Have you ever wondered why homelessness is increasing? Even in times of low employment? Benjamin Franklin believed that the easier the government made living in poverty, the more poverty grew. He felt a better policy was to drive people out of it. His opinion is relevant today in government and NGO policy concerning homelessness. It appears our policies are actually increasing homelessness, not lowering it.
The Policy
The policy of the federal government and many of the states is called Housing First. The premise is that the most important element of poverty and homelessness is getting people into shelters so they can progress from there. The theory is that it is too hard to make life improvements and find a job while living on the streets. Fair enough. But the housing usually comes with no strings attached. There are no expectations to go back to work, go to training, get clean from alcohol or drugs, or anything else. People can get support services, but very little is “driving them into work.” Without teeth and expectations, do you think this has a good ending? Do you think the numbers are going to go down – problem solved?
Beds, Beds, and More Beds
Probably the easiest way to understand where we are is by looking at homeless housing. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reports the total number of beds available from governmental and charitable sources for temporary use by the homeless. The total homeless count in the U.S. has been around half a million people for ten years, rising to 653,104 in 2023.
For over ten years, we have been about 200,000 beds short for temporary shelter for the homeless. However, over the past ten years, HUD has spent $23.3 billion in homeless grants. Surely, that is enough to support the addition of 200,000 beds. It was, but instead, we have built “permanent” housing to give the homeless more time and stable surroundings to get back on their feet. Today, we have built enough to have 662,978 of these “permanent” beds. This means we now have more people in long-term transition out of homelessness than we do homeless.
It seems the more we build, the more we need. Why?
The experts don’t seem to understand, but we do. Benjamin Franklin did. Give away free housing with no expectations, and you reinforce idleness, not progress. We communicate to the homeless that they need to be taken care of. Why work or give up alcohol or drugs? Why get new skills? The homeless too often don’t believe they can or should do it, and nobody expects them to. Nobody is pulling them into the community; we are reinforcing their isolation from it.
The Natural Laws
Ben Franklin talked about us interfering with the natural laws of nature. The natural law is that people must care for themselves and have a moral obligation to live independently and not burden their fellow citizens. Of course, things can go wrong, and we all need to help one another. And there will be those who cannot help themselves due to their disabilities. We need to take care of them. But we need a fresh dose of tough love in our approach to the problem of poverty and homelessness.
Living on the streets is unacceptable, and people must be expected to work and solve the problem. If housing is too expensive, you need to go to a place where it isn’t. If you are mentally ill, you go to permanent housing with care. You take your medicines, and if you end up back on the streets, you lose your freedom.
Alcohol and drug addiction cannot be considered disabilities. You get clean, or you go to jail. You can’t live on the streets continuing to use. There are many cases of addicts who explain that jail saved their lives. Jail doesn’t have to be the first option, but it needs to be the ultimate option for those not progressing to jobs and independence. For everyone else, if you need temporary shelters, you should do temporary work for the community. That can start with cleaning up the city. No more freebies. Let’s drive people out of idleness and into work. 80% of Americans believe work is its own reward. They are right. So let’s make work a part of our “hand up” and get away from all the “handouts” with no expectations in return.
Starting with Mr. Franklin’s view, we have 250 years in America of seeing what works and doesn’t in the homeless and poverty world. Shame on us for ignoring what we have learned. Mr. Franklin would not be surprised that the more we take care of the homeless, the more homelessness we get.