Shane Phillips’ Post

The United States' approach to homelessness has failed, revealing a flawed strategy that prioritizes short-term solutions over addressing the root cause: a severe shortage of affordable housing. Data shows a concerning gap of only 29 affordable units for every 100 extremely low-income renters. It's evident - we need a comprehensive national housing policy focusing on affordable housing production, rent assistance, and homelessness prevention. While countries have seen success with Housing First initiatives, emphasizing permanent housing and support services, the US remains entangled in political grandstanding and temporary fixes. It's time for a paradigm shift towards investing in lasting solutions rather than substitutes like temporary shelters. Without this shift, efforts to combat homelessness will continue to fall short. It's crucial to prioritize long-term solutions for a meaningful impact on this pressing issue.

Our national nonprofit partners at National Alliance to End Homelessness recently released their State of Homelessness Report with a 15-year lookback at trends, by state, with an interactive map. Some key national takeaways: 1) Response systems work effectively, but needs more resources to combat the nationwide affordable housing crisis; 2) More people than ever are experiencing homelessness for the first time, with a 23% increase in the past 5 years; 3) Record high numbers of people are living unsheltered, especially among individuals; and 4) Severe housing cost burden for renter households (paying more than half your income on rent) is on a dramatic rise. Mississippi's data trends are more encouraging, but there is so much more work to be done! Become a part of the solution by getting involved on the national or local level and consider becoming a member of your local Continuum of Care and investing your time, talent, or treasure to build a better community for us all! https://lnkd.in/dDBr6KSp

This blogpost from NAEH is on point. Homelessness is a mathematic equation - if we can house people at a faster rate than folks are becoming unhoused then we will end this societal travesty. The speed at which we arrive at solutions is directly related to the number ($) of resources we allocate to the problem. "It doesn’t have to be this way. Maintaining homelessness at this level has huge costs to society, while falling short of widely agreed-upon values. We know what it would take. Funding programs to scale, expanding Medicaid, aligning key partners – all of this would help to reduce homelessness, especially in states where there are higher populations of low income people and people of color. There are communities and other countries that provide examples of strategies that work: even in the 2023 PIT Count, we saw entire states with reduced homelessness (e.g., Delaware, Louisiana), and communities with big reductions in unsheltered homelessness (e.g., Chattanooga, TN; Jackson MS), while Finland announced that it was housing everyone who was homeless. The United States remains the richest country in history. It is not beyond our capacity to end homelessness."

There are two important news stories out today with a direct impact on homelessness in LA: - The 2024 Los Angeles County homeless count, released by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, showed a 0.27% reduction in the overall number of people experiencing homelessness in LA County. - The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in the case of City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, enabling cities to remove homeless encampments from the streets—even when shelter space is unavailable. We are grateful that the count has finally leveled off, after 7 straight years of significant increases, but much more work must be done to end the epidemic of homelessness in LA County. The efforts of the city, along with other private and public entities, have finally put us on a better trajectory, yet it is not enough. LA's homelessness crisis is still just that: a crisis. As Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman notes, the city continues to face “harsh fiscal realities” that will make additional reductions more difficult for the public sector to achieve over the long term. With the added pressures that the Supreme Court ruling will impose, homelessness will continue to demand a holistic, innovative, all-hands-on-deck approach to resolve. LA simply doesn't have the shelter capacity, housing, processes, or technology to get everyone off the streets. We created Better Angels to fix this. Our mission is to solve LA's homeless epidemic by harnessing the power of the LA community. As a result of today’s Supreme Court's decision, there is more urgency than ever for us to act. https://lnkd.in/giFkfqPy

