Houselessness cannot be eliminated. We will always have natural disasters, accidents and human errors that destroy housing.
Homelessness cannot be eliminated. Humanity will never end the brokenness in relationships that cause homelessness.
Shelterlessness is different. It can be eliminated. When the systemic failure of shelterlessness is fixed, people will no longer live in areas not meant for human habitation.
The issue we face is an entrenched homeless industrial complex made up of thousands of organizations that divide shelterlessness into different symptoms of the problem while ignoring the root cause. When shelterlessness is discussed, organizations tend to elevate their solutions to a symptom their organization is paid to decrease. This causes competition causing service providers to talk past each other to gain support while ignoring the issue’s complexities.
Solutions become political as the loudest, most powerful voice is heard over the rest, making their answers the “focus of the day” or best practice for the moment. Once hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on the solution with minimal effect, the solution is set aside, and a new symptom with its unique solutions is promoted as the answer. After forty years of
focusing on symptoms instead of the causes, the whole issue has become so confusing that hope for the elimination of street homelessness is often seen as naïve.
The Team at Hand Up Housing
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