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The rent must flow.
(slrpnk.net)
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/12369426
the purpose of a system is what it does
Housing First is the correct way to reduce homelessness. The main cause of homelessness is being priced out of the housing market, because the vast majority of housing in America is entirely privatized. Plus most public housing in America is not done nor funded well, until our European counterparts
https://www.pdx.edu/homelessness/housing-first
This has worked famously in Finland
I don't want to just dismiss that entirely, especially not in it's approach to the problem, but I'm not really sold.
In this study you have: 150 hand selected people, who are "chronically unhoused" not long term homeless ( at least that's how I'm reading it) A big town in a low population state A small total chronically unhoused population (est 513 in addition to the 150 included in the program) 18 year time difference, with 56% inflation since then A 23% dropout rate (which is probably better than it sounds) A small 15% decrease in substance abuse and increase in seeking employment
This really does not inspire confidence in its efficacy in America, more specifically California or New York where more than 50% of of the countries homeless are located.
The studies and examples in America are small because they are only done on a State level with no to little federal funding. You'll need to look into how Housing First has been put in practice in European countries to get a better idea about how they can function with federal funding and support.
Yeah, that was the only issue, definitely.
Europe having a rate of homelessness of ~1/835 as opposed to the US ~1/507 is a quite a bit better, but I'm honestly suprised it's that high, and leads me again to doubt supposed value. With all the social services available in the EU, that really isn't the difference I was hoping for.
The US has so many areas that are dirt poor and being pumped with drugs (both legal and illegal) as well as a super predatory renter and lending market. I'm just not sure what could drive those numbers in Europe.
Not everywhere is equal in Europe, while homelessness is lower across the board because Europe overall has better social services available, Finland is far ahead because of it's implementation of Housing First.
You also need to look at the definition of homelessness. Finland counts first-stage homelessness, known as couch surfing (which leads to car-camping and eventually the late-stage homelessness of living on the streets) in that calculation. The US ignores 1st and 2nd stage and only calculates homelessness with the late-stage. If the US uses the same calculation as Finland or other European countries, our homelessness rate would be even higher.
Drug addiction is a symptom of late-stage homelessness, not a cause. The cause is almost always the private housing market pricing people out of affording even rent. In the US, housing is first and foremost an investment, not a necessity.
Housing is a human right: How Finland is eradicating homelessness - CBC
Here's how Finland solved its homelessness problem - WEF
Doesn’t Finland have socialized medicine? We don’t have that in the US. So anyone in an addiction or mental health crisis has to jump through hoops to get help. A large percentage of our homeless are schizophrenics and addicts. It’s a sad sad state of affairs.
Access to mental health and addiction services is an important part, yes. Both are important and both help homeless people. I'd say Housing First is more important, since you need a stable living situation in order to stabilize the rest of your life.
I'm an advocate for both Housing First and Socialized Medicine