Thomas Murphy’s Post

🚨 A small Oregon town’s homeless crisis is front and center in a landmark Supreme Court case. The ruling, set for April 22, could reshape how cities across the U.S. handle homelessness. This isn’t just a legal debate—it’s about protecting the constitutional rights of those without shelter. Pathways to Housing PA and 36 other organizations have signed onto an amicus brief filed by CSH, the Source for Housing Solutions, supporting the Ninth Circuit's decision to uphold the U.S. Constitution by prohibiting communities from fining or arresting people for merely sleeping outside when they have no access to shelter. The decision will have ripple effects nationwide, impacting thousands who struggle with homelessness. Read the full story: https://lnkd.in/eunfNesp

If you hear about the increasing efforts to criminalize homelessness and deprioritize permanent housing, it’s important to consider the detrimental impacts first and figure out exactly who is delivering the harmful message.

The solution to #homelessness is to build more permanent housing, so that those experiencing homelessness have somewhere to live. Let’s invest in #housing instead of encampment sweeps. #psh #affordablehousing #housingfirst

At Abode, we are concerned that Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order today regarding the removal of #homeless encampments will fail to reach its goals and yield negative results for those who simply need a home. We believe today’s announcement is a call to action for our state and local leaders to redouble our efforts to end homelessness. Our stance on the issue of sweeping #encampments is clear: • #Homelessness is not a crime, it is a crisis – one that is a result of systemic failures that have produced fewer than 24 affordable units for every 100 people who need them. • In the Bay Area, some would have to earn as much as $78 per hour to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment. (For low-wage workers, that would mean working up to five full-time minimum-wage jobs.) • We believe this nation’s laws should protect the most vulnerable people in our community – not threaten them. • Criminalizing homelessness is wrong. It is cruel, ineffective, and costly. • It worsens cycles of homelessness and makes it more difficult to find real #solutions. That is why we condemned the June 28 Supreme Court ruling on Grants Pass v. Johnson, which makes it easier for authorities to punish people for experiencing homelessness, even when there is no adequate shelter. Instead of punishing those in need, we would like to use today’s announcement as an opportunity for a call to action. Newsom himself called on local governments to house people and provide services. It is our hope that state officials and local governments will do just that – find and fund #sustainable housing solutions. As a region, we long ago moved away from the tepid goal of merely “managing homelessness.” Instead, we must keep taking steps to actually end the problem. We must urge leaders – nationally and locally – to accept the idea that just moving people around isn’t going to solve #homelessness. Sweeping an #encampment is no solution, if the individuals living there have nowhere to go. The solution to homelessness is #housing. Today, we call on local leaders to continue to work on that real solution, so that someone experiencing homelessness today will soon have a dignified place to live. #SustainableSolutions #HousingFirst #HousingEndsHomelessness

The drivers of homelessness are fundamentally about policy choices--building affordable housing, strengthening the safety net, offering critical social services, and investing in evidence-based interventions. As such, we can make enormous progress in ending homelessness if we had the political will.

The Supreme Court overturned the case of City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson. The ruling makes it easier to fine, ticket, or arrest people for sleeping outdoors, even if elected officials have failed to produce sufficient shelter or housing for everyone in the community who needs it. In the wake of this decision, the Alliance continues to publish resources and guidance 👇 https://lnkd.in/grz9bDX6. Advocacy at the local level is important now more than ever, as local elected officials will have the most impact on how a locality responds to homelessness. We must ensure they know that tickets and arrests are costly and counterproductive, and that the most effective way to end a person’s homelessness is connecting them to permanent housing and supportive services. How you can help 👇 https://lnkd.in/g3gcDCBh #NAEH2024 #EndHomelessness #BeLikeMike #Prevention #Diversion #FlexFunding #SCOTUS #JohnsonVGrantsPass #HousingFirst #HousingIsHealthcare

The #homelessness policy developments in the US are truly harrowing. The recent The Brookings Institution review by Hanna Love and Thea Sebastian shows how local municipalities, state jurisdictions, and now the recent Grants Pass Supreme Court decision are criminalising rough-sleeping homelessness. They even report that in Kentucky, state legislation prohibits "the use of state funds to provide permanent housing without preconditions (essentially blocking the implementation of the evidence-based “housing first” model)". And great overview of what should be the appropriate response to homelessness which has strong resonance with what we have argued is required to end homelessness (https://lnkd.in/gdH38xDs). And lets not forget the fundamental key to ending homelessness which is you must focus more than anything on the underlying systems drivers of homelessness.

