Bussed Out: How America Moves its Homeless

The Guardian
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How America Moves its Homeless

Giving Compass’ Take:

• Alastair Gee examines the practice of offering homeless people free bus tickets to relocate. While relocation may provide a fresh start, many homeless people were hurt by the practice. 

• Are relocation programs really a viable answer to the homelessness crisis — or are they just an attempt for a quick fix? What would be a more sustainable way to help people get back on their feet?

• Learn why supportive housing is a better method of addressing homelessness.

Cities have been offering homeless people free bus tickets to relocate elsewhere for at least three decades. In recent years, homeless relocation programs have become more common, sprouting up in new cities across the country and costing the public millions of dollars.

But until now there has never been a systematic, nationwide assessment of the consequences. Where are these people being moved to? What impact are these programs having on the cities that send and the cities that receive them? And what happens to these homeless people after they reach their destination?

In an 18-month investigation, the Guardian has conducted the first detailed analysis of America’s homeless relocation programs, compiling a database of around 34,240 journeys and analyzing their effect on cities and people.

The Guardian has determined the outcomes of several dozen journeys based on interviews with homeless people who were relocated and friends and relatives who received them at their destination, and the shelter managers, police officers and outreach workers who supplied them with their one-way tickets.

Some of these journeys provide a route out of homelessness, and many recipients of free tickets said they are grateful for the opportunity for a fresh start. Returning to places they previously lived, many rediscover old support networks, finding a safe place to sleep, caring friends or family, and the stepping stones that lead, eventually, to their own home.

People are routinely sent thousands of miles away after only a cursory check by authorities to establish they have a suitable place to stay once they get there. Some said they feel pressured into taking tickets, and others described ending up on the streets within weeks of their arrival.

Jeff Weinberger, co-founder of the Florida Homelessness Action Coalition, a not-for-profit that operates in a state with four bus programs, said the schemes are a “smoke-and-mirrors ruse tantamount to shifting around the deck chairs on the Titanic rather than reducing homelessness”.

Read the full article about moving America’s homeless by Alastair Gee at The Guardian.

Since you are interested in Homelessness and Housing, have you read these selections from Giving Compass related to impact giving and Homelessness and Housing?

  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
    Click here for more.
    Taking Action by Funding Black Leadership

    In late August, the Raikes Foundation announced our new Black Leadership & Power Fund. It was a major accomplishment for our team at a time when many of us were feeling overwhelmed and, frankly, a bit lost amidst the constant turmoil that has engulfed our country. But despite the pain we were feeling during a summer under quarantine and protest, shadowed by ongoing police violence, we knew that we had to do something different after George Floyd’s murder. Like many other organizations, we issued a statement when protests began to engulf the nation, but we knew our words would ring hollow if they weren’t followed by action. We knew we couldn’t “stay in our lane” and sit out this moment in our history. This was particularly true for our Black staff members. As we got to work, we had three areas we wanted to support: 1) grassroots power-building for policy change 2) fair and equitable elections, and 3) Black leadership more broadly. In order to ensure that we were responding to the urgency of the moment, we felt it was critical that we create an equitable and streamlined process for deciding on grantees and supporting Black-led organizations doing the hard work to build power in communities. Over the course of a couple of weeks, our Black staff, regardless of title or previous grantmaking experience, worked together to build new relationships, engage in an expedited due-diligence processes, and solidify our funding recommendations. We landed on a set of grantees that the Raikes Foundation wouldn’t have previously considered, if not for the ability to make grants outside of our strategy areas, as well as upping an investment in an existing partner doing critical work to end the school-to-prison pipeline. Read the full article about the Raikes Foundation's Black leadership fund by Lindsay Hill at Funders Together to End Homelessness.

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