Housing First, and then what?

Yesterday I read an article (Amid Growth, No Place to Go) regarding the increase of homelessness in Plymouth. It discussed both the response of local merchants in the Plymouth downtown area, as well as those struggling on the streets. Business owners –and this is not strictly the sentiments of those in Plymouth- feel that customers are less likely to spend money at a store where a homeless person is hanging around the outside. They cite safety issues as their greatest concern including general vagrancy and drunkenness.

OK, so here are some numbers relating to housing and homelessness that I find striking: For every 10 families seeking affordable housing, there are four homes available; in the Greater Boston area. On average a two bedroom apartment costs $1170 per month. Assuming, as most banks do when making a decision to extend a line of credit to a consumer, that no more than 1/3 of a person’s income should be spent on housing, a wage earner would have to make $22.00 an hour to be able to afford this rent. The average wage in Massachusetts is $13.00/hour. Some gap between what the average person needs, and what they’ve got right?

Many families in Massachusetts are at risk of homelessness. Nearly ¼ of families have little to no savings and a portion of the rest don’t have enough to keep them going for long if tragedy strikes. If a family is forced to stay in a shelter they can expect higher rates of asthema, anemia, learning disabilities and emotional and behavioral problems.

Also, within a year, 41% of homeless children will attend 2 different schools, thereby falling 4-6 months behind their peers.

Housing First, is in a nutshell designed to get at risk people straight into permanent housing rather than into a shelter first and to help families on the brink of losing their homes stay in their homes. Once a family’s housing needs are stabilized, measurers are taken to address the root causes of their issues such as skills training, education and financial management. Housing First’s overarching premise is that in order for a family to gain the skills needed to become successful, permanent housing must be the first priority.

Housing first has proven that families are more responsive to intervention once they were placed in permanent housing. Additionally, families remain on average in at a shelter for 6 months at a whopping cost of about $20,000. A one year rental of a 2 bedroom apartment in Greater Boston is $14,040. It just makes more sense to get a family into a safe and permanent residence.

And it looks like agencies in Plymouth are on the same page. Father Bill’s, an agency that serves families on the South Shore is advocating for safe, affordable housing, in other words, housing first. They are busy trying to get the homeless population of Plymouth and the surrounding areas off the streets. Local area business owners are in agreement as well as the religious community. The problem of course is the supply of housing is much less than the demand for it.

So what’s the answer? Well, I feel strongly that along with a need for additional safe and affordable housing units, we need to take a good hard look at the reasons why our families don’t have savings, why they are in such need, why the cost of living increases as our wages have stagnated. To solve one piece of the puzzle is important but more crucial is looking at the big picture and addressing the root causes of poverty.