#KeelyWebster and #CaitlinDewitt do a terrific job outlining the successes and challenges of accessing bond financing in connection with homelessness reduction programs making this article a “must read.” Addressing homelessness is a Herculean challenge and new approaches are needed. These include, among other things, increasing the use of modular housing and revising public procurement requirements so impact investors and smaller companies can more easily particpate in bringing projects to fruition. #TeamSPB is working on any number of housing projects and structuring them in a variety of ways. Feel free to reach out to explore the “art of the possible”. #infrastructurehousing #infrastructure #socialinfrastructure Impact investors are particularly well suited as investors in housing projects because they are focused on delivering value for money and are particularly adept at building consensus across large groups of project participants. But, many such investors will tell you they don’t work on public projects because of the cost of the procurement process and the lost investment opportunity costs when procurements fail or they are not selected. These investors are required to make meaningful investments and investing in procurement does not qualify. This seems to be an opportunity looking for a sponsor. We need to consider what statutory and regulatory changes we can make to procurement to attract more investors. Developers in San Francisco and in 18 other Bay Area jurisdictions have failed to submit and implement state-approved housing plans and meet production goals. This failure brings SB 432 into play which elminates discretionary review for most residential projects that include a minimum of 10% affordable, on-site units or comply with local inclusionary requirements - which ever is higher. When SB 423 took effect in San Francisco it shortened the housing approval process from what was one of the longest and most arduous processes in the California to one of the shortest. Improving the approval process is one thing, creating an environment that expands the investor base and considers options other than new construction is another. There are many different road to Rome and finding solutions for housing is not that different. We need to find or make some new roads.

“If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand.” Said Milton Freidman. Or, put the government in charge of reducing homelessness and watch it grow in 5 years. Such is the plight of California, a state with a shrinking population, but a growing homeless population, despite spending $24 billion in the last 5 years to resolve the issue. With a stated homeless population of 181,399, up 53% in just 10 years, California has 28% of the country’s homeless population while only representing 12% of the general population. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) counted 653,104 homeless Americans. I’ve posted many times in the past, that homelessness and affordable housing are social and government challenges, not a technical construction problem. California spent over $132k on each homeless resident over the last 5 years and only increased their numbers. Yet we seek from our modular/industrialized/prefab construction industry a solution for more affordable housing. The challenge is, the wrong government people are in charge, in fact the real problem is that government is in charge. Milton Freidman wouldn’t be surprised, why are we? Nolan Browne Ken Semler Tom Hardiman, CAE Steven Williams, CAE Ewelina Wozniak-Szpakiewicz, PhD Gary Fleisher Robert Murray George Olear Jim Gabriel

Volunteers of America-Greater New York (VOA-GNY) condemns in the strongest possible terms last week’s Supreme Court ruling upholding the constitutionality of laws that criminalize sleeping in public spaces even when there is a lack of shelter. Policies that criminalize poverty and homelessness do nothing to prevent poverty or homelessness. Instead, they make it even harder for individuals and families to break the cycle of poverty by negatively impacting their freedom, mental and physical health, and ability to work and find housing. Housing is a human right. VOA-GNY is proud to be a provider of both temporary and affordable housing in New York City, where people have a right to shelter. In our 128 years working with individuals and families in need, we’ve seen the life-changing, life-saving impact of access to safe shelter and affordable housing. More than half of Americans are just one missed paycheck from homelessness. This looming crisis is especially dire in areas like New York, where the cost of living is skyrocketing, the cost of housing is increasing more rapidly than inflation, and the housing vacancy rate is just 1.4 percent. This ruling serves as a wake-up call for New York, which must fulfill its commitments to building affordable housing and aggressively defend its right to shelter. It is our moral obligation—and VOA-GNY’s mission—to continue to provide support to those in our communities who are experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness. Read the statement on our website here: https://lnkd.in/eEvj4Mmw #JohnsonVGrantsPass #HousingNotHandcuffs #HousingIsAHumanRight