The Denver Basic Income Project (DBIP) has demonstrated that providing direct cash assistance to individuals experiencing homelessness is not only a human right but also the most effective way to address homelessness and associated issues like food insecurity and unemployment. In a groundbreaking study, DBIP provided three groups of people experiencing homelessness with varying amounts of cash, from $50 to $1,000 per month. The results have been transformative: • Participants reported significant decreases in unsheltered homelessness, with rates dropping from 6% to 0% in the group receiving the highest cash payments. • Additionally, shelter stays decreased from 23% to 10% across all groups. • Employment rates and feelings of safety also improved substantially. • Participants were able to secure housing, pay off debts, and support their families, leading to a more stable and hopeful future. This approach, which trusts individuals to know best how to spend their money, has proven more effective than traditional support programs with numerous restrictions. The success of DBIP underscores the importance of viewing housing as a human right and addressing homelessness through compassionate, evidence-based solutions. It's time for policymakers to invest in similar initiatives in Minnesota to create lasting change and uplift those most in need. #HousingFirst #BasicIncome #EndHomelessness #HumanRights #SocialImpact

🚨💡 Arizona's Homelessness Crisis: A $1B Annual Effort with Questionable Results 💡🚨 Arizona is in the spotlight, dedicating an astounding $1 billion yearly to combat homelessness, a figure highlighted by a recent report from the Common Sense Institute Arizona. Despite these efforts, the state's homeless population has surged by nearly 30% in the last three years. 📈 What's even more alarming? The significant funds mainly go towards housing, yet the number of shelter beds has decreased by 20% since 2007. This raises a critical question: Is this approach working, or is there a better way to address this growing crisis? 🏠💔 Advocates and bipartisan lawmakers are stepping up, proposing innovative solutions like legalizing casitas and facilitating the construction of smaller, affordable homes. These steps could potentially offer a more sustainable path to reducing homelessness. 🏘️✨ However, with the homeless population facing increasing death rates, particularly from drug-related issues, the urgency for a more effective strategy is undeniable. The question remains: How can Arizona better allocate its resources to not just provide housing but also address the root causes of homelessness, including healthcare and substance abuse support? 🤔💬 Let's talk about it. Is throwing money at the problem enough, or do we need to rethink our strategy to make a real difference? #ArizonaHomelessness #HousingCrisis #SocialChange https://lnkd.in/gW9hX5MB

As a funder, meeting with service providers in the homelessness/housing sector is one of the best parts of my role. Their commitment to helping the unhoused is inspiring, but hearing their weariness about the future is concerning. According to a recent Department of Housing and Urban Development report, homelessness has increased by over 12% in the last two years. Shockingly, on any given night, more than 650,000 people in the United States are unhoused, with 68,000 people, including children, experiencing unstable housing in Chicago alone. Today, the Supreme Court will hear a case (Grants Pass vs Johnson) that will have a far-reaching impact on whether we, as a society, will meet the needs of unhoused people or continue to criminalize being without a home. The hope is that this case will bring much-needed attention to the root causes of homelessness: lack of affordable housing, lack of mental health support, racial inequities, and domestic violence. It's important to note that millions of people are only one paycheck away from crisis. We need better policy and political will in the United States, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, to end homelessness. Sleeping on the streets and living in tent encampments is not safe for anyone, especially unhoused people. Let's work together to make sure that everyone has access to safe and stable housing. #housingnothandcuffs #housingisahumanright #housingjustice #funderstogethertoendhomelessness To learn more about the Supreme Court case and its potential impact on homelessness, check out this article: https://lnkd.in/g_B5PjBi

Since overhauling the homelessness response system in 2021, the All Neighbors Coalition has rehoused more than 10,100 people in Dallas and Collin Counties. The latest Point-in-Time count shows a 19% reduction in overall homelessness and a 24% reduction in unsheltered homelessness since 2021. The strategic moves we’ve made as a community are working. However, there is more work to be done. We can continue this incredible progress by expanding the tools that have proved to work. Our goal is to reduce unsheltered homelessness by 50% from 2021 levels, when our transformation began. This next phase requires a $30 million investment in housing and services, expanding our Street-To-Home encampment response, and a continued focus on advancing racial equity by removing barriers to services and stable housing that perpetuate disparities. Read more about our progress and the work ahead in this op-ed written by Sarah Kahn, President and CEO of Housing Forward, in the Dallas Morning News. 📰 https://lnkd.in/gwAyaypM