JANUARY 2023: THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S “NEW” HOMELESSNESS BLUEPRINT- ALL IN
In late December, the Biden Administration released its new homelessness blueprint– All In. Most of its assertions were predictable: some, however, capriciously absurd. Assertion #1: The “new plan”- nothing more than a doubling down on the failed Housing First experiment introduced by the Obama-Biden Administration in 2013- the number of people experiencing homelessness will decrease 25% […]
OCTOBER 2022: “NEW RESEARCH UNDERSCORES FAILURES OF ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL HOUSING FIRST APPROACH”
A new and kindred body of research– this one from the Discovery Institute- exposes the failures of “Housing First” as a one-size-fits-all approach to homelessness. No wonder “the advocates” are getting nervous. In 2013, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) claimed that shifting to a Housing First approach would end homelessness in ten […]
SEPTEMBER 2022: AFFORDABLE HOUSING CHARGE TESTIMONY
On September 13, 2022, I provided testimony on the Affordable Housing charge to Texas Senate Committee on Local Government. Here is my opening statement. “As this committee rightfully discusses ways to address the barriers to the production and financing of affordable housing, I must be clear that the production of more affordable housing is not- […]
AUGUST 2022: “THE ADVOCATES” ARE GETTING NERVOUS
How do we know? There are a plethora of new “studies” and books emerging from their side to claim that Housing First—more aptly titled “housing only”– is the solution to homelessness. We hope the American public, many of whom live/work in regions where homelessness has become a top concern, reject such bias, and rely instead […]
MAY 2022: MEET ANN
Ann is one of the ‘secret campers’ I recently met. Ann worked as an infusion pharmacist for decades. Approximately seven years ago, her husband unexpectedly passed away. His dying wish was that their only daughter would go to college and graduate debt free. This was the path Ann and her daughter were on… until Ann […]
APRIL 2022: IT’S PREMATURE TO CALL HOUSTON A MODEL
With homeless spikes everywhere throughout the country, it is understandable why U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH)/U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development would attempt to label Houston a “Housing First success story”. However, in addition to reclassifying a significant portion of their homeless by simply converting transitional housing units to rapid rehousing units with the […]
MARCH 2022: POLICYMAKERS CONTINUE TO SUGGEST WE LOWER EXPECTATIONS
Below is a tweet from a student at UT Austin. I see similar messages daily from people around the country, but this one, from a young woman, struck particularly hard. “Students navigate assaults, public masturbation, needles, and excrement just to walk to class. Why?” As policymakers continue to invest your tax dollars in failed homelessness policy– […]
FEBRUARY 2022: WHAT IS FUELING AMERICA’S HOMELESSNESS CRISIS
If you are concerned about the growing homeless crisis, and why our decade-long approach to it has failed, here are links to a short video and a white paper that I highly recommend. Here is a brief preview of what you will see in both: HUD’s 2019 Annual Homeless Assessment Report claims that a mere […]