Part 6: What Can We Do to End Homelessness?

What should funders do about homelessness? Your approach will be specific to your context, values, and assets. These suggestions can help you formulate your individualized plan for ending homelessness.

Affordable Housing: 

The easiest way to end homelessness is to prevent it. Helping to keep people in the homes they already have or transition to places they can afford can avert the dangerous cycle of homelessness altogether.

What does it take to keep people in their homes? Rent control is one option:

• Is Rent Control The Best Affordable Housing Solution?
  Pacific Standard
  For the first time in decades, rent control is under serious consideration by lawmakers across the country.

Building dedicated affordable housing is another way to do that. Cities, donors, and companies can build affordable housing the traditional way or turn to creative solutions:

• Community Organizations Invest In Affordable Housing Solutions For DC Residents
  The Hill
  A coalition of community organizations announced plans for a major effort to boost affordable housing, small business growth and job skills in Washington, D.C.
• Next Stop For Retired School Buses: Tiny Houses For Homeless Families
  YES! Magazine
  Building homes for unsheltered kids and families wasn’t so much an aspiration as a necessity.
• Can New Home Building Tech Help Solve The Affordability Crisis?
  Fast Company
  Fast Company reports on companies building off-site and trucking fully constructed apartments in from the suburbs to help offset rising construction costs.

Housing First: 

Housing First is considered the gold standard for helping the homeless. Housing First prioritizes stable housing in order to address the many needs of homeless individuals:

• How Housing First Can Help End Homelessness
  Solutions Journalism Network
  The “housing first” approach emphasizes housing as the foundational step for any other mental health and financial issues a person might have.

Cities and communities can subsidize Housing First programs to reduce or eliminate their homeless populations:

• Why D.C.’S Housing Vouchers Are Working
  Pacific Standard
  DC’s Housing Authority is offering landlords beneficial terms, making the area’s housing voucher program work much better than other cities with similar programs.

Housing First can also be used to reduce the burden of homelessness on the healthcare industry:

• Why Hospitals Are Subsidizing Apartments For The Homeless
  Fast Company
  Hospitals are subsidizing housing in order to improve the health of homeless individuals while reducing costs.

Housing First works well, but homeless people who receive housing may also need support for other needs. Housing First must be done well in order to be a long-term solution.

Housing First must also include the individual needs of homeless people. For example, most people are very attached to their pets. For some, owning a pet might make it difficult to find housing programs that will accept them.

• Providing Pet Assistance For Homeless Individuals
  National Alliance to End Homelessness
  Street Outreach staff often share a similar story … Someone they know has been living on the street for a long time and continually turns down assistance or shelter. Suddenly, the individual reaches out for help because their service animal or pet needs assistance. For the outreach team, this is a perfect opportunity to finally offer support to both the animal and its owner experiencing homelessness.

This is an important reminder that the whole lives of homeless people must be taken into account when funding homelessness solutions.

There is good news. Across the country people are working hard to end the homelessness crisis. Some cities have successfully ended homelessness. Other cities, counties, and states can do the same. What will your role be?

Going forward, keep up with homelessness news.