Despite homelessness being a fundamental issue in our society that has worsened in recent years with inflation of housing costs and difficulty with an economic decline that has prevented families from being able to afford reasonable housing, differences between parties continue to pause the brainstorming of sustainable solutions to this housing crisis. Republicans' main worries are about taxpayer guarantees and taxpayers having to pay as a result of trying to cover the cost and guarantee of housing for the homeless. Democrats' main worries are about expanding the role of government in housing. Both groups have very different goals- while one supports more government intervention in getting this housing crisis solved, the other supports less government intervention and reliance on taxpayer money.
Even though the housing crisis seems unsolved due to political party differences, there are small steps being taken to solving this large issue. In Houston, Texas, the city has adopted a "housing-first" method to trying to resolve this problem. They have decided to find families/the homeless permanent, stable housing first, and attempting to resolve other significant issues they may have after housing is found. "There is also a cost argument for housing first. Chronic homelessness costs the public $30,000 to $50,000 per person per year, compared with $20,000 per person for supportive housing, according to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness."
As a result, Houston has reduced homelessness by 54% since 2011. Their dedication to resolving this issue and getting the homeless into safe places to continue their lives and possibly rebuild themselves and their lifestyles has truly been revolutionary.
I think that what Houston has done is amazing. I think we should implement something like that in the bay area, as homelessness is a huge problem due to gentrification. Especially in San Francisco where it seems to have the most issues with that. I think a lot of people are too proud to go to a homeless shelter or the homeless shelters themselves are not the nicest, so people don't go. This also may work in Los Angeles with their homelessness problem. How ever we do it, there needs to be something done to help homeless people.
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