Hello, hello!
Last time, I completely got sidetracked on the different policies that make homeownership such a pipe dream for many people in the first place, which of coiurse contributes to the unhoused becoming a bit of a crisis in this country. Now, I really want to zero in on what Housing First is, why the concept behind it is important, and lead into Sunday’s post about the presentation.
According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, Housing First is the belief that the biggest hurdle to solving homelessness is, huge shock, obtaining housing. As opposed to other approaches, HF says that having your most basic needs of food and shelter must be addressed before other issues like getting a job, substance use, etc. On top of that, making housing conditional like that gets these people stuck in a cycle that never actually gets them into housing.
Most of the people who have been working on this issue for a hot minute already know this, but there is a deep and growing well of study showing that this HF approach leads to things like reduced crime, more efficient use of social services, and employment, among other things.
A study in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice compared 26 peer-reviewed studies in the US and Canada, showing that a Housing First approach led to better outcomes than a Treatment First approach, that put barriers in place for unhoused individuals to become “housing ready.” This actually places independence at the end of a revolving door of services that might not even stick in the meantime.
As mentioned in the presentation, addressing the issue at the source has also been found to reduce other costs, like emergency room services and law enforcement services, which as we all know comes out of our tax dollars. In the long run, coming up with a solution that either leads to or is permanent housing for these people is a better investment for the City.
Statistics for New Mexico, as reported by the National Alliance, show that the trends resulting from some of the policies I mentioned last time may have led to quite the increase in the unhoused population in 2023. The conclusion from the comparison of statistics between 2022 and 2023 demonstrate that there was more unit capacity for families, about 169%, than bed capacity for individuals, at 68.5%. There was also an increased shortage for both over that year.
This seems to suggest that the problem overall is that temporarily sheltering people doesn’t help as much as giving them access to permanent housing, which has a surplus statewide. I am determined to stay on topic so I’ll talk about that more next time. But, it is really confusing to me why there would be such a disparity between the 2, unless my interpretation is correct.
As for Alamogordo, we’re still debating with local politicians on whether we should have a shelter here. And, as mentioned, new housing developments aren’t being earmarked for affordable housing as of yet. We have some serious work to do.
Until Sunday,
Salud
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