Welfare Watch - June 22, 2010 - Homelessness Can be Solved

Homelessness can be solved but not the way that we are presently doing it.  Handouts on the streets, "3 hots and a cot" in a homeless shelter and holiday meals will not provide the comprehensive solution that we need to end homelessness. 

Yesterday, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness presented a plan to President Obama on a comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness.  More than 600,000 people in America who are homeless.  These are people without housing (63%) or stable housing (37%). 

The Plan presents strategies that build upon evidence base practice across the country.  Homelessness can be addressed.  The Plan has the following strategies:

• Increasing leadership, collaboration, and civic engagement, by a focus on providing and promoting collaborative leadership at all levels of government and across all sectors and strengthening the capacity of public and private organizations.
• Increase access to stable and affordable housing, by providing affordable housing and permanent supportive housing.
• Increase economic security, expand meaningful and sustainable employment and improve access to mainstream programs and services to reduce financial vulnerability to homelessness.
• Improve health and stability, by linking health care with homeless assistance programs and housing, advancing stability for youth aging out of systems such as foster care and juvenile justice, and improving discharge planning for people who have frequent contact with hospitals and criminal justice systems.
• Retool the homeless response system, by transforming homeless services to crisis response systems that prevent homelessness and rapidly return people who experience homelessness to stable housing.

Programs with the above strategies have shown to work and produce tangible benefits and savings to the communities that implemented them.  During the year after entering a supportive housing program, a Portland, Maine program showed that the homeless had 77% fewer hospitalizations, 62% fewer emergency room visits and 62% few days in jail. 

What does this have to do with child welfare?  Children from families with housing problems are more likely to be in foster care than children without housing problems and they are more likely to be "long stayers." 

Youth aging out of foster care to homelessness are especially at risk.  A 2005 study of 18 to 21 year homeless youth found that 2/3s had not obtained a high school diploma or GED.  Another study found that almost 2 in 5 of all HIV positive homeless youth seen at a NYC clinic had a history of homelessness that was associated with abuse and neglect. 

Homelessness cost society greatly.  Solving it can be done with evidence based practices that focus on comprehensive solutions. 

The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness Plan can be found here. 

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Welfare Watch, an email newsletter of the
Georgia Association of Homes
and Services for Children
as a public service.
http://www.gahsc.org
Normer Adams, Editor
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