Fix Homelessness How to rebuild human lives
Author

Robert Marbut

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Silhouette of a man in an old uninhabitable house in front of a window. Depression, loneliness, despair, decline, sadness concept.
Licensed via Adobe Stock

Housing First Doesn’t Work

In a classic attempt to bury embarrassing data, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released its most recent annual homelessness Point-in-Time Count report on a Friday, shortly before the Christmas break, about 11 months after the counting was done. Try as it might, HUD is unable to hide the problem anymore because the increases are so high. Read More ›
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Robert Marbut on America’s Homelessness Crisis, Strategies for Uplifting the Homeless, and Effective Government Policies

Homelessness has reached crisis proportions. Few issues of human dignity are as heart wrenching as the wretched scenes in our most prosperous cities—San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, and Seattle—where one can drive down main thoroughfares and be confronted with tent encampments lining streets that provide scant shelter for thousands of destitute people. Read More ›
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Generous Donation Gone to Waste on Bad Homelessness Policy

Seattle civic and business leaders have announced a $10 million collaborative effort to tackle the downtown chronic homelessness problem. “It’s the beginning of some good news,” Mayor Bruce Harrell declared when they announced the financial donation. Read More ›
Poor tired depressed hungry homeless man holding cardboard card
Poor tired depressed hungry homeless man holding
Photo licensed via Adobe Stock

Watch: Robert Marbut Talks About Homelessness with Dr. Drew

Robert Marbut, the former Executive Director of the USICH, sat down with Dr. Drew to talk about homelessness (especially as it is experienced in California) and how the Trump administration was planning to tackle it. With the inauguration of President Joe Biden this year, the federal policy has returned to Housing First but the interview remains relevant. Read More ›
carpenter hammer
Handmade concept. Women's hands do the product of wood. Wood workshop with a tool and a lamp
Handmade concept. Women's hands do the product of wood. Wood workshop with a tool and a lamp

Expanding the Toolbox

In the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) The State of Homelessness in America report, CEA pointed out that overall homelessness has increased in America; and in many communities, homelessness has reached a crisis level. In just five years, unsheltered homelessness increased 20.5 percent from 175,399 in 2014 to 211,293 in 2019. Simultaneously, the number of year-round beds available to serve persons experiencing homelessness through subsidized Rapid Rehousing and Permanent Supportive Housing rose from 338,065 to 482,254, a 42.7 percent increase in five years. Despite significant increases in funding and beds, overall homelessness has been increasing in the United States. The federal government’s policy shift in 2013 to prioritizing housing first as a one-size-fits-all approach has not worked to reduce homelessness Read More ›