoma, Texas and Utah have all signaled sweeping state policy changes to align with President Trump’s July executive order, which deprioritized Housing First. More states are likely to follow suit.

The recent collapse in support for Housing First is striking, given how widespread support for it once was.

Politicians, homeless advocates, the media and especially academics widely held that the best way to help people living on the street was to give them keys to a subsidized apartment and expect nothing else of them other than to stay inside. This approach simply ignored their addictions, severe mental illnesses and sometimes even criminal activity. This philosophy pervaded strategic plans in every level of government.

States that were not quick to adopt Housing First soon found themselves at a disadvantage for federal funding. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s principal homelessness program required homeless service providers across the country to adopt the same Housing First policies, regardless of the specific needs of their communities or their clients.

The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness said that local governments that regulate street camping or implement other policies seen as enforcing basic norms among homeless people “reverse course and criminalize homelessness.” HUD even created incentives for nonprofits to lobby against such policies.

Housing First, paired with relaxed policies on street camping, focused strictly on offering “carrots” to individuals on the street, often without proper attention to whether those individuals were in a state of mind to accept them or succeed through the intervention. As a result, the tools available to state and local governments for responding to homelessness were limited to offering the homeless unconditional, subsidized housing.

And that didn’t work.

Many homeless people living on the street declined offers of housing and services. They were left to continue living on the street. A recent study of homeless outreach in Philadelphia found that only 31 percent of homeless individuals accepted offers to leave the street. 

Communities were left with little recourse as sprawling homeless encampments engulfed parks and neighborhoods.

The massive effort to increase subsidized housing also appears to have had little positive effect on homelessness nationwide. In the last decade, the federal government has subsidized the creation of nearly 400,000 new low-barrier housing units for homeless individuals — enough to house all but 20,000 of the homeless households in the subsequent Point-in-Time Count.

Conversely, over that same period, homelessness has reached the highest levels on record. A growing portion of the homeless population now lives on the street instead of in shelters or other short-term arrangements, which have been sidelined by Housing First policies and increased capacity by a mere 1 percent in the decade following HUD’s shift in responses to homelessness.

These trends are far worse for homeless people with mental illness and addiction. Roughly 39 percent of homeless people with each of these conditions lived on the street a decade ago. Now, about half of the homeless with mental illness and more than 60 percent of those who use drugs live outside.

In other words, Housing First has left more of the most vulnerable homeless populations out on the street.

Fortunately, several states have begun to move away from the Housing First approach over the last five years. Florida, Georgia and Utah reprioritized state-level funding toward non-Housing First programs. Utah plans to open a 1,300-bed campus with capacity for involuntary treatment of the most mentally ill and addicted homeless.

And roughly a dozen states have passed laws to regulate where people can sleep outside and try to compel people to move into shelters. 

In September, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) directed state agencies to begin clearing homeless encampments in Tulsa, removing more than 2 million pounds of trash from homeless sites. And last month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) directed state officials to begin enforcement efforts in Austin. 

These efforts will save lives, as homeless people are no longer permitted to live in dangerous encampments and must accept offers of shelter and services.

Trump’s recent actions have heralded the end of the Housing First era. Now, state and local leaders are beginning to forge a new path forward that takes seriously the humanitarian crisis consuming the streets of America’s cities.

Devon Kurtz is the director of public safety policy at the Cicero Institute.