Last Updated on June 23, 2021
Housing First
This is an evidenced based approach to solving homelessness. In other words, it has been shown to actually work. From my experience, many programs claim to be housing first but are missing one key ingredient… actually providing housing first….
In my view…. I find the Mother Jones article on the housing first model very compelling. The approach of the folks in Utah seems data driven—approaches that actually drive down homelessness. See the article at https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/housing-first-solution-to-homelessness-utah/ —Rick Bowers
This webpage at the National Alliance to End Homelessness provides a simple overview of the Housing First model: https://endhomelessness.org/resource/housing-first/.
This webpage at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development provides a Housing First Brief that is both an overview and provides pointers to useful resources: https://www.hudexchange.info/resource/3892/housing-first-in-permanent-supportive-housing-brief/.
Oregon’s HUD office is at https://www.hud.gov/states/oregon/offices.
The academic book, Housing First: Ending Homelessness, Transforming Systems, and Changing Lives, chronicles “the story of Housing First (HF), a paradigm-shifting evidence-based approach to ending homelessness that began in New York City in 1992 and rapidly spread to other cities nationally and internationally. The authors report on the rise of a ‘homeless industry’ of shelters and transitional housing programs that the HF approach directly challenged by rejecting the usual demands of treatment, sobriety and housing readiness. Based upon principles of consumer choice, harm reduction and immediate access to permanent independent housing in the community, HF was initially greeted with skepticism and resistance from the ‘industry’. However, rigorous experiments testing HF against ‘usual care’ produced consistent findings that the approach produced greater housing stability, lower use of drugs, and alcohol and cost savings.” See the complete description at Amazon.
See WorldCat for book details https://www.worldcat.org/title/housing-first-ending-homelessness-transforming-systems-and-changing-lives/oclc/937944782/.